Summary: It was not fault for the Council not to provide the service Mr X wanted, as its assessment found he was not eligible. The Council accepts and apologises that it did not at first communicate with Mr X as quickly as it could have done, which added to his frustration.

The complaint

1. Mr X (as I shall call the complainant) complains the Council will not support him to access training. He also complains the Council has delayed in providing him information in a way he can understand.

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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’. If there has been fault which has caused an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
3. 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

4. I considered the information provided by the Council and by Mr X. We spoke to Mr X. Both the Council and Mr X had the opportunity to comment on an earlier draft of this statement and I considered their comments before I reached a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

5. Sections 9 and 10 of the Care Act 2014 require councils to carry out an assessment for any adult with an appearance of need for care and support. They must provide an assessment to everyone regardless of their finances or whether the council thinks the person 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.
6. An adult’s needs are only eligible (according to the Care and Support (Eligibility Criteria) Regulations 2014 where they meet all three of these conditions:
• the adult’s needs arise from or are related to physical or mental impairment or illness;
• as a result of the adult’s needs the adult is unable to achieve two or more specified outcomes;
• as a consequence, there is, or is likely to be, a significant impact on the adult’s well-being.

An adult with possible care and support needs (or a carer) may choose to refuse an assessment. In these circumstances councils do not have to carry out an assessment.

7. The reasonable adjustment duty is set out in the Equality Act 2010 and applies to any body which carries out a public function. It aims to make sure that a disabled person can use a service as close as it is reasonably possible to get to the standard usually offered to non-disabled people. When the duty arises, service providers are under a positive and proactive duty to take steps to remove or prevent obstacles to accessing their service. If the adjustments are reasonable, they must make them.

What happened

8. Mr X has had clinical assessments which show that he has a condition similar to, but not identified as, autism. He is not able to read and cannot access written documents. Mr X is interested in CB radio and wants the Council to provide support to enable him to obtain a CB license.
9. In 2015, 2016 and 2019 the Council assessed Mr X’s eligible needs. The assessments identified Mr X had a need for training but was not eligible for support from the Council as he did not have needs over two of the specified domains.
10. The assessment said the Council could refer Mr X to the voluntary sector to find support with letter writing and reading the questions which would help him to obtain his CB license. Mr X declined the offer of a referral. He was unhappy with the prospect of assistance from someone who was not trained.
11. Mr X complained to the Council. Initially he complained through his solicitor who requested the Council consider making a discretionary payment instead. The Council declined to do so. It said there were community and voluntary resources available to Mr X. It said the local area co-ordinator was ready to talk to Mr X to enable him to access the available resources.
12. The Council says at the moment Mr X will not accept voluntary assistance. It says he has also declined a further Care Act assessment to see if his eligibility status has changed.
13. Mr X complained the Council delayed in giving him information in a way he could access. He will not give his telephone number or email address to Council officers. He will accept letters copied onto CD audio files for him and he says he will then telephone the Council in response.
14. Mr X says more recently an officer said he would send Mr X an information pack which Mr X’s mother would help him complete, but this too was delayed.
15. The Council says it offered to send Mr X letters with a telephone number which he could call and have the letter read to him, but he declined. The Council says it does not have in-house access to CD recording hardware and this had to be sourced, causing a delay. It goes on, “There was an issue because audio transfer files are not a “standard” on laptops, so I was waiting for this to be put on by our IT team. After a number of weeks, I agreed with the contractor I would send them an e-mail with written letter for them to record on to CD as the file transfer software would take some time to be actioned. The CD was produced, sent to us and posted out first class.”
16. The Council accepts there was a delay in communicating with Mr X and says this was due to a lack of the right software in the Council. It says it has provided CDs in response to his complaints but cannot provide CDs as a standard way of communicating with him on every issue. It adds that while it was dealing with his complaint, he was telephoning officers with questions “and Adult Care were providing statements to be read out to him when he called back to ensure there was no delay in giving him the information. He was calling providing questions he would like answers to and we were providing those answers”. However, it says that while it respected his wish for this way of communication, it did not allow for the sort of clarification and face-to-face discussion it would prefer.

Analysis

17. The Council assessed Mr X’s needs in accordance with the Care Act and found he was not eligible for funded support. That was not fault.
18. The Council offered to help Mr X find the support he needed in the voluntary sector, but he has refused. That is his choice but is not the fault of the Council.
19. There were communication difficulties between Mr X and the Council. He will not give the Council his contact details which means the Council cannot send him letters by audio file. The only way Mr X will accept communication from the Council is by audio CD.
20. The Council has provided audio CD to respond to Mr X’s complaint but says it would not be reasonable for it to use CDs for every communication with him. That is not fault on the part of the Council. There are other ways Mr X could communicate with the Council, but he refuses to do.
21. The Council has offered a further Care Act assessment to see if Mr X’s needs have changed but he has refused the offer.

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Final decision

22. I have completed this investigation as there is no evidence of fault on the part of the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman