A couple were denied the chance of a stable family life because Royal Borough of Kingston took two years to give them their own personal care budget, a Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) investigation has found.

The couple lived in their own flat till March 2010 when the man’s Multiple Sclerosis symptoms worsened significantly. The man went into hospital and social workers agreed that the couple’s home was no longer suitable for his considerable needs.

When the man left hospital in June 2010, the couple moved into temporary accommodation before moving into a specially adapted bungalow in April 2011.

The couple applied for help and support from their local council and requested that they receive their own personal care budget, which would have given them greater say over the man’s care and could have given the woman the chance to return to work. But, despite the wife repeatedly contacting social workers over a two year period, the council did not give the couple their own care budget until November 2012.

The couple's distress and uncertainty was compounded by further errors by the council; they were given the wrong housing priority when the man initially left hospital; were wrongly charged council tax on the empty flat they owned for nearly a year; were left without an allocated social worker for around 12 months and were unexpectedly presented with a bill of around £5,000 in unpaid care charges.

Dr Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said:

“I find it wholly unacceptable that this couple had to wait for more than two years for the personal budget that they initially requested in May 2010. The couple, and their representative, were put under considerable and avoidable distress and uncertainty by the council’s actions.

“I hope that the council can learn from the failings identified in the report and make the changes recommended to ensure that this cannot happen again.”

To remedy the situation, the ombudsman has recommended that the council apologises to the couple and their representative.

The council should also review its procedures and policies and report back to the LGO within three months on progress.

In addition, the council should pay the couple £10,000 in recognition of the considerable and avoidable distress and uncertainty caused by its actions and pay the couple’s representative £250 for the time and trouble of pursuing his complaint.

The council should also retrospectively apply a council tax exemption on the couple’s former home.

Article date: 28 August 2014