Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to provide appropriate support to her son, Mr Y, as a child and as adult and did not support him to move out of the family home. There was no fault in the Council’s actions.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council failed to provide appropriate support to her son Mr Y as a child and as adult and did not support him to move out of the family home. Ms X said this affected all the family and was detrimental to her own mental health. Ms X wanted the Council to provide appropriate social care for Mr Y and to help him move out.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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)
3. 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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What I have and have not considered

4. Ms X complained about the Council’s support of Mr Y over the last ten years or more. We cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. Late complaints are when someone takes more than 12 months to complain to us about something a council has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, as amended). I have not investigated Ms X’s historic complaints as they are late and there is no good reason to investigate them now.
5. I have investigated events from September 2023 to September 2024 when Ms X complained to us.

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How I considered this complaint

6. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant legislation and guidance

Assessment of need

8. 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.
9. Eligible needs arise if someone cannot meet a number of outcomes. The outcomes include:
• managing and maintaining nutrition;
• maintaining personal hygiene;
• managing toilet needs;
• being appropriately clothed;
• being able to make use of the adult’s home safely;
• maintaining a habitable home environment;
• developing and maintaining family or other personal relationships;
• accessing and engaging in work, training, education or volunteering;
• making use of necessary facilities or services in the local community including public transport, and recreational facilities or services; and
• carrying out any caring responsibilities the adult has for a child.
10. Councils must carry out assessments over a suitable and reasonable timescale considering the urgency of needs and any variation in those needs. Councils should tell people when their assessment will take place and keep them informed throughout the assessment.
11. An adult with possible care and support needs or a carer may choose to refuse an assessment. In these circumstances councils do not have to carry out an assessment. Where a council identifies that an adult lacks mental capacity and that carrying out a needs assessment would be in the adult’s best interests, it must do so.

Mental capacity

12. A person aged 16 or over must be presumed to have capacity to make a decision unless it is established they lack capacity. A person should not be treated as unable to make a decision:

• because they make an unwise decision;
• based simply on their age; their appearance; assumptions about their condition, or any aspect of their behaviour; or
• before all practicable steps to help the person to do so have been taken without success.

13. The council must assess someone’s ability to make a decision when that person’s capacity is in doubt. How it assesses capacity may vary depending on the complexity of the decision.

What happened

Background information

14. Mr Y is an adult. He lives with his mother, Ms X, and an adult sibling. There is no evidence that Mr Y does not have, or that there is doubt about, his capacity to make his own decisions.
15. Prior to the events subject to this investigation the Council had assessed Mr Y’s care needs in June 2022 and found that he did not meet the eligibility criteria. Mr Y wanted to be provided supported accommodation to be able to access the Council’s housing register.

September 2023 onwards

16. The Council received a referral for Mr Y in September 2023, the referral said the home environment was volatile. The referrer explained all the actions they had taken to support Mr Y to find appropriate housing. The Council decided the referrer had completed all the actions the Council would take, there was no eligible care and support needs and so it did not take any further action.
17. Ms X contacted the Council in May 2024. She complained the Council had neglected Mr Y since it closed his case as a child. She said she could not cope with Mr Y living at home due to his mental health which was impacting on the whole family. She asked the Council to take action to support the family.
18. The Council considered Ms X’s contact and treated it as a referral for adult social care for Mr Y. A Council social worker contacted Mr Y who said he was looking for new accommodation and was studying, learning to drive and was looking for new employment. Mr Y said he was able to wash and dress himself. He confirmed he had a mental health diagnosis and had a support worker from a mental health charity. The social worker referred Mr Y to the community mental health team for additional support and signposted Mr Y and his support worker to services to help with finding accommodation. The social worker closed Mr Y’s case as they decided Mr Y had ongoing long-term support and had been signposted to other services.
19. The Council received a new referral for support for Mr Y and Ms X in July as there were difficulties at home.
20. The Council responded to Ms X’s complaint but did not uphold it. The Council said Mr Y did not meet the Care Act eligibility criteria for care but it had signposted him to suitable services to help him find appropriate accommodation. It said it closed the case in May after referring Mr Y to housing support and mental health services, and that Mr Y was satisfied with the intervention. It said it was considering the new referral it had received in mid-July for Mr Y.
21. Ms X was dissatisfied with the Council response and asked it to consider her complaint further. The Council responded and reiterated its previous response. It said it did not have housing options available and had signposted Mr Y to appropriate support organisations to help him find appropriate housing.
22. A Council social worker contacted Mr Y following the referral in July. Mr Y told the social worker he had a good relationship with Ms X but when they argued they could become violent. Mr Y told the Council he did not want support from the Council if it would not get him re-housed.
23. The social worker spoke to Ms X, and Mr Y’s support worker in early September. They provided further information on the relationships within the family, Mr Y’s needs and mental health conditions. The social worker decided that it was necessary to complete and adult social care assessment to establish Mr Y’s needs.
24. Ms X was dissatisfied with the Council’s actions and complained to us in September 2024.
25. The Council confirmed in January 2025 that Mr Y was on a waiting list for an adult social care assessment.

My findings

26. The Council considered the information available to it each time it received a referral for support for Mr Y. In September 2023 it decided there was no further action necessary as the referrer had taken all the relevant steps based on the information they provided and closed the case. It had established the year previously he did not have any eligible care needs and there was no suggestion his circumstances had changed. In May 2023 it gathered further information from Mr Y and confirmed he did not have eligible needs under the Care Act. There was no fault in how the Council made those decision and so I cannot question the outcomes.
27. The Council had offered appropriate signposting to Mr Y to find suitable accommodation and confirmed he was supported by mental health services. Although Ms X believes the Council should provide additional support to Mr Y to move out, there is no statutory basis on which it should do so.
28. The Council received new information and decided a further assessment of Mr Y’s needs was necessary in September 2024. It placed Mr Y on a waiting list for further assessment which is an appropriate action. Mr Y can complain to us about any fault arising from that assessment should he wish.

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Decision

29. I find no fault in the Council’s actions.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman