Summary: Mrs X complained about issues with the Council’s transport services for her sibling. The Council accepted it was at fault and put forward a number of remedies. It has agreed to carry them out to remedy the injustice caused.

The complaint

1. Mrs X, on behalf of her sibling, complains about the Council's provision of transport to take them to a day centre they attend since September 2023. She said the driver and escorts changed on numerous occasions, were not aware of a condition they have or their needs and was often late. She is also dissatisfied with delays and how the Council responded to her concerns. This has caused significant frustration and inconvenience, and she has decided to transport her sibling instead to ensure their safety.

Back to top

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)
3. We may investigate complaints from the person affected by the complaint issues, or from someone else if they have given their consent. If the person affected cannot give their consent, we may investigate a complaint from a person we decide is a suitable representative. (section 26A or 34C, Local Government Act 1974)
4. We investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies. Where an individual, organisation or private company is providing services on behalf of a council, we can investigate complaints about the actions of these providers. (Local Government Act 1974, section 25(7), as amended)
5. 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)

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I discussed the complaint with Mrs X (who is dealing with the complaint on her sibling’s behalf) and considered her views.
7. I made enquiries of the Council and considered its written responses and information it provided.
8. Mrs X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Background

9. Mrs X’s adult sibling (“Y”) has learning disabilities, health conditions and mobility issues.
10. Y has been attending a day centre five days a week, for several years. This is part of Y’s care and support plan. The Council organised and paid for the transport to take Y there and back each day.

What happened – summary of key relevant events

11. In mid-September 2023, Mrs X made a formal complaint to the Council. She said there had been changes with the driver and passenger assistant (“PA”), they were not aware of Y’s condition or mobility needs and raised concerns with some of their behaviour. She had been taking Y to the day centre instead because of her concerns about Y’s safety.
12. In early October 2023, the Council internally tried to arrange a meeting to discuss Y’s risk assessment. This did not go ahead as the NHS Occupational Therapist (“OT”) was not available.
13. In early November 2023, after some delay, the Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint. It upheld it in full. It apologised for the actions of the driver and PA and for the lack of communication around proposed changes for Y’s transport in September.
14. In mid-December 2023, Mrs X chased up the Council. She had been told by the Council it was taking steps to get a risk assessment completed for Y to get them back on transport by mid-November. But this had not happened. Mrs X asked to reopen her complaint.
15. In early January 2024, the Council advised Mrs X it had arranged the assessment. A few days later Mrs X, a Council assessor and the OT had a meeting about Y.
16. After this, the Council assessor said action was needed for some of Y’s equipment due to safety risks. Mrs X carried this out and requested the transport to restart at the end of January 2024. She asked for the assessment to be shared with the driver and PA so they were aware of Y’s needs. Transport did not restart by this date. The Council later said to Mrs X there were delays with this due to changes with other transport runs.
17. The Council partially upheld Mrs X’s complaint. It said it should have responded more effectively to minimise the delay with the January meeting. Mrs X escalated her complaint.
18. In late February 2024, the Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint at Stage Two. It said there had been a separate Council review about wider transport arrangements for the day centre and it had not included Y as part of this. It upheld Mrs X’s complaint in full. It accepted:
• There was an unacceptable long delay between October 2023 and January 2024 in arranging the assessment;
• Poor communications with the transport service about Y; and
• Poor communication with Mrs X and the lack of transparency.
19. Mrs X then complained to us. She added the risk assessment had still not been shared with the driver and PA.

Events since Mrs X’s complaint to us

20. In April 2024, a Council email states Mrs X had said she no longer wanted Council arranged transport for Y.
21. An updated care and support plan for Y states that direct payments for the cost of Mrs X to transport Y herself is now in place, following the continued issues with the transport.

The Council’s response to my enquiries

22. In response to my enquiries, the Council further explained other circumstances of why Y’s transport had been late and irregular, and it had overlooked communicating with Mrs X due to pressures in the service at a busy time of year. It also noted the risk assessment had not been shared with the driver by March 2024 and the driver had not acted in line with expected practice. It had spoken to the driver about this.
23. The Council also accepted it was at fault for not providing a remedy to Mrs X’s complaint following the findings under both stages of its complaint procedure.
24. In light of the above, the Council proposed the following remedies:
• Backdating the direct payments to mid-September 2023 (the date Mrs X made her complaint);
• £200 to Mrs X to recognise her distress for the impact on her with the disruption to Y’s transport service, the delay in the complaints procedure, and for her time and trouble to make a complaint to us; and
• £300 to Y in recognition of the distress caused to them by the disruption to their travel service.

Analysis

25. There appeared to be a combination of factors which led to the issues with the Council’s transport service for Y from September 2023.
26. I welcome the Council’s honest acknowledgement of fault with Y’s case, as well as its recognition it should have considered a remedy to recognise the injustice caused. The Council has accepted its transport service fell short of expected standards, which I agree with. The Council’s communication with Mrs X about Y’s transport lacked some clarity and transparency. There were delays with action too. It also raised Mrs X’s expectations when it said it would take action, but she had to chase it when this did not happen. These also caused avoidable frustration to Mrs X.
27. I understand events have moved on since Mrs X’s complaint to us. The Council said a direct payment has since been arranged to fund costs of her taking Y herself. Part of the Council’s proposed remedy is to backdate this to when Mrs X first made her complaint in September 2023. In my view, this appears fair and appropriate. This goes towards remedying some of Mrs X’s injustice back to when the problems persisted. However, if Mrs X disagrees with this arrangement, or is dissatisfied with how it has worked in practice or how it has been administered, I consider this would take it outside the scope of my investigation. These are new events since coming to us, and Mrs X is entitled to raise a new complaint directly to the Council about this if she wishes.
28. I have taken into account our published Guidance on Remedies. Financial payments can be made to acknowledge the impact of faults; these are intended to be symbolic, not purely financial. I appreciate the Council’s proposed amounts to Mrs X and Y were within our recommended ranges, however I have increased the one to Mrs X. While it was Y’s transport which was interrupted which caused them distress at times, I consider Mrs X has experienced significant frustration too. She was put to avoidable inconvenience with the issues with the service, the extent of which should be similarly recognised for her.
29. While the above addresses the personal injustice to Mrs X and Y, I also included a service recommendation below to go towards preventing future recurrence of fault.

Back to top

Agreed action

30. To remedy the injustice set out above, the Council has agreed to carry out the following actions:
31. Within one month of the final decision:
• Apologise (in line with our guidance on making an effective apology) to Mrs X and Y for the injustice caused by the faults it identified;
• Pay Mrs X a symbolic payment of £300 to recognise her injustice;
• Pay Y the symbolic payment of £300 it offered to recognise their injustice; and
• Backdate the direct payments paid for Mrs X for transport costs to mid-September 2023.
32. Within two months of the final decision:
• The Council should send written reminders to relevant Council staff to cover the following:
1. ensure arrangements for risk assessments for an individual’s transport arrangements, and the sharing of these with the transport provider, are monitored and not left to drift; and
2. It should also outline good practice to staff to say that if the Council is unable to carry out actions as communicated to a complainant, it should proactively update them promptly with the reasons why.
33. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Final decision

34. I found fault with the Council which caused injustice to Mrs X and Y. I have upheld the complaint and the Council has agreed appropriate actions to remedy this. I have completed my investigation.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman