A south London council has agreed to compensate an elderly woman with dementia after failing to assess her care needs for a year. This left her having to pay nearly £4,000 for services the council initially refused to reimburse.
Merton Council, responsible for assessing the elderly lady’s needs and making monthly care payments, has also been forced to apologise after initially ignoring her son’s complaints.
Living in her own home with dementia, Ms Y relied on her son, Mr X, to manage her direct payments and provide informal care. In April 2021, a social worker promised to visit after an occupational therapist recommended double-handed care for Ms Y.
However, that review never happened after the social worker left the council, and by August 2021, when Mr X followed up, a new social worker visited but made no progress. Frustrated, Mr X lodged a formal complaint in January 2022, explaining that Ms Y’s condition had worsened, forcing him to pay for additional care out of his own pocket. The council finally increased her direct payment in April 2022 but refused to backdate the funding, leaving Mr X to cover costs from the previous year.
Despite a new review in September 2023, Mr X remained dissatisfied with the council’s response, arguing it didn’t address Ms Y’s deteriorating condition. By November 2023, he was still chasing backdated payments and said he and his mother, who was now facing late-stage dementia, were experiencing frustration and uncertainty as a result.
In March 2024, Mr X brought the ongoing issue to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) because he believed the council had not responded to his complaints properly. He had also lost weeks of respite by having to cover for the care and funding not provided by the council.
The LGO sided with Mr X on most of his complaints and found Merton had left them in uncertainty. In response, Merton Council reimbursed Mr X £3,858.73. According to the report, published earlier this week, ‘this is to recognise the avoidable uncertainty caused by the delay reviewing Ms Y’s care and support and the avoidable time and trouble and distress pursuing the complaint’.
The council apologised to the residents and promised to resolve the delays. It also outlined steps to improve communication and care and offered Mr X £200 for the loss of respite time.
A Merton Council spokesperson said: “When someone needs adult social care, it often has a huge impact on their family too. We know how important it is that everyone involved receives the information and support they need when they need it.
“We acknowledge the findings of the LGO proceedings and have implemented the recommendations in full. We apologise for any distress caused, and we are reviewing our processes and learning from this complaint to prevent issues like this in the future.”
