In March, West Yorkshire Trading Standards successfully prosecuted Peter Hunter, who owned a domiciliary care company (Caring for You (Yorkshire) Limited), for multiple offences under section 4 of the Fraud Act 2006. This offence is committed when a person occupies a position in which he is expected to safeguard, or not to act against, the financial interests of another person. He dishonestly abuses that position and intends, by means of abuse of that position, to make a gain for himself or another, or to cause loss to another or to expose another to a risk of loss. 

Hunter pleaded guilty to four section 4 offences committed between 2011 and 2021. He was sentenced to six years and nine months’ imprisonment. The total amount misappropriated by Hunter was £330,370. 

West Yorkshire Trading Standards had launched its investigation into his care company after complaints were raised about him having lasting powers of attorney (LPAs) in respect of managing the financial affairs of some clients. He abused his position to obtain those powers and misused the care arrangements for his personal financial gain. 

This case is significant because it was Trading Standards rather than the Care Quality Commission (CQC), or the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), which prosecuted. Both those bodies could have  prevented Hunter offending. 

In the case of the OPG, it is unclear to what extent it had noticed that he was using LPAs to benefit himself in breach of his duties under the Mental Capacity Act (MCA). 

As regards the CQC, it carries out prosecutions for breaches of its quality and safety regulations. Since May 2009, there have been 176 successful prosecutions by the commission. The CQC will only inspect companies where a person is receiving personal care; yet there were clear warning signs of problems in Hunter’s company. 

In August 2021, the company was put into special measures. The inspection was ‘prompted in part due to concerns received about safeguarding people from the risk of financial abuse’. In March 2022, following another inspection, the company was taken out of special measures, but it was still rated as requiring improvement. 

It is unclear how the concerns about financial abuse were addressed. The CQC’s inspector reported in May 2022 that its overall rating for the service still required improvement. Ten people were receiving personal care from Hunter’s company. It was surprising that his company was allowed to continue to provide care services. 

The last report stated: ‘Staff had appropriate knowledge of safeguarding people from abuse. However, systems and processes were not robustly in place to show how people would be protected from financial abuse and how staff are protected against such allegations.’ 

The company told the inspection team that a more robust system was being considered to ensure the risk of financial abuse to service-users was assessed and mitigated. But given what transpired, one wonders whether the inspection teams were failing to ask the right questions relating to who had powers of attorney and how client money was being managed. 

Genuine concerns about financial abuse – if they concerned incapacitous residents – should have been referred to the OPG for investigation. It is unclear whether the OPG was approached by the CQC following these reports. But it was Trading Standards which decided to prosecute.

The CQC is now under new management. A new assessment process is being introduced. It is to be hoped that robust measures are introduced to protect users of care homes, or of domiciliary care providers, from financial abuse. 

If inspections of Hunter’s company in 2022 and earlier had been more robust, then perhaps some of his actions could have been stopped much earlier. 

The West Yorkshire Financial Exploitation & Abuse Team has a good recent record of pursuing such cases – whether against individuals, care providers or financial advisers. Practitioners should consider Trading Standards as another avenue to pursue if neither the CQC, the OPG, nor the police are prepared to prosecute.

 

Ann Stanyer is a consultant at Wedlake Bell, London

Topics