Overview:

Key to names used

• Mrs X The complainant
• Mrs Y The complainant’s mother

Summary

Mrs X complained the Council failed to properly explain or advise her about the need for top up fees for her mother, Mrs Y’s care home, and has wrongly required her to pay these fees since her mother moved to the care home in 2007. Mrs X says this has placed her family under unnecessary financial strain for many years.

Finding

Fault causing injustice and recommendations made.

Recommendations

The Council must consider the report and confirm within three months the action it has taken or proposes to take. The Council should consider the report at its full Council, Cabinet or other appropriately delegated committee of elected members and we will require evidence of this. (Local Government Act 1974, section 31(2), as amended)

To remedy the injustice caused we recommend the Council:

• apologise to Mrs X and pay her £250 to recognise the distress, time and trouble she has experienced;

• refund Mrs X the top up fees she has paid since Mrs Y returned to Care Home 1 in March 2011;

• provide reminders/training to relevant staff of the importance of keeping clear records. The Council must be able to show it has offered at least one available and suitable care home. The Council should document why a care home is suitable for the individual, any challenge to what is suitable, and the outcome of that challenge.

• provide reminders/training to ensure relevant staff correctly consider and apply the Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009 and the Council’s complaints procedure when responding to complaints.

Ombudsman satisfied with Council's response: 9 February 2023.

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