Summary: Mr X complained the Council was at fault in the way it provided social care support to him causing distress and decline in his mental health. We have found no evidence of fault in the way the Council has dealt with these matters. So, we have completed our investigation.

The complaint

1. I have called the complainant Mr X. He complains there were failings in the way the Council provided social care support to him causing distress and his mental health to decline.

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What I have investigated

2. I have investigated Mr X’s concerns about the social care support provided to him in 2022. The final part of my statement explains why I have not investigated the Council’s support to Mr X before 2022 although I have explained the services provided before then as background information.

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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 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. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended)
5. 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

6. I have read the information sent by Mr X and spoken to him on the telephone. I considered the Council’s comments about the complaint and the supporting documents it provided.
7. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Background to the complaint

8. Mr X is a young adult with Asperger’s syndrome, learning disabilities and other medical conditions. The Council says Mr X has capacity. This means he can make his own decisions about his care and support needs and does not need anyone else to make decisions for him. Mr X has an advocate to support him. Mr X has been known to the Council’s Learning Disability service for many years and has a social worker to support him.
9. In 2017 Mr X’s mother, Mrs Y came to live with Mr X to help and provide support to him as a carer. The Council assessed Mr X ‘s needs for care and support. It said Mr X needed 6 hours of community support from a personal assistant. The Council drew up a care and support plan for Mr X to explain his needs. It suggested services to help Mr X but says Mr X did not want to use them. Mr X found support services himself, but these would stop after a short while because Mr X decided the service did not suit him or was not what he expected. But Mr X still asked for the support to be in place.
10. In October 2020 the Council did another assessment of Mr X’s care and support needs. It agreed to increase Mr X’s support budget so he could increase his support. Mr X and Mrs Y asked the Council to pay for Mr X’s care and support needs by a direct payment. This allowed them to arrange Mr X’s own support and buy the support he needed. Mrs Y helped manage the direct payments. The arrangement meant they could buy a flexible package of support. But it also meant Mr X and Mrs Y were responsible for arranging the support within the guidance set out by the agreed support plan. The flexible arrangement allowed them to buy in more support when Mrs Y went away regularly to see other members of the family leaving Mr X on his own.
11. Although the support was in place for Mr X and Mrs Y to buy in more support for Mr X, the Council says Mrs Y would go away without arranging it. Or telling the Council she was going away so it could try to arrange support for Mr X. This caused Mr X to worry about managing on his own and having food to eat. Mr X contacted the Council each time Mrs Y went away. Mr X also contacted many other people about his concerns.
12. When Mr X contacted the Council, it visited Mr X to check his welfare. But would find Mr X had gone shopping or taking part in activities. Mr X’s family confirmed to officers Mr X was safe and well with food in the house. The Council says Mr X would be rude to officers carrying out the welfare checks and refused to engage with them.
13. In 2021 Mr X found another support service but did not use it very much. Now the service says it no longer wants to provide him with support. The Council has tried to assess Mr X’s care and support needs again but says Mr X and Mrs Y will not engage in the assessment/support process to do this. The Council suggested other sorts of support for Mr X including a Shared Lives placement or supported accommodation. It reports Mr X refused to talk to the Council about other options and Mrs Y refused to consider supported accommodation for him. But Mr X’s social worker continued to contact Mr X and Mrs Y to try to resolve the difficult situation.

Recent events

14. The Council continued to provide Mr X with a care package. In June 2022 Mr X’s social worker tried to arrange an assessment/support plan meeting with Mr X and Mrs Y. But Mr X and Mrs Y did not respond or cancelled the meetings at short notice. Mr X and Mrs Y have taken legal action to challenge a Council decision to reduce Mr X’s care package. But the Council says it has not decided to increase or decrease Mr X’s care package. This is because Mr X’s care package is still at the assessment/support planning stage. The Council cannot finish the assessment unless Mr X and Mrs Y take part and contribute to the assessment.
15. The Council says Mr X does not use any of the allocated care services identified as he does not want to work with the current providers.
16. In September 2022 Mr X told the Council his relationship with Mrs Y had broken down and he wanted to move to supported accommodation. Mr X’s social worker continues to work closely with him to support him to look at this option. And will continue to work with him to achieve this aim.

My assessment

17. The Council’s documents show it has been providing Mr X with social care support in 2022. Mr X and Mrs Y wanted to buy Mr X’s support themselves through a direct payment and so are responsible for ensuring support is in place when Mr X needs it. The documents show the Council identified suitable support services for Mr X, but he often chosen to find his own support. Mr X then considered it not right for him, stopped using the service and does not buy the extra support when needed. It is unfortunate but I cannot say it has been due to any fault by the Council.
18. The documents provided show the Council has tried to support Mr X when he becomes anxious while Mrs Y is away. It carried out checks on Mr X’s welfare to ensure his safety. There is no evidence of fault by the Council.
19. The Council documents show it regularly contacted Mr X to try and reassess his care needs and has done so in 2022. But Mr X and Mrs Y have not joined in the assessment process. The assessment will help the Council look at Mr X’s needs again and whether he should have more support. Mr X and Mrs Y may wish to consider agreeing to be involved so the Council can create a new care and support plan. The documents show the Council responded to Mr X’s recent concerns and working with Mr X to look at the option of moving into supported accommodation. I do not consider I can achieve anything more for Mr X through further investigation.

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Final decision

20. I am completing my investigation. I have found no evidence of fault by the Council in providing social care support to Mr X.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

21. I am not exercising discretion to consider any concerns Mr X may have about the Council’s social care provision to him before 2022. This is because Mr X’s concerns about these matters are late, and it was open to him to have complained to us before now. This is especially as Mr X has been supported by Mrs Y and an advocate to help him raise any complaints.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman