Summary: Mrs X complains the Council did not provide her with care and support that met her needs. She says this impacted her wellbeing. We find the Council at fault which caused Mrs X limited injustice. We also find fault with its handling of the complaints. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Mrs X to acknowledge its poor complaint handling.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council:

1. did not provide her with the support she required between February and August 2024; and
2. handled her complaint poorly.

2. Mrs X says this impacted the wellbeing of her and her children.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. If we are satisfied with an organisation’s actions or proposed actions, we can complete our investigation and issue a decision statement. (Local Government Act 1974, section 30(1B) and 34H(i), as amended)
4. 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 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

5. I considered the information and documents provided by Mrs X. I considered the Council’s comments and supporting documents it provided. Mrs X and the Council have had an opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision. I have considered all comments received before making this final decision.
6. I also considered the relevant statutory guidance, as set out below. I have also considered the Ombudsman’s published guidance on remedies.

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What I found

What should have happened

Care and support needs

7. The Care Act 2014 give local authorities a duty to provide information and advice. The duty to provide information and advice underpins any contact or intervention that the local authority has with the individual. Local authorities need to provide comprehensive information and advice about care and support services in their local area. This is to help people to understand how care and support services work locally, the care and funding options available, and how people can access care and support services.
8. It gives councils a legal responsibility to provide a care and support plan (or a support plan for a carer). The care and support plan should consider what needs the person has, what they want to achieve, what they can do by themselves or with existing support and what care and support may be available in the local area. When preparing a care and support plan the council must involve any carer the adult has. The support plan must include a personal budget, which is the money the council has worked out it will cost to arrange the necessary care and support for that person.
9. Section 27 of the Care Act 2014 says councils should keep care and support plans under review. Government Care and Support Statutory Guidance says councils should review plans at least every 12 months. Councils should consider a light touch review six to eight weeks after agreeing and signing off the plan and personal budget. They should carry out reviews as quickly as is reasonably practicable in a timely manner proportionate to the needs to be met. Councils must also conduct a review if an adult or a person acting on the adult’s behalf makes a reasonable request for one.
10. Direct payments are monetary payments made to individuals who ask for them to meet some or all of their eligible care and support needs. They enable people to arrange their own care and support to meet those needs.

Complaint handling

11. Councils should have clear procedures to deal with social care complaints. Regulations and guidance say they should investigate and resolve complaints quickly and efficiently. A single stage procedure should be enough. The council should include in its complaint response:

• how it considered the complaint;
• the conclusions reached about the complaint, including any required remedy; and
• whether it is satisfied all necessary action has been or will be taken by the organisations involved; and
• details of the complainant’s right to complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
  (Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009)

12. The Council’s website states it will acknowledge complaints about adult social care within three working days. The Council’s complaints policy says it will respond within 20 working days. It says if the complaint is more complex, it will let the complainant know how long it expects to take and why. It says it will also send the complainants updates of its investigation.

What happened

13. Mrs X has mental health needs. She experiences regular periods of crisis. The Council supported her with a package of care which had been in place for several years. Her package included a direct payment for seven hours per week for her to employ a care worker. The care and support plan completed in July 2023 detailed a temporary increase to 14 funded hours per week which would be reviewed regularly. It also told her to seek help from the hospital accident and emergency department (A&E) in the event of a crisis.
14. In December 2023, the Council were made aware of an increase in Mrs X’s periods of crisis. It decided it needed to review her care and support plan.
15. In January 2024, Mrs X contacted the Council asking for an update about her request to increase her care hours. She told the Council she needed additional hours for her care worker to escort her on occasions she has to travel to and from residential placements. The Council told Mrs X there was no further increase noted since the current increase. It told her if she was in a residential placement she could use that week’s funded hours for her care worker to escort her to and from the placement.
16. In February 2024, Mrs X told the Council her periods of crisis were lasting longer. She also raised issues accessing the crisis plan in her care and support plan.
17. In March, Mrs X complained to the Council about her care and support plan, specifically the hours funded for her care worker and her crisis plan.
18. From March to August, Mrs X was in regular contact with the complaints officer.
19. In April, Mrs X had a period of crisis. She accessed her new crisis plan which was arranged by NHS mental health support services.
20. In May, the Council arranged a meeting with Mrs X to review her care and support plan. Mrs X did not attend.
21. In early August, the Council responded to Mrs X complaint. It apologised for its delay responding to her complaint. It accepted its service had not met its expected standards, explained its reasons and apologised to Mrs X.
22. In mid-August, the Council met with Mrs X to complete a review of her care and support needs. It made the 14 hours per week permanent. It told Mrs X she had many surplus hours for her support worker which she had not used. It told her could use these surplus hours to arrange the additional travel support she wanted. It formalised her new crisis plan which had been arranged by NHS mental health support services.
23. In January 2025, the Council issued her reviewed care and support plan.

