A flawed process combined with human error caused distress and financial loss

What happened

Mrs B's late brother, Mr C, died in hospital. The Trust had no details about his next of kin. The Trust's bereavement services manager contacted the Council and asked it to use its statutory powers to enter Mr C's property and gather information to identify his next of kin. The search took place and the Council found documents relating to Mr C's financial affairs, and letters between him and his family. The Council officers created a schedule of the items, and placed them in an envelope with the keys to Mr C's property. Unfortunately, the envelope was mislaid, and the Council did not inform the Trust of its findings.

The Trust arranged the cremation of Mr C's body. Around the same time, Mrs B contacted the Trust, having learned of Mr C's death through his GP. The bereavement services manager contacted the Council. The Council discovered the envelope containing Mr C's possessions behind a cabinet and returned the items to the Trust.

Mrs B said as a consequence of this failing she and her family suffered grief and distress, particularly with respect to losing the opportunity to attend her brother's funeral. She also said that her brother's estate suffered financial loss, specifically with ongoing rent payments and charges for storing his body for four months. Mrs B wanted the Council to provide a fair remedy to the injustices she had suffered.

What we found

We investigated this complaint jointly with the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) because it concerned the actions of a local authority as well as an NHS organisation.

The Trust was legally responsible for arranging Mr C's funeral. The Council's involvement was to assist the Trust's enquiries by using its statutory powers to carry out the property search. The Council initially responded to the Trust's request for assistance appropriately, by entering Mr C's property and gathering relevant information. The Council was at fault in misplacing the information. Having gathered vital information that would have enabled the Trust to contact Mr C's family, it should have made sure that it was returned at the earliest possible opportunity.

The Trust was also at fault because it did not seek confirmation from the Council about the outcome of the property search before arranging Mr C's funeral.

The fault on the part of the Trust and the Council caused Mrs B additional shock and distress, and deprived her of the opportunity to attend Mr C's funeral. The Trust confirmed there was no charge for storing Mr C's body, and an invoice from the funeral director showed no evidence of any costs.

However, we found that if the faults had not occurred, the executors of Mr C's estate would have been in a position to start settling his affairs earlier. Instead, two months of rent and utility bills were paid unnecessarily from Mr C's estate.

Putting it right

To remedy the injustice, the Trust and the Council agreed to write to Mrs B to acknowledge their failings, apologise, and explain what action had been taken to prevent these from happening again. The Trust and the Council paid Mrs B £650 in recognition of the distress caused and for the loss of opportunity to attend Mr C's funeral. Because the Trust was legally responsible for arranging the funeral, we considered it had greater responsibility here. The Trust paid £500 and the Council paid £150. We considered the Trust and Council's errors played an equal role in the injustice to Mr C's estate. They both paid just over £374 to cover the costs for the period of two months when bills were unnecessarily paid by the estate.