Ombudsman criticises poor communication around charging procedures 

North Yorkshire County Council has been criticised by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman after a family’s care bill leapt from hundreds to thousands of pounds a month without notice.

The way the council communicated the change to the woman and her daughter came under the Ombudsman’s scrutiny after they complained the council had suddenly decided to take into account the woman’s home, when assessing how much she needed to pay for her care.

The mother was living in supported living accommodation after she developed Alzheimers in 2013.

The weekly cost was £900 and her contribution was assessed at £57.20 per week. 

No assessment was carried out after 2017.

A change in their charging procedure was not relayed to the service user nor to her family until the council told the daughter in 2019 that it would now be taking the former home into account.
The family was left with a charge for £33k.  

The Ombudsman has instructed the council to review all cases in which a property disregard was removed since April 2019.

https://www.lgo.org.uk/information-centre/news/2021/oct/family-s-care-bill-soars-without-warning-because-of-poor-council-information

(Author: Tish Hanifan)