Analysis

Care and support needs

24. The Care Act 2014 sets out the legal responsibilities of the Council. There is no legal requirement for Councils to allocate social workers to individuals in its adult social care service. Mrs X complains there was a lack of consistency with different social workers who attended her meetings. The Council told Mrs X it was experiencing staffing issues. I consider during this time the Council continued to meet its duty to provide information and advice to Mrs X and therefore I do not find fault with the Council’s decision-making not to allocate Mrs X a named social worker.
25. It took the Council nine months to meet with Mrs X after deciding it needed to review her care and support plan. It took a further five months for the Council to issue the reviewed care and support plan. The statutory guidance says councils should review care and support plans at least every 12 months. The Council did book a care plan review meeting in May which Mrs X did not attend. This review meeting was within 12 months of her previous review and so the Council could have rescheduled and still met the mandatory timescale. The Council’s six-month delay completing and issuing Mrs X’s reviewed care and support plan is fault.
26. At the care and support plan review meeting in August 2024, the Council told Mrs X that her direct payment for 14 hours of care support per week was permanent. Mrs X complains she did not receive enough hours in the months prior to this meeting. However, she had been in receipt of a direct payment for 14 hours of care support per week since her care and support plan review in July 2023. Furthermore, in January 2024, the Council explained to her it had no record of a further request for an increase in hours since the current increase. It would have been reasonable for Mrs X to check her direct payment account. If she had checked, she would have seen she had surplus hours and she could have purchased the care support she sought. It is unfortunate Mrs X did not check her account, however that is not the fault of the Council. For this reason, I consider the injustice to Mrs X to be limited.
27. The care and support plan review meeting in August 2024 also formalised Mrs X’s new crisis plan. Mrs X had access to the new crisis plan during periods of crisis from March 2024. The process for arranging the new crisis plan began prior to January 2024. On balance, it is unlikely the Council’s delay completing and issuing the reviewed care and support plan impacted Mrs X’s access to her new crisis plan. For this reason, I consider the injustice to Mrs X to be limited.
28. The Council apologised to Mrs X and explained its reasons for its delay. It said it was experiencing several staffing issues. I am satisfied the Council’s apology has remedied any injustice caused to Mrs X by its delay in reviewing her care and support plan.
29. I am satisfied the Council has since made active efforts to overcome its staffing issues to meet the expected level of service to adult social care users.

Complaint handling

30. The Council acknowledged Mrs X’s complaint within three working days. This is in line with its published policy and is not fault.
31. In its acknowledgement, the Council told Mrs X it aimed to respond within 20 working days and would update her if it needed longer to complete its investigation. It took a total of 111 working days for the Council to respond to her complaint. The Council contacted Mrs X several times during this time, however these were following her requests for an update. The Council did not provide any substantive information to Mrs X, just that there was no information it could give her. There were significant periods of time without any contact. The Council apologised to Mrs X for the delay in issuing its response. However, I consider its apology does not remedy the repeated efforts made by Mrs X for updates during the complaints process.

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Agreed action

32. Within four weeks of my final decision, the Council has agreed to make a payment of £100 to Mrs X to remedy the lack of communication during its complaints process which caused Mrs X to take unavoidable and necessary time and trouble seeking updates.
33. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

34. I have completed my investigation. I find the Council at fault and this caused injustice. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Mrs X.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman