An elderly disabled woman has been denied access to suitable bathing facilities for around three years because of a catalogue of delays by Sandwell Council, a Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) investigation has found.

The woman, who lives with her son and his family, has limited mobility and needs help with bathing. Her son first contacted the council to ask for help in 2007, but it was not until he had made three further requests that in January 2010 officers started an assessment of his mother’s needs. She was assessed as needing a stairlift and conversion of an upstairs bathroom into a shower room. The council agreed to pay a disabled facilities grant (DFG) of £7,000 towards this.

By the time the grant was approved, the mother’s health was deteriorating and her son had already started to build an extension to create a downstairs shower room, borrowing money from friends and family to undertake the work, while chasing the council numerous times for an update on the grant.

A catalogue of further delays ensued, including one council worker cancelling an appointment simply because the man had made a complaint to the council about its lack of progress.

By May 2012 the extension was complete, but the council would not pay the £7,000 DFG because the work done was different to what had originally been approved. Officers also said the family needed to obtain planning permission and building regulations approval for the extension. The family challenged the need for planning permission, and complained about the council’s failure to provide the grant.

Jane Martin, Local Government Ombudsman, said:

“Sandwell Council’s slow and ineffectual approach to handling the Disabled Facilities Grant has denied this woman the dignity of being able to bathe properly for a number of years. In addition, the family has also been caused a significant stress and financial hardship throughout the period, having been given no option but to take matters into their own hands to help their elderly relative.

“This is not the first case I have reported on in relation to councils delaying Disabled Facilities Grants payments. I would like to remind councils that the Disabled Facilities Grant is a mandatory statutory grant – it is not something that authorities can pick and choose to offer at will.”

The council has now agreed to pay the man £7,000, equivalent to the cost of the lift it originally recommended, a further £1,000 in recognition of the frustration, distress and uncertainty caused, and £2,000 to the mother for the distress and inconvenience caused by the delay.

In addition, it will help the son apply for building regulations approval at no cost to him.
The council will now assess whether the shower room meets his mother’s needs and if not, it will help the son complete a new DFG application for any modification work.

Article date: 06 February 2014