Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to properly assess her care needs and to put the right support in place for her. We do not find the Council at fault.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council failed to properly assess her care needs and to put the right support in place for her. Miss X says the Council has incorrectly reduced her care hours and has not accounted for the additional help she needs to care for her baby. Miss X says this has caused her stress and means she is not receiving the care she needs. She would like the Council to increase her budget so she receives more hours of support.

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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. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), 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)

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How I considered this complaint

5. I spoke to Miss X about her complaint and considered information she provided. I also considered information received from the Council.
6. Ms X and the organisation 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

7. Sections 9 and 10 of the Care Act 2014 require councils to carry out an assessment for any adult with an appearance of need for care and support. They must provide an assessment to everyone regardless of their finances or whether the council thinks the person has eligible needs. 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 also involve the individual and where suitable their carer or any other person they might want involved.
8. The care and support plan should consider:
• the needs of an individual
• what they want to achieve
• what they can do by themselves or with existing support
• what care and support may be available in the local area. 
9. Statutory guidance states that an assessment should take into account the parenting responsibilities of the person.

What happened

10. Miss X was eligible for care and support from the Council due to her health conditions.
11. Following the birth of her baby, Miss X advised the Council that she was funding additional care through her direct payments. She felt she needed 24 hour care, and had arranged for this herself. The Council’s notes confirm that it had not carried out an assessment which deemed this level of support necessary.
12. The Council reassessed Miss X’s care and support needs. The assessment showed that Miss X had a range of needs, which were significant in some areas. It recorded Miss X required support to:
• maintain a sufficiently clean and safe home.
• manage her nutrition.
• maintain personal hygiene.
• get dressed and undressed.
13. The assessment explained Miss X’s needs were currently met by personal assistants and carers. It found Miss X could manage her own finances, her own toilet needs, develop and maintain relationships and make use of necessary facilities or services in the local community if accompanied. The assessment noted Miss X did not have any support needs to access and engage in work, training education, or volunteering.
14. The care assessment explained Miss X believed she required 24-hour care to safely meet her needs as a parent. The assessment said Miss X was self-funding six personal assistants to help bathe her baby, change nappies, support with bottle feeds, and take her baby out for long walks without Miss X. The assessment said this was not sustainable in the long term and noted Miss X had a good support network of family and friends to provide support. It also noted Adult Care was working with Child Services to establish what assistance Miss X would need with her baby.
15. Following the reassessment a new budget of £460 a week was put in place. The Council stated this would be suitable to fund around 34 hours of care a week. For example:
• 1.5 hours of care in the morning each day- to assist Miss X with breakfast, lunch preparation, being present as Miss X meets her personal care, light domestic tasks, supporting Miss X with care for her baby.
• 1.5 hours of care in the evening each day- to support with an evening meal. Light domestic tasks, supporting Miss X to care for her baby.
• 2.5 hours, 5 times a week- sufficient for carers to be out with Miss X and her daughter to attend baby groups, social activities, shopping. To be used as an when needed.
16. Miss X was unhappy with this assessment as her budget had been reduced. She also felt the hours available would not provide enough support for her or her baby.
17. Miss X complained to the Council. In its response the Council explained Miss X’s budget had been reduced by £6.25 a week, which amounted to around 30 minutes of care a week. However, the Council felt Miss X’s needs had been considered and the level of care was appropriate.
18. Miss X says the Council have failed to recognise she is a single mother with disabilities and have not allocated support to help her care for her baby. She states she needs help to look after her daughter, but this has not been taken into account. She is unhappy her hours have been reduced.
19. The Council says it has considered Miss X’s needs in full. It says is has a duty to consider her role as a mother, and to support her in meeting this role. It says it has done this in its assessment and support planning. However, it states adult care services do not have a responsibility to provide funding to look after Miss X’s daughter independently.

Analysis

20. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to decide what, if any, care and support a person needs. That is the Council’s role. The Ombudsman’s role is to consider if the Council has followed the correct process of establishing a person’s needs and if it acted correctly when this process was complete. In doing so we look at the information the council considered, and if it took account of the service user’s wishes.
21. The care needs assessment and support plans I have seen seem to consider Miss X’s needs and what support she was already receiving to meet these. I find no fault with how the Council reviewed Miss X’s care needs or how it decided what support was needed.
22. Miss X says she does not feel 34 hours of support is sufficient to meet her needs, in particular as a parent. The Council met with Miss X, listened to her views, and tried to understand what additional support she needed. The Council considered both Miss X’s own needs and her needs as a parent throughout the assessment and support plan.
23. Although Miss X strongly disagrees, the Council was satisfied 34 hours of support was enough based on her eligible care needs. That was down to the social worker’s professional judgement and a decision it was entitled to take. I do not find the Council at fault here.
24. The support Miss X needs to meet her parenting responsibilities are separable from her daughter’s specific care needs. The Council considered what support Miss X needed when putting its package of care together. It has confirmed its Adult Care team is working with Child Services to establish what additional support it needs to put in place for Miss X’s daughter. I find no fault with the process the Council has followed here. If Miss X is unhappy with the support she has received from the Council’s Child Services team, she is free to raise a new complaint about this.

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Final Decision

25. I find no fault with the process the Council followed when assessing Miss X’s care and support needs.

Investigator’s final decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman