Ombudsman rules council cannot reclaim £14,000 from disabled woman

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 21 Oct, 06:08 · Archive

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has ruled that Worcestershire County Council cannot claw back £14,062.50 from a disabled woman after care funding delays.

Worcestershire County Council has been told it cannot reclaim £14,062.50 from a disabled woman after failings in her care funding. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the council at fault over significant delays in reassessing the woman's care needs and increasing her payments. The reassessment began in May 2023 but was not completed until May 2025, and the Ombudsman said the process had taken "far too long" with "significant drift and delay".

During this period, the woman, named only as Mrs X, received £850 a week in direct payments to employ three personal assistants. The Ombudsman found this amounted to only £8.72 an hour, equivalent to the National Living Wage between April 2020 and March 2021. The council identified that her payments needed to increase but failed to act when it should have.

In November 2024, the council increased her weekly payment to £1,243.75, backdated to April, and paid her £14,062.50. Mrs X confirmed the basis of the payment with the council before using it to make backdated payments to her carers. However, two days later the council said the payment had been made in error and demanded repayment. The Ombudsman disagreed, ruling that Mrs X had acted in good faith and the council could not reclaim the money.

How it is being reported

• Council tried to claw back £14,000 from disabled woman after care funding delaysA COUNCIL has been told it cannot claw back more than £14,000 from a disabled woman after failings in the handling of her care funding.Malvern Gazette · 21 Oct, 05:00
• Council tried to claw back £14,000 from disabled woman after care funding delaysA COUNCIL has been told it cannot claw back more than £14,000 from a disabled woman after failings in the handling of her care funding.Worcester News · 21 Oct, 05:00

In this story: Worcestershire County Council · Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman · Worcestershire

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