Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to provide him with adequate social care support. The Council delayed assessing Mr X’s needs. This was fault. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X for the frustration this caused. There was no evidence of fault in the way it assessed his needs or the support provided.

The complaint

1. Mr X complains the Council has failed to provide him with adequate social care support. In particular, he says it closed his case in 2020 without informing him or carrying out a needs assessment and in 2021 refused to change his allocated social worker despite his repeated requests. He says this left him without support.

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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. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in the decision making, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with an organisation’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 have considered the information provided by Mr X and discussed the complaint with him on the phone.
6. I have considered the Council’s response to my enquiries and the relevant law and guidance.
7. I gave Mr X and the Council the opportunity to comment on a draft of this decision and considered any comments I received in reaching a final decision.

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What I found

The relevant law and guidance

8. 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. Where the council identifies “eligible” care needs it will prepare a care and support plan that sets out how those needs will be met.

What happened

9. Below is a summary of the key events. It does not reflect every contact between Mr X and the Council.
10. Mr X has mental health issues. In February 2020 the Council allocated Mr X a social worker who met with Mr X and an NHS mental health support worker in March 2020. The notes record it was agreed that Mr X required a period of stability before the social worker could assess his needs.
11. The NHS worker agreed to update the social worker in a couple of weeks regarding Mr X’s engagement with the mental health team. The social worker requested an update in April 2020. The social worker noted it was not possible to get Mr X involved in community activities at that time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They noted it was important Mr X received support with his mental health initially before they could provide any focused support.
12. The notes record the NHS worker asked the social worker to call Mr X as he was struggling to pay bills. In May 2020 the NHS worker closed Mr X’s case due to non-engagement. The social worker also closed the case.
13. In July 2020 a social worker called Mr X after receiving a referral from Mr X’s GP. They discussed Mr X having a needs assessment as he sought support with daily skills around budgeting, meal planning and access to an advocate. The notes record Mr X did not want this to happen immediately as he was going to a family funeral.
14. The Council referred Mr X to its Living Well Service which works with individuals to support them with community access and finding their own solutions to health and wellbeing issues. The Living Well Service sent Mr X information about eating well and other support services and groups. The Living Well Service had several calls with Mr X before ending its support in late October 2020 as Mr X was not engaging.
15. In April 2021 Mr X raised a safeguarding concern with the Council. An officer spoke to Mr X in April 2021. They noted Mr X had complained to the NHS about his support and was not satisfied with its response and he also felt he needed social care support. The officer advised him to contact the Ombudsman about the NHS response as this was a complaint rather than safeguarding and to contact his GP for support from mental health services. The Council closed the safeguarding concern.
16. Mr X complained to the Council that the social worker had not contacted him or offered any support. He also complained the Council would not accept a safeguarding concern.
17. The Council wrote to Mr X in April 2021. It apologised that the social worker had closed the case without informing him and agreed to allocate him a social worker. It noted it had received a safeguarding referral from him but his concerns were about his dissatisfaction with the responses he had received to his complaints about the NHS. The complaints were being dealt with by the correct agencies and did not meet the safeguarding threshold.
18. The social worker assessed Mr X’s needs in May 2021. They identified he had some support needs around daily living skills such as budgeting and meal planning and for support and advice with social activities.
19. In late May 2021 the Council allocated Mr X a support worker. The support worker spoke with Mr X in early June. Mr X wanted support with budgeting and getting some structure in his life. Mr X and the support worker set some goals for Mr X to achieve such as support with accessing a gym. The support worker also sent Mr X information about healthy eating and sleep.
20. The support worker visited a gym with Mr X and supported him at a meeting with his housing association. They also applied for funding for Mr X for a washing machine and kitchen items.
21. In June 2021 Mr X’s social worker contacted his NHS advocate who confirmed they were supporting him with his NHS complaint.
22. Mr X contacted his social worker in July 2021 and asked what was happening with the safeguarding concern he raised. The social worker advised it was closed. He had an advocate to support him with his complaint about the NHS and the social worker and support worker were supporting Mr X with his care needs. Mr X was unhappy and the support worker noted Mr X felt let down by social services.
23. Mr X also contacted the Council in July 2021. He wanted to raise a safeguarding concern about his lack of support from the NHS. Mr X’s social worker contacted him. They noted they tried to explain his advocate was supporting him with his NHS complaint. Mr X told the social worker not to call back.
24. The support worker contacted Mr X in early August to advise him the funding for a washing machine and kitchen items had been approved. The support worker contacted Mr X several times to arrange to meet with Mr X but he did not want to meet with the support worker and later asked that they stop contacting him. The support worker later ended their involvement as Mr X chose not to engage.
25. In September 2021 Mr X contacted the Council and said that he was unhappy with the support provided by mental health services, the social worker and support worker. A team manager called Mr X to discuss his concerns. The notes record they attempted to discuss solutions but Mr X did not want to work with either of them anymore.
26. In January 2022 the Council wrote to Mr X to advise him to contact the Council if he still required support. Mr X then spoke with a team manager who offered him a review of his care needs with his social worker but Mr X refused. The Council therefore wrote to Mr X to close his case as he had declined the support offered.
27. In February 2022 Mr X submitted a formal complaint to the Council. He referred to 2020 when the social worker closed his case. He requested a change of social worker because his social worker had spoken to his NHS advocate without his permission and he considered the social worker clashed with him and triggered his mental health. The Council initially responded that it would not change his social worker. It then wrote and offered Mr X a different social worker to carry out a reassessment to identify any social care needs. It explained the Council could not offer psychological or psychiatric assessments or intervention and it could not prescribe medication or therapy. It said support in this area was a health need. And it could support him to access a GP if he did not have one.
28. Mr X remained unhappy and complained to us.

Findings

29. 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 in assessing a person’s needs.
30. When a social worker first met with Mr X in March 2020 they agreed to wait before assessing his needs. However, the Council later closed the case without carrying out an assessment and without informing Mr X of its decision. This was fault. When Mr X contacted the Council again, in July 2020, a social worker discussed his needs but did not complete a needs assessment which was also fault.
31. When Mr X complained to the Council, it allocated another social worker who carried a needs assessment. This resulted in Mr X receiving support from a support worker. I have seen no evidence of fault in the way the social worker assessed Mr X’s needs.
32. Had the Council properly assessed Mr X’s needs earlier it is likely it would have allocated Mr X a support worker sooner. Mr X did receive some support from the Council’s Living Well Service which ended due to Mr X’s non-engagement. Mr X’s support from his support worker also ended in September 2021 due to Mr X’s non-engagement. I therefore cannot know what would have happened if Mr X had received this support earlier. However, the delay in assessing his needs caused him some frustration.
33. Mr X chose to end the support from his support worker in September 2021 and requested a different social worker. I have seen no evidence of fault in the support provided to Mr X by his social worker or by the support worker. The Council sought to encourage Mr X to keep the same workers for stability and consistency. When he refused this, it allocated a different social worker. There was no fault in the Council’s actions.
34. When Mr X raised a safeguarding concern, the Council considered it did not meet the threshold for a safeguarding enquiry. It was satisfied his concerns about the NHS were being dealt with through the NHS complaints process and Mr X had advocacy support with this. It had assessed and was meeting Mr X’s care needs. The Council was not at fault.

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Agreed action

35. Within one month the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X for the frustration caused by the delay in assessing his needs.

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Final decision

36. I have completed my investigation. There was evidence of fault by the Council which caused injustice for which the Council has agreed to apologise.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman