LGO raps council for wrongly charging woman £5k in care top-up fees

The Local Government Ombudsman has sharply criticised a local authority for wrongly charging a woman more than £5,000 in top-up fees for her mother’s residential care.

Dr Jane Martin, the Ombudsman, also described as “wholly unacceptable” Walsall Council’s abdication of its statutory responsibilities for paying the home’s fees.

The case involved the complainant’s elderly mother, who had mild dementia and lived in a residential home in Walsall. However, her care needs changed and she needed to move to a different home.

The daughter found a suitable new home in her own area. Shortly after, the council moved the mother there in emergency circumstances.

The cost of the new home was higher than Walsall would normally pay for care. It therefore relied on an earlier agreement that the daughter would pay a top-up fee for the new home. The daughter paid the extra as she was very keen for her mother to move.

An investigation by the LGO found that Walsall Council:

• did not establish whether there were any residential homes in either its own area or in the complainant’s area that would be suitable for her mother and where a top-up fee would not be required;
• kept poor records of the information it provided to the complainant about residential homes;
• should not have asked the complainant to make the top-up payments;
• did not review the fee arrangements with the residential home or take responsibility for the contractual arrangements;
• expected the daughter to increase her top-up fees when the home increased its charges.

Dr Martin found that this was a case of maladministration causing injustice.

Walsall has agreed a number of steps, including an apology and reimbursement of the top-up fees paid, plus interest – a total of £6,031.67.

The measures also include a review of its arrangements where third party payments are involved “to ensure the responsibility for contractual arrangements and reviews rests with the Council as the law says”.