Addressing ongoing challenges in financial assessments for care

At this year’s National Association of Financial Assessment Officers (NAFAO) event, we heard from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) regarding the challenges faced within financial assessments for care. 

The Ombudsman’s talk highlighted recurring issues that cause instability across the system – ranging from delays in assessments, to lack of transparency around charging and difficulties in handling disability-related expenditure (DRE).  

In 2024-2025, the LGSCO investigated 987 complaints, with 776 (79%) upheld. Each upheld complaint represents a case where corrective action should be taken by the local authority to ensure a satisfactory resolution – underlining the scale of the problem and the need for urgent improvement. 

The key findings and how digital can help 

These challenges are well known to our Head of Delivery, Paul Meyers, who has led on over 30 implementations of our digital financial assessment platform – BetterCare Finance – nationwide. Paul is helping to define what modern, citizen-focused financial assessment delivery looks like for local authorities – where digital self-service drives transparency, speed and trust.  

The Ombudsman’s feedback echoes themes that Paul has explored extensively with his work on BetterCare Finance. He offers his perspective on how modernising assessment practices can ease the pressure: 

Key challenge 1: Delays in completing financial assessments leading to large, backdated bills;  

“This is exactly why BetterCare Finance was developed. By digitising the assessment process and enabling self-service, councils like Kirklees have cut average completion times from three months to just a few days. That means faster, more transparent assessments, earlier contribution conversations and fewer back-dated bills. The council benefits from fewer failed care packages, better decisions and less unrecoverable debt.” 

Key challenge 2: Lack of upfront information about how charging works;

“BetterCare Finance — along with its sister product BetterCare Support — was designed to bring transparency to the charging process from the very start. Our self-serve tools, plain-English guidance and explainer animations (now used by 75 local authorities) help residents understand how charging works before their assessment even begins. By setting expectations early and giving citizens control, councils can build confidence in the adult social care system.” 

Key challenge 3: Failure to properly consider Disability-Related Expenditure (DRE);  

“With BetterCare Finance, Disability-Related Expenditure is built into the assessment process in line with each council’s specific charging policy. The platform’s configurable logic adapts to local DRE rules, ensuring that individual needs are recognised and evidenced appropriately – leading to fairer, more accurate outcomes for residents.”  

Keeping pace with demand

By following a digital, self-service model like BetterCare Finance, financial assessment teams can focus their valuable time on recovering critical debt – while the platform directly addresses the challenges raised by the LGSCO. 

It is well known that limited resources and a high staff turnover rate continue to strain local authorities, leaving adult social care systems struggling to keep pace with demand. Financial assessment teams often feel this pressure most acutely as they are left to operate on full speed in every direction with minimal resource backing. 

To learn more about the insights shared by the Ombudsman at NAFAO, you can read their latest Adult Social Care review for 2024/2025. 

If you’d like to discuss how a locally configured BetterCare Finance could support your local authority, you can request a demo via our product page.