Ms A complained that, although her complaint was upheld following investigation, particularly regarding poor communication with her grandmother/family about the financial charging arrangements at 2 Council owned residential care homes where her grandmother was placed for assessment, the Council was still pursuing the family for these charges.
An independent investigation, at stage 2 of the Social Services Complaints Procedure, upheld Ms A’s complaint. Responding to the investigation, the Council acknowledged there had been miscommunication about the charging arrangements, which it accepted were not fully explained to the family. It also recognised that documentation about the charges was either not in place or it was unclear about the charges.
Although the Council acknowledged shortcomings in the way it communicated with the family about these charges and apologised for this, there continued to be an unresolved aspect to Ms A’s complaint stemming from the identified shortcomings. The Council therefore agreed to waive the outstanding fees for both care homes.
The Ombudsman was satisfied that the action which the Council said it would take was reasonable and would resolve Ms A’s complaint.