Perth and Kinross Council is facing legal action for allowing a vulnerable pensioner to make cash payments for her meals on wheels service.
It has been ordered to apologise after the 86-year-old, who suffers from dementia, was not given receipts when handing over the money, which her son says left her open to exploitation.
He later received a bill for the service, which he believed had already been paid for, and is considering taking the council to court to recover the funds.
He claims Perth and Kinross Council initially refused to allow the woman, who The Courier is choosing not to name due to her condition, to pay for her meals through a direct debit.
Her son took the case to the Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman (SPSO), which has upheld his complaint and ordered the council to obtain receipts for all cash and cheque payments.
The ombudsman has also asked the council to implement a system of providing duplicate receipts for all cash and cheque payments.
The woman’s son, who is referred to as Mr C in the ombudsman’s judgment, told The Courier he was angry that the company contracted by the council had put his mother at risk.
“My mother has been in receipt of community meals and we received a bill out of the blue for nearly £700 after I’d been paying on a regular basis,” he said.
“I queried the bill and it transpired there was all kinds of irregularities with the system they were running the worst of which was that they were taking cash payments off elderly people at the door.
“I contacted Perth Council and said I did not think this was a suitable practice. I thought it put elderly people at risk and left vulnerable people even more vulnerable. In the case of my mother, who has dementia, it’s possible she could make a payment and not remember.
“The more I looked into it, the more worried I got because it transpired they weren’t even giving receipts.”
In its report, the SPSO stated: “We were satisfied that it was a matter for the council, in consultation with the contractor and the provider, to create policies and procedures for the provision and operation of the service, including payment methods.
“However, we upheld Mr C’s complaint as, although the council had carried out various assessments in respect of users of the service, we were not persuaded that these addressed the risk issues of cash payments, particularly for vulnerable service users such as Mrs A.
“We also considered that the system that was in place did not have sufficient safeguards to properly evidence what, if any, payment was made when the meal was delivered, and we made a recommendation about this.
“We saw no evidence that the council had previously refused to allow payment by direct debit, and accepted that the system in place at the time did not allow for this.”
A spokeswoman for the local authority said: “Perth and Kinross Council cannot comment on individual cases.”