Elderly father and son ordered to pay £1,800 to council in FOUR days

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

A father and son who were told to pay the council nearly £2,000 in just four days have had their complaint against the authority upheld.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found that Trafford Council failed to adequately explain social care costs to the elderly man and his son, who later said they did not need the level of support they were being charged for. ‘Mr X’ said that the council issued a care plan for his father ‘F’, with more visits per day than necessary at a ‘significant cost’ for reasons he was not told.

The Ombudsman has now reported how Mr X said that his father would not have agreed to the care plan if the council had told him the cost, ‘especially as he could manage with less care’.

At one point the council billed the father and son for £1,800 of charges and gave them just four days to pay. “This has caused Mr X and Mr F financial distress,” the report said. “Mr X would like the council to change its procedures and advise people correctly.” Councils have a duty to arrange care and support for people with eligible needs and a power to meet those needs in places other than care homes, like at home. READ MORE: Mum made heartbreaking final Facetime call moments before she died on railway tracks They can charge for non-residential care following a needs assessment, but councils must carry out a financial assessment to decide what a person can afford to pay.