Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to reduce her care and support hours following a review completed in November 2023. This is because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the Council’s decision to reduce her care and support hours following a review completed in November 2023. She says the review was inaccurate.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word fault to refer to these. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint. I refer to this as ‘injustice’. If there has been fault which has caused significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Miss X used to receive 18 hours of care each week. In November 2023, the Council completed a review of Miss X’s care needs and care plan. This resulted in the Council reducing her care to seven hours each week.
6. In response to Miss X’s complaint about this, the Council acknowledged the social worker had failed to include information in the review as to how to meet Miss X’s social needs, including attending medical appointments and accessing the community. Therefore, if we were to investigate, it is likely we would find fault as the care review was flawed.
7. To remedy this, the Council agreed to complete a review of the current care plan. This was completed in July 2024. The result of this review was for Miss X’s care and support hours to be increased.
8. I am satisfied it is not possible for us to say (even on the balance of probabilities) whether, had the Council completed the care review properly in November 2023, this would have meant Miss X would have been assessed as being eligible for more than seven hours of care a week. However, given her care hours were increased following the July 2024 review, I am satisfied this creates some uncertainty.
9. We therefore asked the Council to remedy this by making a symbolic financial payment of £300. The remedy is on the highest end of our scale due to the length of time the uncertainty spans – November 2023 to July 2024.

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Agreed action

10. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within four weeks of the final decision.

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Final decision

11. We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Miss X.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman