A man recently won a three-year legal battle, proving that his elderly friend had lost out financially as a result of a council blunder.
Ernie Bowden had intervened on behalf of a 93-year-old acquaintance, who is currently being looked after in a Buckinghamshire care home.
Mr Bowden, a retired teacher, was convinced that Milton Keynes Council had miscalculated the pensioner’s finances.
He had concerns over the council’s sums in relation to the woman’s “notional capital” and an amount of money that he didn’t believe should have been taken into consideration when officers were assessing what the woman needed to pay.
He won the right to pursue a judicial review, having made the case that his friend had paid around £4,000 more than she should have done.
Not only was he able to win a refund, he was also paid £250 by the local authority to compensate him for the time he spent on the matter.
Despite his success, Mr Bowden remains concerned that many other elderly people may have lost out as a result of similar miscalculations.
“I proved the council was wrong in its assessment of notional capital. Yet in the beginning council staff told me: ‘We always do it this way.’
“So how many more people have been overcharged in a similar fashion?”
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