Summary: Mr X complained the Council delayed the assessment of his need for care and support. We have found fault by the Council causing injustice. The Council has agreed to remedy this by apologising to Mr X and Mrs Y.

The complaint

1. The complainant, who I am calling Mr X, complains the Council delayed the assessment of need for care and support. Mr X’s mother, who I am calling Mrs Y, has brought the complaint on his behalf. She says:

• The Council knew about Mr X’s need for care and support in September 2020 but did not complete his assessment until May 2022; and
• Because of the delay he missed out on the care and support he needed.

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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 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

4. I spoke to Mrs Y, made enquiries of the Council and read the information Mrs Y and the Council provided about the complaint
5. I invited Mrs Y and the Council to comment on a draft version of this decision. I considered their responses before making my final decision.

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What I found

What should have happened

Adult Social Care

6. Councils must carry out an assessment for any adult with an appearance of need for care and support. 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 involve the individual and where suitable their carer and any other person they may want to involve. (Care Act 2014, Sections 9 and 10)
7. A council must carry out the assessment over an appropriate and reasonable timescale considering the urgency of needs and any variation in those needs. It should keep the person updated throughout the assessment. (Care and Support Statutory Guidance 2014, Paragraph 6.24)
8. If the needs assessment identifies eligible needs, the council will provide a support plan setting out what services are required to meet these needs.

What happened

9. I have set out a summary of the key events below. It is not meant to show everything that happened.
10. I have investigated what happened from September 2020 but have set out some background by way of context.
11. In 2017 the Council’s ASC team completed an assessment of Mr X’s need for care and support. Mr X declined the proposed support. In view of this, ASC advised Mr X in January 2018 it would close his case, but he could refer himself again in the future if his need for support increased.

September 2020 to June 2021

12. Mrs Y has two younger children. In September she asked the Council’s Children’s Services to carry out a carer’s assessment for her, regarding the support she provided to her children. She was told a Children’s Services’ assessment could not include any support she provided for Mr X because he was an adult.
13. Mrs Y says she then contacted ASC who referred her to an organisation it commissioned to carry out assessments for carers of adults. ASC wrote to Mrs Y in September confirming her case was closed to the team, but they could see she had contacted the organisation about a carer’s assessment.
14. The organisation’s carer’s assessment for Mrs Y dealt mainly with her support for Mr X. Mrs Y confirmed in the assessment Mr X had not received and was not waiting for an assessment by the Council of his care and support needs.
15. I understand Children’s Services and ASC were sent Mrs Y’s carer’s assessment.
16. In November Children’s Services completed a carer’s assessment for Mrs Y for her role supporting her younger children.
17. In April and June 2021, when her younger children turned 18, Mrs Y contacted ASC about their support needs.

August 2021 to May 2022

18. On 31 August Mrs Y made a referral to ASC for an assessment of Mr X’s need for care and support. She said she had previously told the Council about his need for an assessment. It should have asked her about Mr X in response to her carer’s assessment.
19. ASC contacted Mrs Y about the referral on 3 September. It told her it could not say when it would carry out Mr X’s assessment because there was a waiting list. It also wrote to Mr X confirming the referral had been received and advised him about the waiting list.
20. In January Mrs Y complained to the Council about the delay in completing Mr X’s assessment.
21. ASC wrote to Mr X on 27 January offering him an assessment appointment in February.
22. As Mr X did not reply to ASC, the February appointment was cancelled. After further contact another appointment was arranged for April. The assessment could not be completed because Mr X declined to engage with the social worker.
23. ASC were able to carry out an assessment appointment with Mr X in May. His assessment was completed on 31 May. He was assessed as having eligible needs and offered four hours a week of support from a personal assistant.

The Council’s response to Mrs Y’s complaint

24. In its final response of 21 February 2021, the Council said ASC had allocated Mr X’s case to a social worker and contacted him to arrange an assessment appointment.
25. In its response to us, the Council said it did not receive a request for an assessment of Mr X’s need for care and support during the period from September 2020, until Mrs Y’s referral on 31 August 2021. The delay in completing the assessment following this referral was due to the high level of demand for assessments at that time.

My findings – was there fault by the Council causing injustice?

September 2020 to August 2021

26. Mrs Y had been in contact with the Council about a carer’s assessment for her role supporting the younger children and her role supporting Mr X.
27. I understand ASC were provided with a copy of the assessment, by an organisation it commissioned to carry out carer’s assessments, of her role supporting Mr X. But ASC had had no involvement with Mr X for some years before 2020. I do not consider being provided with a copy of Mrs Y’s carer’s assessment, on its own, was enough to amount to a referral or a request by or on behalf of Mr X for an assessment of his need for care and support.
28. Based on the evidence I have seen, I do not consider the Council was asked to carry out an assessment of Mr X’s needs in the period from September 2020, until Mrs Y made the referral on his behalf on 31 August 2021.
29. I do not consider it was fault by the Council not to start an assessment process for Mr X in the period from September 2020 to 31 August 2021.

September 2021 to May 2022

30. Although the referral was made on 31 August 2021, the Council did not contact Mr X about arranging an assessment appointment until 27 January 2022. I note this was after Mrs Y complained about the delay.
31. This was nearly five months after the date of the referral. My view is this was not an appropriate or reasonable timescale.
32. The Council then completed the assessment between January 2022 and May 2022. I consider this was an appropriate and reasonable timescale for completing the assessment, taking into account the issues with Mr X’s engagement in the process.
33. The Council has not given any explanation for the five-month delay in starting the assessment process from 31 August 2021 to 27 January 2022, other than saying there was a waiting list for assessments because of the high level of demand.
34. My view is the Council’s failure to start the assessment process within a reasonable and appropriate timescale was fault.
35. I consider this fault caused Mr X and Mrs Y injustice. The delay caused them additional uncertainty about when Mr X’s needs would be assessed and whether any support would be offered.
36. I understand that the Council has now agreed to backdate Mr X’s direct payments for personal assistant support to September 2021.
37. The Council has also confirmed the action it has taken to reduce delays in its assessment process. It has told us it:

• reviewed its autism service in January 2022, due to the increased demands of the population for assessments which it was struggling to support;
• developed a proposal to address the demand on the service and acknowledge the need for closer local relationships with other agencies. It proposed moving the work currently completed by the autism service into locality teams and for this to sit within the mental health social care teams; and
• completed the transfer of this work in June 2022.

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Agreed action

38. To remedy the injustice caused by the above faults and, within four weeks from the date of our final decision, the Council has agreed to:

• apologise to Mr X and Mrs Y for the delay in starting the assessment process and the uncertainty this caused.

39. The Council should provide us with evidence it has completed the above actions.

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Final decision

40. I have completed my investigation and found fault by the Council causing injustice. The above actions are a suitable way to remedy the injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman