Dudley Council to refund care home top-up fees paid by families

A local government and social care ombudsman investigation was launched following a complaint from a man about care home top-up fees he paid for his mother’s care.

The man’s mother, who had dementia, was placed in a care home following a fall. At the time there were no available beds in care homes that would not require the son to pay a top-up fee, over what the council agreed to pay for his mother’s care.

The son said he was happy for his mother to stay in the care home short-term but would have preferred her to move to an alternative affordable placement in the long-term.

Because of the pandemic, she remains at the first home, and the son is still paying a top-up fee.

The council has agreed to apologise to the son and refund the top-up fees he has paid since his mother entered the care home.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “Our investigation has found no evidence Dudley Council offered the family an affordable placement with an available room, at the time his mother needed to be accommodated. Because of this, the council should not have charged the son a top-up fee.

“We published a public interest report about Dudley Council in 2017 concerning similar issues and at the time it agreed to improve the way it dealt with third-party top-up fees. I am concerned the council has not fully learned from this and we have had to issue this second report

“I hope the council will now take the learning from these complaints into its long-term practice. The improvements to its procedures it has committed to make, should help to ensure this situation does not arise again.”

Councillor Pete Lowe, Dudley's shadow cabinet member for health and social care, said: “This judgement from the Ombudsman demonstrates clearly our broken social care system. From inadequate affordable accommodation to insufficient staffing capacity and effective procedures, this report is damning.

"The stress and financial hardship felt by the son, attempting to do the best for his family can only be imagined. The council is right to apologise to the family and reimburse them for their financial outlay but I can’t help but think that a caring council would resolve this compassionately without the requirement of the Ombudsman’s intervention.

“I welcome the review of council procedures and I will be scrutinising closely to ensure the council learns from this.”

Councillor Nicolas Barlow, cabinet member for adult social care, said: “We acknowledge that we need to improve the way we record the choice of care homes offered to people and we have taken a series of proactive steps that the Ombudsman has acknowledged.

“The council will continue to work with the Ombudsman to this effect."

The council has also agreed to apply the same principles to any family who lodges a complaint, where they were not offered an available care home placement within their personal budget dating back to 2017.