Surrey County Council (22 007 258)
Category : Adult care services > Assessment and care plan
Decision : Upheld
Decision date : 04 Oct 2022
The Ombudsman's final decision:
Summary: Mr X complains about the lack of support from the Council while he was caring for his great aunt, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mr X by the faults accepted and partially accepted.
The complaint
- Mr X complains about the lack of support from the Council while he was caring for his great aunt, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic period.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
- 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)
How I considered this complaint
- I considered information provided by the complainant.
- I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
My assessment
- The Council investigated Mr X’s complaints and upheld, or partially upheld, some of his complaints. These included: Mr X having to pay for his great aunt’s sundries while her finances were frozen, lack of support from the social worker during the mental capacity assessment process, Mr X being placed under process by the process of obtaining deputyship, and that Mr X felt no one was listening to him.
- Therefore, this suggests the Council accepts Mr X did not receive the level of support he should have while he was caring for his great aunt and during the period he was apply for Deputyship. I consider this would likely have caused Mr X some distress and anxiety.
- While the Council accepted fault, or partial fault, it did not offer Mr X any personal remedy to recognise the injustice caused by the faults. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice by paying Mr X £300.
Agreed action
- To its credit, the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within four weeks of the final decision.
Final decision
- We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused to Mr X by the faults accepted and partially accepted.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman