Summary

Complaint from a couple that the council failed to properly consider their needs before reducing the amount of respite care for the woman's sister.

Finding

The Ombudsman upheld the complaint and found fault causing injustice.

Recommendations

To remedy the injustice caused, the council should:

• reinstate the respite to the eight weeks originally agreed;

• award any respite missed due to the incorrect reduction;

• send a letter of apology to the couple;

• review the process for the allocation of respite.

The council has already carried out these recommendations.

The council should also, within three months of the date of this report, provide a remedy, equivalent to the one set out above, to any other service users whose respite it cut without assessing their needs. The council should provide us with a copy of these remedies.

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