Summary: Mr X complains on behalf of his son, Mr Y, that the Council says it needs to review Mr Y’s care and support plan before producing a new personal budget. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because it is unlikely an investigation would find fault by the Council.

The complaint

1. Mr X, represented by a solicitor I shall call Miss Z, complains on behalf of his son, Mr Y, that the Council says it needs to review Mr Y’s care and support plan before producing a new personal budget. Mr X says that this review would not be necessary if the Council had completed the re-assessment properly in the first place. He says that a review would be very distressing for Mr Y.

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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’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start or continue with an investigation if we believe it is unlikely we would find fault. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered the complaint and the information provided by the Council. I have written to Miss Z with my draft decision and given her an opportunity to comment.

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What I found

4. Mr Y has autism and severe learning disabilities and lives at home with his parents, who care for him. The Council provides a package of care and support to meet Mr Y’s eligible needs.
5. In October 2018, the Council reassessed Mr Y’s care and support needs. It also carried out a carer’s assessment of Mr X and his wife. Mr X says that the assessment report did not contain everything discussed at the assessment and told the Council this. The Council says the report is an accurate reflection of the assessment meeting.
6. The Council says that in order to include the issues identified by Mr X, the Council needs to carry out a new face to face review of Mr Y’s care and support needs. This is because the proposed revisions are likely to change the personal budget produced to meet Mr Y’s eligible care and support needs.
7. Mr X says that the Council should review the plan without the need for a face to face assessment. He says that Mr Y’s complex needs mean that such face to face assessments are particularly distressing for both him and his parents.
8. The Ombudsman’s usual recommendation if the Council’s assessment is considered inadequate is to conduct a new assessment. The Council has already offered to do this. The Council is best placed to decide if it needs to conduct this review face to face or not. Therefore, it is unlikely that an investigation would find fault by the Council in asking to review Mr Y’s care and support needs.

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Final decision

9. The Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint because it is unlikely an investigation would find fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman