Bedford Borough Council has been told to apologise and pay £300 compensation after a watchdog found faults in the way it dealt with a vulnerable resident’s care charges.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigated a complaint from a man, referred to as Mr X, who disputed the amount he was asked to contribute towards his care since 2019.
He said the council had not adequately considered his disability-related expenses and that its charging policy discriminated against people with mental health conditions.
The Ombudsman did not uphold those parts of his complaint. Still, he found the council was at fault for allowing Mr X’s debt to escalate without adequate action, failing to identify support needs, and delaying its handling of his complaint.
According to the report, Mr X had not made any payments towards his assessed contributions, which had risen from £70.94 a week in 2019 to £159.77 a week by 2024, leading to what the Ombudsman described as a “large debt.”
The Ombudsman said these failures caused Mr X “distress, frustration and uncertainty.”
The council has been told to apologise, pay him £300, review his financial assessments if he provides the required information, and issue new staff guidance on assisting vulnerable residents in debt.
Bedford Borough Council stated that it accepted the findings and would implement the recommendations.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) asked the council what changes it had made since the Ombudsman’s ruling, and how many other residents currently have “large debts” relating to care charges, but it did not respond at the time of publication.
By John Guinn
Local Democracy Reporter
