Summary: Mr X complains the Council’s care provider, Brabyns House, failed to secure his late mother’s possessions after she died, resulting in them being lost or destroyed. Brabyns House accepts it did not act carefully before disposing of the possessions, which had significant sentimental value and cannot be replaced. The Council needs to apologise, pay financial redress and work with Brabyns House to make sure it has procedures in place to prevent this from happening again.

The complaint

1. The complainant, whom I shall refer to as Mr X, complains the Council’s care provider, Brabyns House (the Care Home), failed to secure his late mother’s possessions after she died, resulting in them being lost or destroyed.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. If we are satisfied with a council’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mr X;
• discussed the complaint with Mr X;
• considered the comments and documents the Council has provided in response to my enquiries;
• considered the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies; and
• invited comments on a draft of this statement from Mr X and the Council, for me to consider before making my final decision.

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What I found

What happened

6. Mr X’s mother, Mrs Y, lived in the Care Home for 10 years. The Council helped fund her placement and was therefore accountable for the Care Home’s actions (see paragraph 5 above).
7. Mrs Y died in February 2021. Mr X was with her.
8. When she died Mrs Y had a significant number of personal possessions in her room. They included family photographs, diaries, letters, costume jewellery, ornaments, vases, a clock, a television, a glass cabinet used to display china crockery, a music player and other personal items. Mr X asked the Care Home about clearing his mother’s room and it told him there was “no rush”.
9. Mr X called the Care Home a week later (at 16.02 according to the call records on his phone) and said his wife would visit that evening to sort through his mother’s clothes. The Care Home said the key would be available, as it had locked the room to keep everything secure. Mrs X and their daughter visited that evening and sorted Mrs Y’s clothes. Mrs X took photographs of the room at 19.24 (shortly after arriving) and 20.56 (shortly before leaving). The pictures show they left the room in a tidy state.
10. Mr X visited three days later to collect his mother’s other possessions. When he arrived a member of staff unlocked the door to his mother’s room. He was surprised to find it had been stripped for redecorating and almost everything had been removed. As the staff on duty could not tell Mr X what had happened to his mother’s possession, he spoke to the Manager over the telephone. The Manager told him a member if staff had been told to “bin” everything before redecorating the room, on the assumption it had been cleared. Mr X was very upset.
11. With the help of staff, Mr X located the display cabinet outside, but it was scratched and wet. Staff told him the other items would have been put in the bins, which had already been emptied. Mr X’s brother checked what had happened to the contents of the bins and discovered they had already been destroyed.
12. Mr X complained to the Care Home about the loss of his mother’s property.
13. When the Care Home replied it apologised for the distress caused to Mr X and his family due to disposing of Mrs Y’s possessions. It said:
• the day after Mrs Y died, it told Mr X it would dispose of or hand on to other residents any items he did not want;
• Mr X indicated he would clear the room within a week;
• three days after Mrs Y’s death it gave Mr X his mother’s jewellery which it had stored in a safe. Mr X went to his mother’s room and said if he did not manage to sort through her things, he and his wife would return to complete the task;
• four days later a member of staff said the room had been sorted through and there were bags on the floor with labels on saying “rubbish”. It assumed this meant the room had been cleared of anything of sentimental value and asked the member of staff to empty the room. The member of staff would not have thrown anything away they thought was of value.
14. Mr X asked the Care Home for a copy of its complaints procedure and its policy on residents’ belongings. The Care Home said it was investigating Mr X’s concerns further, as there were discrepancies over what had happened on the day the member of staff said they had cleared the room.
15. When the Care Home completed its investigation, it said:
• the day after Mrs Y died the Manager said there was no rush to clear her room and they would dispose of anything he did not want or pass it on to other residents;
• three days after she died, Mr X visited around 16.00 and the Manager gave him her jewellery from the safe (it had a list of the items in the safe). Mr X went to his mother’s room and said he would return with his wife if he did not manage to sort through the personal items;
