West Sussex County Council has paid £1,500 to a mother and son after delays in assessing the woman’s finances left her owing a ‘significant’ amount for her care. A complaint was lodged with the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman after the woman – named only as Mrs X – received an invoice for £9,260 from the council. Her son – named as Mr A – said the council had started to pay his mother just under £260 per week for care costs in May 2022.
While he understood she would be expected to cover some of the costs herself, he said that it was implied that it would only be a small amount. Instead, after months of delay while her situation was assessed, she was told her portion would be more than two-thirds. READ MORE: Brighton council pays £500 compensation after parent school complaint In a complaint to the council in January, Mr A said: “By making payments to her of £259.
39 without giving us any indication of how and when her contributions might be calculated, you have encouraged mum to employ carers and pay them. “When we made our initial appeal for help, we were told that mum might have to contribute something: the inference was something small..
.a minor contribution, as she had no savings of any substance. “We did not realise you were intending to re-claim two thirds of the money you have been sending her.
” Another issue raised by Mr A was the council’s attempt to contact him via the wrong address. The ombudsman decided the council should apolo.