Southend Council rectifies care costs charging error

June 4, 2025

Southend-on-Sea City Council has contacted residents affected by an error in care cost calculations.

The error, which dates back to 2018, was caused when a new software system used to calculate care charges was configured incorrectly.

This led to some people being over-charged for care in their own homes or while living with family members, supported living, shared lives, extra care and day care.

A total of 586 people have been contacted – including 335 people who currently receive this care.

Cllr Daniel Cowan, Leader of Southend-on-Sea City Council, said: “We recently identified a technical error, originally made in 2018, that has caused some residents to be overcharged for their care.

"On behalf of Southend-on-Sea City Council, I sincerely apologise for this error. I am pleased to report that council officers have moved quickly to assess its impact, and we are putting things right.

“A dedicated team has reviewed every affected individual’s circumstances. We have contacted each person to make sure they get the refunds they may be due, and we are confident that we now have the systems and processes in place to stop this happening again.”

The Care Act 2014 allows councils to charge for care services, so long as these charges do not reduce an individual’s income below a statutory Minimum Income Guarantee. This Minimum Income Guarantee is calculated using a formula to weight different benefits.

The Council discovered it had not included the Disability Premium, Enhanced Disability Premium and Carer Premium when setting up the software in 2018 that it has used to calculate a person’s Minimum Income Guarantee. This led to some people who receive Personal Independence Payments or Disability Living Allowance and some people receiving Employment and Support Allowance instead of Income Support to be overcharged.

Those who have overpaid and who are not in arrears have been offered a refund or have been given the option of having their overpayment used to cover the costs of their care for the remainder of this financial year or until their overpayment is zero, whichever comes soonest.

The total to be refunded to those overcharged over the seven years since 2018 is around £2.3 million. This will be drawn from the council’s reserves.

The Council has reviewed all other council charges and confirms this issue is isolated to these care costs calculations. It is not a widespread problem across the council and this error has not affected people when receiving care in residential home or nursing home settings.