A COMPLAINT against the council after it issued incorrect advice about emergency Covid-19 charging rules has been upheld.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman upheld a complaint against the council on March 18.

An individual, named as Mr D, complained about incorrect advice the council gave his mother, named as Mrs E, about emergency Covid-19 charging rules.

The complainant, named as Mr D, complained on behalf of his mother, Mrs E.

They complained that the council unilaterally altered an agreement made with Mrs E that it would pay the fees for her late husband’s, Mr E, stay in respite care. The agreement was made when the council ‘misunderstood’ emergency Covid-19 funding rules.

They also complained that the council charged Mrs E for the respite placement for a period after Mr E had been admitted to hospital.

The council said it would fund a respite placement for his father. It later realised this was wrong advice ‘but did not honour its promise’.

It also did not stop the placement when his father left the care home.

The Ombudsman has decided there is ‘evidence of fault causing distress’. But it ‘cannot recommend’ the council waives all the fees.

Mr D says the council’s mistake about the fees caused Mrs E a great deal of distress.

Their view is the council should have ‘the integrity to honour its original agreement to fully fund [the] respite care’.

The council has ‘accepted fault’ in the advice it gave Mrs E – and the Ombudsman agrees.

The Ombudsman found that council’s officers ‘seem to have not correctly understood who the Covid-19 funding rules were for’.

The Ombudsman said the council has already reduced part of the fees for the first four days of Mr E’s stay, and that it has also apologised.

The Ombudsman recommended, as a ‘symbolic recognition’ of the distress the faults led to, that the council reduced the amount Mrs E owes by an additional £150 within a month of the final decision. The council agreed to this recommendation.

A council spokesman said: “We have liaised fully with the Ombudsman throughout their enquiry and we accept the findings of the report.

“We have already completed all of the actions the ombudsman recommended following their enquiry, and have put in place learning from this case with affected departments.

“We take all cases upheld by the Ombudsman seriously and take on board any recommendations. To read the full detailed decision visit 21-002-302 report.”