Summary: We uphold this complaint. There was delay allocating Ms Y a new social worker. There was further delay in arranging a visit to complete a social care assessment after Ms Y had declined a visit because of ill health. This caused avoidable distress and frustration. The Council will apologise, make a payment of £150 and offer a few dates to meet with Ms Y to complete the assessment.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains for Ms Y that the Council did not allocate a new social worker when the previous one was removed. Ms X says this caused Ms Y avoidable distress.
2. She also complains about a lack of care co-ordination and therapy.

Back to top

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 significant injustice, or that could cause injustice to others in the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), 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)

Back to top

What I have and have not investigated

5. I have investigated the first complaint. I have not investigated the second complaint because care co-ordination and therapy are services the NHS provides. Ms X needs to use the NHS complaints procedure.

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

6. I considered the complaint to us, the Council’s response to the complaint and documents in this statement. I discussed the complaint with Ms X.
7. The parties had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

Back to top

What I found

Relevant law and guidance

8. There is no general requirement for a council to provide long-term support, visits or open-ended contact from a social worker. The law says councils must do the following:
• Provide or arrange services to reduce the need for care and support (Care Act 2014, Section 2)
• Establish and maintain a service providing information and advice to local people about care and support (Care Act 2014, Section 4)
• Assess adults who appear to need care and support (Care Act 2014, Section 9.)

Summary of key events

9. Ms X complained to the Council in December 2022 about the matters she raised with us and about other matters. Ms X said they had lost confidence in the social worker and asked for a different worker to be allocated. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint in December saying:
• The social worker took appropriate steps to resolve issues with the charge for Ms Y’s care. This took longer than expected;
• As Ms Y had lost confidence in the new social worker, another one would be allocated; and
• The new social worker’s role would be to re-assess Ms Y and commission care and support. They would not have “on-going relationship-based input” with Ms Y.
10. At the end of January 2023, Ms X emailed the Council saying she did not understand what “relationship-based input” meant. She said Ms Y had been seeking help with her mental health including a care co-ordinator, trauma therapy and “regular support with tasks related to daily living, but this would need to be free at the point of delivery.”
11. In March 2023, Ms X emailed the Council saying they had asked for a new social worker as part of the original complaint and the Council had not responded to this complaint. The Council’s complaints manager acknowledged Ms X’s email.
12. In May, Ms X chased up the complaints manager who replied within a week with an apology. The complaints manager went on to say she had recommended the relevant service area responded to Ms X about her request for a new social worker for Ms Y. In June, Ms X chased the complaints manager again saying she had not heard anything. A service manager emailed Ms X to say they had allocated a new social worker to Ms Y who would be in touch the following week to discuss assessing Ms Y.
13. At the end of June, Ms X emailed several council officers to say a social worker had spoken to Ms Y. She went on to say the social worker was supposed to have called back to confirm dates for a meeting but had not.
14. The Council’s complaints manager responded saying the service manager had already provided a response and she could complain to the Ombudsman if she remained unhappy.
15. The Council provided me with case records following its allocation of the new social worker. A summary is below:

19 June Internal note asking for Ms Y to be allocated a new social worker urgently.

21 June Social worker is allocated and they called Ms Y. Ms X said she needed more time before seeing anyone. She said her mood was low.

17 August Social worker discussed the case with their seniors. He was advised to try further contact with Ms Y.

18 August Ms X called to say Ms Y had withdrawn consent for the social worker to speak to her GP. She wanted to meet the social worker first. Ms X said the Council needed to give Ms Y a few dates so she could choose the most suitable one.

18 August The social worker sent Ms Y a text with three dates for a meeting. Ms Y texted back with alternative dates including 31 August. The social worker replied with a provisional date of 31 August. Ms Y did not reply.

16. Ms X told me the visit took place on 31 August, but nothing had happened since.
17. The Council told me the social worker was still allocated to Ms Y’s case. And they had contacted Ms X and Ms Y in November to arrange a joint visit.

Findings

18. The Council agreed to allocate a new social worker in its complaint response in December 2022. It did not allocate one until June 2023. This delay of over six months was fault. If a council agrees to do something as part of a complaint response, we expect it to do what it has agreed to do within a reasonable timeframe. Six months is not reasonable.
19. The social worker contacted Ms Y promptly once they received her case. Ms Y declined a visit in June. It appears her mental health was poor. I would expect the social worker to have made further phone contact with Ms X within two weeks to see if she had recovered and if so, to ask if she wanted a visit for an assessment. The failure to make further contact to check Ms Y’s welfare was fault given the social worker’s role was to complete a further social care assessment.
20. If the social worker was unclear about what to action to take after Ms Y had cancelled, they should have sought timely advice from senior staff. This did not happen until August, so the case drifted between June and August with no action, which was fault. A visit then took place in August.
21. There has been a further failure to take any action after the visit at the end of August. This caused the case to drift again and was fault.
22. The Council explained the social worker’s role is to assess Ms Y’s social care needs and not provide an on-going relationship. This is in line with the duty in Section 9 of the Care Act and there is no fault. There is also no fault in saying the social worker wouldn’t provide “ongoing relationship-based support.” The Council meant the social worker wouldn’t have a long-term relationship with Ms Y and was allocated to complete a specific task: a social care assessment. Therapeutic support around mental health is an NHS service and not one for the Council.

Back to top

Agreed action

23. The Council will, within one month of my final decision:
• Apologise and make Ms Y a payment of £150 to reflect her avoidable distress and frustration caused by the delay in allocating her a social worker.
• Offer a few dates to meet Ms Y (and Ms X if Ms Y wishes her advocate to be present) to complete a social care assessment.
24. If Ms Y does not want a social care assessment, there is no further role for the social worker. As explained in paragraph 22, the Council does not have to provide long-term social worker support.
25. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the actions in paragraph 23.

Back to top

Final decision

26. We uphold this complaint. There was delay allocating Ms Y a new social worker. There was further delay in arranging a visit to complete a social care assessment after Ms Y had declined a visit because of ill health. This caused avoidable distress and frustration. The Council will apologise, make a payment of £150 and offer a few dates to meet with Ms Y to complete the assessment.
27. I have completed the investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman