Overview:

Key to names used

• Mrs X The complainant and Mr Y’s advocate
• Mr Y The person affected
• Mrs Z Mr Y’s partner and person affected
• Mrs Q Mrs Z’s mother

Summary

Mr Y complained that the Council took four months to complete an assessment of his care and support needs. He says it took a further 16 months to provide the services he needed, but it still did not provide enough. It could not decide which team should assess him because he had autistic spectrum disorder and no learning disability or mental health condition. He had already spent two years trying to get a full assessment. It also took five months to do an inadequate carer’s assessment for Mrs Z.

Finding

Fault found causing injustice and recommendations made.

Recommendations

The Council must consider the report and confirm within three months the action it has taken or proposes to take. The Council should consider the report at its full Council, Cabinet or other appropriately delegated committee of elected members and we will require evidence of this. (Local Government Act 1974, section 31(2), as amended)

To remedy the injustice caused, we made recommendations to the Council which it has agreed to implement. These recommendations are:

• apologise to Mr Y and Mrs Z, setting out the faults identified in this report and the actions the Council has taken, and will take, to avoid similar problems in future;

• pay Mr Y £2,000 for the loss of service and avoidable distress it caused him;

• pay Mrs Z £2,000 for the loss of service and avoidable distress it caused her;

• finalise the Care Act compliant carer’s assessment for Mrs Z and make sure all future carer’s assessments are Care Act compliant;

• review Mr Y’s current support and advise what further work is needed to address the ongoing difficulties he has experienced in engaging suitable support;

To ensure the same problems do not happen again:

• provide us with details of the market engagement work both undertaken and planned, and analysis of the outcomes;

• make sure all assessors and their managers are familiar with the Care and Support Statutory Guidance (which is available online in an easily accessible format) in particular sections 1,2, 6 and 7;

• make sure all relevant staff are clear about how people, including those with ASD, should be directed to suitable assessors who can assess their needs properly;

• make sure at the first point of contact, it considers whether people with ASD will have substantial difficulty being involved in their assessment and will need an advocate;

• put in place an ongoing programme of training in autism so that all assessors and their managers, have regularly updated specialist training. All staff should  receive autism awareness training within the general equality and diversity training programme;

• make sure there is a way of providing easily accessible assessment records electronically and securely to the person assessed.

To put things right for others affected by the same issues:

• identify those with ASD and no learning disability, over the last two years, who have:

  • been declined a full assessment by an assessor without training in ASD;

  • complained about an assessment by an assessor without training in ASD;

  • not been offered an advocate and are currently awaiting assessment or are in the process of being assessed;

• use the information identified above to reopen cases and provide advocacy where needed to support these individuals to complete a fresh needs assessment and ensure any eligible needs are met appropriately; and

The Council should provide us with evidence to satisfy us these actions have been taken.

Ombudsman satisfied with Council's response: 1 February 2023.

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