Summary: Mr X complained the Council stopped his care package following a care and needs assessment in January 2020. There was no fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council stopped his care package following a care and needs assessment in January 2020.
2. He says that as a result, he is struggling with preparing his meals and keeping his house clean and tidy.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with a council’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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I spoke to Mr X and considered his view of his complaint.
6. I made enquiries of the Council and considered the information it provided. This included Mr X’s care and support assessments from 2019 and 2020.

Mr X the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered these comments before I made a final decision.

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What I found

Care Act 2014

7. The Care Act 2014 and Care and Support Statutory Guidance 2014 require local authorities to carry out an assessment for any adult with an appearance of need for care and support. They must provide an assessment to all people regardless of their finances or whether the local authority thinks an individual has eligible needs. The assessment must be of the adult’s needs and how they impact on their wellbeing and the results they want to achieve. It must also involve the individual and where suitable their carer or any other person they might want involved.
8. The assessment determines what the person's needs are and whether the person has any needs which are eligible for support from the council. Where councils have determined that a person has any eligible needs, they must meet those needs.
9. The person's needs and how they will be met must be set out in a care and support plan. 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. The plan must also include the outcomes the carer wishes to achieve, and their wishes around providing care, work, education and recreation where support could be relevant.

What happened

10. Mr X has mild learning difficulties. Previously, the Council has assessed him as having eligible needs relating to meals and food choices and keeping his house clean and tidy. As a result, Mr X received two half hour visits a day. Two carers attended each time to manage potential risks to staff safety from Mr X.
11. Mr X had previously been detained in hospital under section 3 of the Mental Health Act. This meant that he did not have to make a financial contribution towards the costs of his care once he left hospital.
12. In April 2019, the Council reassessed Mr X. Mr X was deemed to have capacity and not to require an advocate. Professionals present at the review included a social worker and a specialist nurse for learning difficulties and mental health. A manager from the company providing Mr X’s care was consulted via telephone.
13. The assessment recorded the following about Mr X’s eligible needs:

“[Mr X] presented as having an exaggerated sense of his own care needs…[Mr X] has evidence he is able to prepare a range of meals … [he] has continued to make his own choices about what he eats and is not interested in exploring different options … whilst he is not particularly keen on household tasks and domestic activities, and would rather this was done for him, he had demonstrated that he is able to maintain a reasonable home environment… [The care provider’s] view is that he is capable of managing independently and does not need support from them”.

14. The assessment recorded Mr X no longer had any eligible needs.
15. In January 2020, the Council carried out another assessment of Mr X. Again, Mr X was deemed to have capacity and not to require an advocate. This recorded Mr X wished for carers to help with food preparation and keeping his house clean and tidy. The assessment determined Mr X was able to meet these needs, and all other eligible needs. It said that if he wished to, Mr X could arrange his own care but he would have to pay for it himself out of his benefits which totalled around £250 a week.
16. Mr X was unhappy and complained to the Council and then to us.

My findings

17. It is not the Ombudsman's role to decide what, if any, care and support a person needs. That is the Council's role. The Ombudsman's role is to consider if the Council has followed the correct process for establishing a person's needs.
18. I have considered Mr X’s 2019 and 2020 social care and needs assessments and whether the Council carried them out in line with the law.
19. Mr X and other relevant professionals took part in both reviews. The assessment demonstrated the assessor considered whether Mr X had capacity and the need for an advocate. The assessments described Mr X’s history, his social care needs and his views of the care he felt he required. The assessments concluded Mr X was able to achieve all of his eligible needs without support and explained why. Where he had needed support in the past, the assessments explained why the situation had changed. The Council informed Mr X he was no longer eligible for support. There was no fault in the Council’s actions.
20. Mr X is unhappy with the Council’s decision. The Ombudsman cannot question a decision just because a person disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was made. As there was no fault in the process, I will not question the decision.

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Final decision

21. There was no fault in the Council’s actions. Therefore, I have completed my investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman