RAF veteran refunded £45,000 after being kicked out of care home
John Lambert overpaid tens of thousands of pounds for his care
An RAF veteran who fought in the Second World War has been refunded £45,000 after being forced out of his care home.
John Lambert, aged 96 and suffering from dementia, had overpaid tens of thousands of pounds for his care between May and December 2020, when his local council should also have been contributing.
Mr Lambert moved into the care home at the age of 93, paying for his £1,400-a-week care using money from the sale of the family home.
Under the current system, which is being reformed, once a person's assets fall below £23,250, the local authority steps in to help pay for their care.
When asked about their financial contributions to his care, Merton Council - based in southwest London - said they would not tell them how much the authority would pay until August.
However, by that time, Mr Lambert was already in arrears and was a matter of weeks away from being served an eviction notice from his care home.
The veteran's family had to use up his remaining retirement savings and pension fund in order to pay off the debt, but Mr Lambert was forced to move into his daughter's flat.
Merton Council tried to find alternatives and on multiple occasions tried to move him to cheaper care home, despite being told the move would be "very unsettling" to him.
With the help of the RAF Benevolent Fund, Mr Lambert's family brought the case against Merton Council, who accepted the findings of an independent ombudsman's report and refunded him and his family £45,000.
"It's been a nightmare"
Speaking following the ruling, Mr Lambert's daughter Jane said that the scandal has been "a nightmare" and worried how many other families are falling through the cracks.
"It's scandalous that at the heart of this is our 96-year-old dad, who never owed a penny in his life and did charity work until he was 90, and was never in debt. And Merton should be ashamed," she said.
"If we had been without our advocate, Dad would have just been pushed off into another home and would probably have died from a broken heart."
In a statement, a spokesperson for Merton Council said: "The council wishes to apologise again to the Lambert family for errors on its part and any undue stress caused as a result.
"As the article states, this case was dealt with via the Local Authority Ombudsman.
"The council accepted the findings and has put in place the agreed actions and recommendations of the ombudsman as a result."