Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s decision to remove her support for cleaning and laundry following a care reassessment. This is because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused by the likely fault.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains about the Council’s decision to remove her support for cleaning and laundry following a care reassessment.

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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 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)

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How I considered this complaint

3. I considered information provided by the complainant and the Council.
4. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

5. Ms X received care and support from the Council. She previously received support for cleaning and ironing services.
6. In 2023, the Council completed a reassessment of Ms X’s needs. In this reassessment, the Council found Ms X did not have any eligible needs for ‘maintaining a habitable home’.
7. If we were to investigate, it is likely we would find fault causing Ms X injustice. This is because the Council’s rationale for why Ms X does not have any eligible needs for maintaining a habitable home appears flawed.
8. The care assessment noted there was no evidence to suggest Ms X’s home is not able to be maintained to a level that is sufficiently clean and safe. However, the care assessment later recognises that Ms X cannot physically complete the tasks (cleaning and laundry) herself. Therefore, It is not clear how the assessment can find Ms X can maintain the property herself, yet at the same time also recognise she cannot physically complete the tasks.
9. Further, the care assessment notes that Ms X’s carers can complete the cleaning and laundry tasks in the time that they are present at the home. However, this is illogical because if Ms X has no eligible needs in this area, the carers should not need to provide any support to meet this outcome. This is because Ms X should be able to achieve the outcome of maintaining a habitable home by herself. By inferring that carers are needed to provide the support, this would suggest Ms X does in fact have an eligible need as she cannot achieve this outcome without their support.
10. I am satisfied the likely fault has caused uncertainty as to whether Ms X’s eligible needs have been properly assessed.
11. We therefore asked the Council to consider remedying the injustice caused by completing a new care reassessment for Ms X. We asked the Council to allocate a different social worker to complete the reassessment.

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Agreed action

12. To its credit, the Council agreed to resolve the complaint and will complete the above within six weeks of the final decision.

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Final decision

13. We have upheld this complaint because the Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused by the likely fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman