Summary: Mrs X complained on behalf of her mother, Mrs Y. She complained Mrs Y’s social care support and fuel payments were paused at the start of the Covid 19 lockdown, but then cancelled without warning. Mrs X also complained about poor communication from the Council and delays completing adaptations when Mrs Y was moving home. Mrs X says this has caused uncertainty and distress. There was fault in the way the Council communicated with Mrs X and Mrs Y. The Council will make a payment to Mrs X and confirm its decisions relating to Mrs Y’s care.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained on behalf of her mother, Mrs Y. She complained Mrs Y’s social care support and fuel payments were paused at the start of the Covid 19 lockdown, but then cancelled without warning. Mrs X also complained about poor communication from the Council and delays completing adaptations when Mrs Y was moving home. Mrs X says this has caused uncertainty and distress.

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What I have and have not investigated

2. I have investigated the part of Mrs X’s complaint about the social care package. The final section of this statement contains my reasons for not investigating the rest of the complaint.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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

5. I read Mrs X’s complaint and spoke to her about it on the phone.
6. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
7. Mrs 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 information

8. The Care Act 2014 gives councils a legal responsibility to provide a care and support plan. The care and support plan should consider what needs the person has, what they want to achieve, what they can do by themselves or with existing support and what care and support may be available in the local area. When preparing a care and support plan the Council must involve any carer the adult has. The support plan must include a personal budget, which is the money the council has worked out it will cost to arrange the necessary care and support for that person.
9. Section 27 of the Care Act 2014 says councils should keep care and support plans under review. Government Care and Support Statutory Guidance says councils should review plans at least every 12 months. Councils should consider a light touch review six to eight weeks after agreeing and signing off the plan and personal budget. They should carry out reviews as quickly as is reasonably practicable in a timely manner proportionate to the needs to be met. Councils must also conduct a review if an adult or a person acting on the adult’s behalf makes a reasonable request for one.
10. Everyone whose needs the Council meets must receive a personal budget as part of the care and support plan. The personal budget gives the person clear information about the money allocated to meet the needs identified in the assessment and recorded in the plan. The Council should share an indicative amount with the person, and anybody else involved, at the start of care and support planning. It should confirm the final amount of the personal budget through this process. The detail of how the person will use their personal budget will be in the care and support plan. The personal budget must always be enough to meet the person’s care and support needs.
11. There are three main ways a personal budget can be administered:

• as a managed account held by the Council with support provided in line with the person’s wishes;
• as a managed account held by a third party with support provided in line with the person’s wishes; or
• as a direct payment.

(Care and Support Statutory Guidance 2014)

12. Direct payments are monetary payments made to individuals who ask for them to meet some or all of their eligible care and support needs. They enable people to arrange their own care and support to meet those needs. The Council must ensure people have relevant and timely information about direct payments so they can decide whether to request them. If they do so, the Council should support them to use and manage the payment properly.

What happened

13. This is a summary of events, outlining key facts and does not cover everything that has occurred in this case.
14. Mrs Y received a package of care from the Council since June 2017 to support her to access weekly groups to support her religious and cultural needs. The package of care also supported her health and wellbeing to swim at a gym suitable for her needs. Mrs Y gave consent for her information to be shared with her daughter, Mrs X, and her son, Mr B.
15. The Council set up a weekly direct payment of £43 to start from December 2018. £35 was to provide fuel for Mrs Y’s family to transport her to groups to meet her religious and cultural needs. £8 per week was for a gym membership to support her health and wellbeing.
16. The Council contacted Mrs X in April 2020 and confirmed the £8 per week was not being used. She stated she had personally been paying for Mrs Y to access swimming at the gym. The Council confirmed Mrs X did not agree to cancelling the direct payment but agreed it would be paused as the swimming pool and cultural groups were not open due to the national Covid 19 lockdown. The support plan was updated in June 2020 and confirmed the support plan was suspended until further notice due to the national lockdown. Mrs Y was supported by her family while the support package was suspended.
17. The Council completed a social care assessment in September 2021 and confirmed Mrs Y remained eligible for support. The Council updated the support plan in October 2021 and the direct payment was changed to £35 per week to pay for fuel for Mrs Y to access cultural activities. The Council sent an email to Mrs X to confirm this change.
18. In November the Council completed an adult social care review. The review confirmed Mrs Y had previously spent the full £43 per week on fuel to access her community. The Council advised Mrs Y money would need to be recovered as only £35 was for fuel. Mr B discussed the removal of the £8 per week for a gym membership and stated he would like Mrs Y to access swimming at the gym. The Council told him this was not possible for the Council to fund this and if Mrs Y wanted to access the gym, she would need to pay for this herself.
19. Mrs X contacted the Council in December 2021 and requested the £8 per week payment start again and to consider reviewing the £35 per week payment as fuel costs had increased.
20. The Council completed a review in January 2022. It stated to Mrs X social care would not pay for Mrs Y to go swimming as this was a health need. It did not explain why this payment had previously been agreed. The Council confirmed it would pay for someone to support her to go swimming. The Council confirmed it would request the fuel payment was increased to £40 per week and request four hours per week for a personal assistant to support Mrs Y to go swimming.
21. The Council held a meeting in February and agreed to increase the personal assistant hours to ten hours per week. This removed the payment for fuel.
22. Mr B spoke to the Council at the start of March and confirmed the family did not want to use a personal assistant to support Mrs Y to go swimming. He confirmed the family were providing this support. Mr B was informed fuel was no longer paid for with the direct payment. Mrs X emailed the Council to request fuel costs were reimbursed. The Council told Mrs X the direct payment does not include fuel costs and is to be used to employ a personal assistant to support Mrs Y to access swimming and events to meet her religious and cultural needs. Mrs X requested the Council change the payments back to fuel and gym payments.
23. Mrs X complained to the Council in March about it changing the package of care and not informing her. Mrs X stated swimming is a relaxing and suitable exercise for Mrs Y. The complaint also confirmed Mrs Y had agreed to the change to a direct payment to employ a personal assistant but did not know what this was. Mrs X stated the family felt there was a lack of information provided about changing the support plan.
24. In April the Council changed the support plan again. The new package of care was £40 per week for fuel and four hours per week to employ a personal assistant to support Mrs Y to go swimming. The package was backdated to the start of February when the Council changed the package of care.
25. The Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint in the middle of April. The Council apologised if the change was not adequately communicated to the family. It confirmed swimming was a health need and social care would not fund this but would fund a personal assistant to support Mrs Y to access swimming. The Council stated it had increased the weekly fuel cost payment due to the higher cost of petrol.
26. In May the Council spoke to Mrs X about the direct payment. Mrs X was unclear about what the direct payment could be used for and had concerns about employing personal assistants. The Council emailed Mrs X and confirmed if Mrs Y did not want to deal with being an employer, a team can manage the account for her.
27. In June Mrs X emailed the Council to request the payment for the personal assistant was backdated to February when the payments originally changed. She stated Mr B would be a personal assistant. The Council responded and requested additional information about what support was being offered before it would make any payment.
28. In July, Council officers met and confirmed the money for the personal assistant had not been used and would be reclaimed in accordance with the signed direct payment agreement. The Council also raised concerns the family had overspent on fuel.
29. In August Mrs X spoke to the Council and requested the ten hours per week for a personal assistant was backdated to February. The Council confirmed the package was not ten hours but had gone back to four hours per week and £40 per week for fuel. It stated it had requested information from the family about what support was offered and who provided support.
30. Mrs X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and has asked the Ombudsman to investigate. Mrs X would like the Council to compensate her family for the distress and uncertainty the Council has caused.
31. In response to my enquiries the Council stated the package of care had not stopped but had changed to provide four hours per week to provide a personal assistant to support Mrs Y to access swimming and £40 per week for fuel.

My findings

32. The Council completed a review of the support plan in September 2021 and included Mrs Y’s family in the review. It explained the package of care would be changed and would no longer include the £8 per week for gym membership for Mrs Y to go swimming. It did offer four hours per week for a personal assistant to support her to go swimming. The Council was not at fault.
33. The Council has acknowledged there was confusion when the support package changed. It was at this point the Council identified it should not have paid £8 per week as this was for a health need and could not be funded by social care. This is fault but this has not caused Mrs Y an injustice. Mrs Y benefited from this payment for an extended period.
34. The family were offered four hours per week personal assistant support and £35 per week for fuel. This then changed to ten hours per week personal assistant support. I cannot evidence why this change occurred and find no evidence this was discussed with or confirmed with the family prior to the change being made. This is fault and has caused Mrs X and Mrs Y an injustice as this has caused uncertainty and distress.
35. The package was then changed back to pay for fuel and offered four hours personal assistant support per week. This change was backdated to when the Council changed the package of care to ten hours per week. The Council apologised for the poor communication. I cannot add to the Council response.
36. This situation is currently ongoing. The Council should ensure the package of care is set up and working for Mrs Y.

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Agreed action

37. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused to Mrs X and Y by the fault I have identified, the Council has agreed to take the following action within 4 weeks of my final decision:
• Pay Mrs X £100 as an acknowledgement of the uncertainty and distress caused for Mrs X and Mrs Y due to the poor communication in this case.
• Make a decision on whether to recoup personal assistant hours which have not been used since the decision to backdate was made and communicate this clearly with Mrs Y and her family.
• Make a decision on whether Mr B can provide support once the required additional information has been provided and communicate this clearly with Mrs Y and her family.
38. The Council should provide evidence of the actions taken to satisfy the recommendations.

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Final decision

39. I have completed my investigation. I have found fault by the Council, which caused injustice to Mrs X and Mrs Y.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

40. I have not investigated any reference to the issues around Mrs Y’s house move and the property adaptations. This is because Surrey County Council is only responsible for occupational therapy reports, which it provided promptly. It is not responsible for the move or adaptation. The complaint should be made to another Council to give it the opportunity to fully consider this complaint.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman