Overview
The complainant (Mrs C) raised a number of concerns about the assessment of her mother's (Mrs A) financial assets by East Lothian Council (the Council). Mrs C considered the Council had acted improperly in including the nominal value of her mother's home which she had transferred ownership of, for 'love, favour and affection', to her family 11 years prior to entering the care home. Mrs C also argued that the Council's complaint process was flawed to the extent that the legal advice it offered to the Social Work Complaints Review Committee (SWCRC) was deficient.
Specific complaints and conclusions
The complaints which have been investigated are that:
- (a) the Council's decision to include the value of the property in their calculation of Mrs C's financial assessment was administratively flawed (upheld); and
- (b) the Council failed to provide adequate legal advice to the SWCRC who upheld Mrs C's complaint (not upheld).
Redress and recommendations
The Ombudsman recommends that the Council undertake a new financial assessment of Mrs A's assets, disregarding the nominal value of the property disposed of in 1994.
The Council have accepted this recommendation and will act on it accordingly.
Further Action
There is a considerable overlap in the issues raised in this case with one previously reported on by this office in December 2006 (Report No 200503530). That report and this raise issues about the scope for different interpretations of a number of aspects of the relevant Scottish Guidance throughout Scotland and the potentially inequitable outcome of this varied interpretation. The reports both also highlight the lack of an appropriate independent appeal mechanism to deal with financial assessments. This report also raises the question of how the value of an asset is calculated as it appears that again there is no specific guidance on this and the potential for uncertainty and geographical variation. The previous report was forwarded to the Scottish Executive Health Department by the Ombudsman's office to highlight our concerns. This case (and a number of others currently with this office) illustrate that these concerns persist and once again the Ombudsman's office will forward a copy of this report to the Scottish Government Health Directorates to draw the matter to their attention and seek their views on how best to resolve the difficulties being encountered.