Stockport council apologises after woman wrongly charged £35k in care fees

Stockport council has apologised for causing 'significant distress and confusion' after a resident was wrongly charged more than £35,000 in care fees due to a mistake.

The town hall made a woman, named only as Mrs D, to pay for her care for a year longer than she should have done due to an error when her property was sold.

Mrs D became a permanent care home resident in 2015, initially with an agreement with the council and care home to defer payments because most of her money was tied up in her home. In 2016, the council assessed that Mrs D had a 65 percent interest in her house - despite the proceeds of any sale being split 50:50 between her and her daughter.

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When the house was sold in November 2021, Mrs D was incorrectly judged to have more than £23,250 left in savings after the sale, requiring her to self-fund her own care fees, which her daughter helped her to do, paying upwards of £35,000 to cover the costs.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the council's error caused Mrs D's daughter 'significant distress, inconvenience and financial hardship' over a prolonged period.

The ruling from the Ombudsman read: "We found fault with the Council’s actions. If it had correctly assessed Mrs D’s interest in the property she would have remained on a council-funded contract and would not have had to pay any of her care charges beyond her assessed contribution."

The situation was made worse due to a delay in correcting the error.

In October 2022 Mrs D's daughter wrote to the council raising the possibility that the assessment of the property was incorrect, but the authority stood by its 65pc assessment of Mrs D's stake in the property.

That