National Ombudsmen
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City of London failed to fund respite care for a woman with dementia
City of London’s adult social care team failed to pay agreed funding for respite care - for over four-and-a-half years - for a woman with dementia.
Local Government Ombudsman, Dr Jane Martin, has today issued a report which is critical of the City of London’s adult social care team’s failure to pay agreed funding for respite care for over four-and-a-half years.
‘Mrs Rose’ has an advanced form of dementia and is completely dependent upon others for all aspects of her personal care and welfare. ‘Ms White’, her daughter, is in her seventies and has cared for her mother at home for over 13 years.
In 2005, the Council agreed to provide a direct payment for 30 hours per week of personal care for Mrs Rose. It agreed an additional carer’s respite payment to Ms White of £960 per month, to enable Ms White to have regular breaks from the demands of caring for her mother. Due to an administrative error, the Council never made any respite care payments to Ms White.
A social worker and Ms White realised that something was wrong in 2009. When Ms White tried to complain, the Council took far too long to respond and did not deal with the complaint properly.
The Ombudsman found fault because the Council assessed Ms White to be eligible for a respite payment and she should have been receiving this since 2005. As a result, Ms White was not able to take any breaks from her caring role. At the time of the complaint to the LGO, Ms White was under a great deal of strain and was exhausted.
No-one checked Ms White’s accounts to see how she was managing the funds and, for a period of six months, due to budget pressures, the Council did not offer support and advice to recipients of direct payments. It is a legal requirement for the Council to provide auditing and support services for those in receipt of direct payments.
Commenting on the report the Ombudsman said “Ms White suffered grave injustice as a result of the Council’s failings as she did not receive the services that she needed. I am pleased to say that the Council has apologised and paid her compensation of £50,800 – the value of the lost respite payments. I have also asked for Ms White to be paid £500 to recognise the inconvenience and distress caused by the delay in dealing with her complaint.”
The Ombudsman has made some recommendations for improvements to the Council’s services. These are detailed in the full report.
The names used in the report are not the real names, for legal reasons.
