Express & Star

Son's anger at £20 bill for dead mother from Wolverhampton Council

A man has spoken of his shock after receiving a letter addressed to his deceased mother threatening court action over a £20 care provision bill.

Published

Peter Hayes, 70, discovered the letter from Wolverhampton Council which gave a final notice for a £20 bill for home support for his mother Joan Hayes.

The home support was given to Mrs Hayes at her Hill Avenue home between December 7, 2009 and January 3, 2010.

Bosses at the city council have since apologised for the letter.

Mrs Hayes died on January 21, 2010 at the age of 89 and was living with her son Peter.

Joan Hayes

During the final stages of her life she received home support care – provided by Wolverhampton Council – which saw a qualified carer help her with basic activities such as washing and getting dressed.

Mr Hayes said he could not work out the timing of the letter, while adding he was almost certain all his mother's payments had been paid by direct debit by herself.

He also said every effort was made to contact everyone so they were aware of Mrs Hayes' death and her death had been registered with Wolverhampton council.

The council has said it is investigating why the letter had been sent in the first place.

The letter, which states in capital letters 'Final Notice', is from the council's debt management team.

It required Mrs Hayes to pay an 'outstanding balance' to be paid for £20 within seven days.

The letter, dated June 18, also threatened Mrs Hayes to court action should the payment not be made.

It reads: "In the event that payments are not maintained as requested, I will have no alternative but to commence recovery action.

"As a result an external collection agent and/or the County Court maybe instructed to collect the overdue which will result in additional costs being added to the amount due.

"This may also adversely affect your credit rating."

Mr Hayes said he was so furious over the timing of the letter that he had even written to his MP Pat McFadden about it.

"When I opened the letter I was deeply upset, hurt and very angry," he said.

"My mum died five years ago, how is this acceptable?

"We even registered her death with Wolverhampton council so to get this just made me so angry.

"This kind of treatment is beyond disgusting.

"I could possibly find it acceptable if it was just months after her death.

"But for it to come out of the blue like this more than five years later is just terrible.

"It shows a complete lack of respect.

"I would have thought checks would have been done before these kind of letters were sent out but obviously not.

"Wolverhampton council has just sent this letter without a thought, no care or any checks whatsoever."

In response Wolverhampton council spokesman Tim Clark said: "One of our senior managers has spoken with Mr Hayes to offer an unreserved, personal apology for the distress this very unfortunate and avoidable event has caused.

"We're dealing with what happened under our complaints procedure and have launched an investigation into the exact cause as clearly we need to prevent something like this happening again."

The letter said: "According to our records the above balance (£20) is overdue for your care service. I am sure this is an oversight and I kindly request that you give this matter your immediate attention.

"Please make payment of the outstanding balance within seven days."

Mr Hayes added: "I don't know what may have happened but I think it's outrageous.

"Me and my family even registered her death with the council.

"They should have known the circumstances before sending out any letter.

"If this is how the council operates then I think it is terrible to the people of the Wolverhampton.

"The council should be working for the benefit of its residents – not making them feel hurt."

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.