Barnet Council has been criticised for sending “threatening letters” to an elderly woman who was overcharged for home care.

Indu Khambhaita, who lives in New Barnet, receives home care visits for three quarters of an hour every morning.

For two years, she paid £87 per week for the care – but in April this year, the council suddenly and without explanation increased the charges to more than £133 per week.

Her daughter’s father-in-law, Peter Hattrell, said he had sent the council four letters explaining she was being overcharged.

But he did not receive a response, and in November Mrs Khambhaita was sent an invoice telling her to pay more than £1,000.

The letter demanded “an immediate payment to settle the invoice and avoid your account being issued to an external debt collector or the issuing of county court proceedings”.

Just days later, she was sent another letter with the same warning.

Mr Hattrell described the letters as “threatening”.

He said: “It is the way they write them. They are dealing with elderly people. I’m horrified to think of the many elderly residents in the borough who have no one to turn to and are in a similar situation.”

Mrs Khambhaita said: “It has been going on for many months. They (the council) don’t listen to you.”

Mr Hattrell said he had recently received another letter from the council appearing to show it had been mistakenly charging Mrs Khambhaita for two visits per day instead of one.

He added that Mrs Khambhaita was also sent invoices for times when she was away or when carers did not arrive, so there was likely to be more overcharging.

A Barnet Council spokesperson said: “We have resolved the outstanding issues and have contacted Mr Hattrell to apologise for the issues and delay in response.

“We continually review all charges to residents to ensure they are accurate and up-to-date. On occasions, such as this, where mistakes are made, we endeavour to resolve the, as quickly as possible.

“We will review our communication to ensure it is fair and appropriate moving forward.”