York council must pay a fine and apologise over care home mistake

City of York Council has agreed to pay a fine and review its adult social care policies after wrongly charging a top-up fee on a woman’s care home costs.

A woman complained to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) about the council’s decision to apply the top-up charge after her mother was put in a care home following a stroke in early 2021.

Everyone whose needs the council meets must receive a personal budget from the council as part of their care and support plan.

If no suitable accommodation is available at the amount identified in the personal budget, councils must arrange care in a more expensive setting and adjust the budget – but must not ask anyone to pay a top-up fee.

However, City of York Council told the elderly woman she would have to pay an extra £353.

According to an LGSCO report: “When the council did not find, or offer, Mrs X any suitable care homes within her personal budget which could meet her care needs, it should have increased Mrs X’s personal budget to match the cost of the care home.”

The investigator also said the women received “limited support” from the council’s community team. She had three social workers in a seven month period.

The council must apologise in writing to the woman and her mother, pay £150 to for the “distress and uncertainty” caused, plus a further £100 to acknowledge the time and trouble it took to bring the concerns to the council’s attention.

After the first 12 weeks at the care home, the woman become a self-funder of her care due to the value of her property.