• a member of staff said they went into Mrs Y’s room a week after she died at around midday. They told the manager the room had been cleared as “on the floor were things in piles, most of which was bagged up, with pieces of paper on top of these items on the floor, marked ‘rubbish’”. They did not check what the items were as they were mainly in bags and marked as rubbish. They took some photos down from the wall and put them in the wardrobe, in case anyone came back for them. Having repaired the display cabinet before, they assumed it was not wanted;
• the Manager did not recall speaking to Mr X seven days after his mother’s death. The Manager recalled Mr X visiting three days after her death and speaking to him over the phone ten days after her death. No one could recall Mrs X and their daughter visiting seven days after Mrs Y’s death. If they had visited that afternoon or evening, the room would already have been cleared;
• it could not explain why there were such different accounts for what happened ten days after Mrs Y died;
• nevertheless, it accepted the Care Home should have checked before disposing of anything and apologised for the distress caused; and
• it did not have a specific policy on resident’s belongings but sent Mr X the information including in its welcome pack for residents.
16. Mr X responded to the Care Home saying:
• he disputed the claim that he had told the Manager he was there to clear his mother’s room when he visited three days after she died. Having collected her jewellery, he went to sit in her room and enjoyed being surrounded by her personal effects;
• his wife and daughter visited in the evening a week after his mother died, so the room could not have been cleared before that;
• his wife’s account of events included photos with times and dates which showed his mother’s room was just as it was when she died;
• her account of events also included evidence of the phone call he made to the Care Home seven days after his mother died; and
• a member of staff must have emptied the display cabinet of all the china crockery.
17. Mrs X’s account of events said when they visited a week after Mrs Y’s death:
• they sorted Mrs Y’s clothes and labelled those which could be used by other residents;
• they put other clothes into two black bin bags marked rubbish; and
• on leaving, they told a member of staff Mr X would return later in the week to sort through Mrs Y’s personal items.
18. When the Care Home replied, it said:
• it would normally expect family to clear a room within three days, but could store things elsewhere if necessary;
• nevertheless, it had voluntarily agreed a longer period to clear Mrs Y’s room without specifying an end date and without asking for payment;
• the normal procedure would be to clear a room when family had removed whatever they wanted to take;
• the Manager believed Mrs X had cleared the room so did not feel the need to confirm this with Mr X;
• many families left possessions for the Care Home to clear away, including photographs; and
• it did not have a policy of requiring written permission but was reviewing its procedures.
19. Mr X remained dissatisfied, so wrote to the owners of the Care Home. When they replied they said:
• on the day Mrs Y died Mr X had said he would clear the room within a week;
• when the Manager found out Mrs X had been in and a member of staff said the room had been sorted through, she believed nothing left was to be retained;
• the Manager did not check the room herself or that Mrs X had removed everything the family wanted;
• it was not unusual for families to leave photographs and other personal items for disposal; and
• staff at the Care Home had not been careful enough, which had dire consequences for which they apologised.

Is there evidence of fault by the Council which caused injustice?

20. There is no dispute over the fact the Care Home did not deal properly with Mrs Y’s property, resulting in much of it being disposed of. The Care Home’s account of events does not match the evidence Mr X has provided. The evidence shows he called the Care Home a week after his mother died and that evening his wife visited to sort through her clothes. A member of the Care Home’s staff cannot therefore have cleared the room earlier that day.
21. However, that does not alter the fact sometime over the next three days the room was cleared and Mrs Y’s belongings disposed of. Many of those items had significant sentimental value and cannot be replaced. This has caused great distress to Mrs Y’s family.

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Agreed action

22. When a council commissions another organisation to provide services on its behalf it remains responsible for those services and for the actions of the organisation providing them. So, although I found fault with the actions of the Care Home, I have made recommendations to the Council.
23. I recommended the Council:
• within four weeks writes to Mr X apologising for the distress caused and pays him £1,000 for the loss of Mrs Y’s possessions; and
• within eight weeks, works with the Care Home to make sure it has the procedures in place to prevent this from happening again.

The Council has agreed to do this.

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Final decision

24. I have completed my investigation on the basis there has been fault causing injustice which requires a remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman