Summary: Mrs X complained the Council has not provided her son, Mr Y, with social care support to meet his needs since 2021. She said this caused distress to the family and impacted Mr Y’s mental and physical health. Mrs X wants the Council to support Mr Y and compensate him for lost social care provision. The Council was not at fault.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council has not provided her son, Mr Y, with social care support to meet his needs since 2021. She said this caused distress to the family and impacted Mr Y’s mental and physical health. Mrs X wants the Council to support Mr Y and compensate him for lost social care provision.

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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. 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 s34H(1), as amended)
3. We cannot question whether a Council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. If we are satisfied with a Council’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)
5. 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)

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What I have and have not investigated

6. I have investigated Mrs X’s complaint since February 2024. I reference events prior to this for context in this matter.
7. I have not investigated earlier events as Mrs X could have complained about them earlier. This is a late complaint and there is not enough reason to accept those parts of it for investigation now.

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How I considered this complaint

8. I read Mrs X’s complaint and spoke to her about it on the phone.
9. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
10. Mrs X and the Council 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

Background information

11. 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.
12. 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.
13. The Care Act 2014 gives councils a legal responsibility to provide a care and support plan (or a support plan for a carer). The care and support plan should consider what needs the person has, what they want to achieve, what they can do by themselves or with existing support and what care and support may be available in the local area. When preparing a care and support plan the council must involve any carer the adult has. The support plan must include a personal budget, which is the money the council has worked out it will cost to arrange the necessary care and support for that person.
14. Section 27 of the Care Act 2014 says councils should keep care and support plans under review. Government Care and Support Statutory Guidance says councils should review plans at least every 12 months. Councils should consider a light touch review six to eight weeks after agreeing and signing off the plan and personal budget. They should carry out reviews as quickly as is reasonably practicable in a timely manner proportionate to the needs to be met. Councils must also conduct a review if an adult or a person acting on the adult’s behalf makes a reasonable request for one.
15. Everyone whose needs the council meets must receive a personal budget as part of the care and support plan. The personal budget gives the person clear information about the money allocated to meet the needs identified in the assessment and recorded in the plan. The council should share an indicative amount with the person, and anybody else involved, at the start of care and support planning. It should confirm the final amount of the personal budget through this process. The detail of how the person will use their personal budget will be in the care and support plan. The personal budget must always be enough to meet the person’s care and support needs.
16. There are three main ways a personal budget can be administered:

• as a managed account held by the council with support provided in line with the person’s wishes;
• as a managed account held by a third party (often called an individual service fund or ISF) with support provided in line with the person’s wishes; or
• as a direct payment.
  (Care and Support Statutory Guidance 2014)

17. Direct payments are monetary payments made to individuals who ask for them to meet some or all of their eligible care and support needs. They enable people to arrange their own care and support to meet those needs. The council must ensure people have relevant and timely information about direct payments so they can decide whether to request them. If they do so, the council should support them to use and manage the payment properly.

What happened

18. This is a summary of events, outlining key facts and does not cover everything that has occurred in this case.
19. Mr Y has complex additional needs. He previously attended a day centre, but this placement ended when Mr Y could not engage in the provision. The Council provides a support package to meet his assessed needs. The package of support was six hours per week one-to-one support for Y to access the community. The Council funded this support by a direct payment. The Council reviewed the support plan in January 2024. The Council referred the case to is psychology and psychiatry department to assess Mr Y.
20. The psychology and psychiatry department completed the assessment at the end of February 2024.
21. The Council completed the review in March 2024. The review kept the six hours per week support and recommended a day provision at a social education placement.
22. In May 2024, the Council transferred the case to a different team. The team would review the case after one year.
23. The Council held a meeting in August 2024. The meeting noted it agreed Mr Y should attend the day provision at a social education placement. Mrs X asked the Council to provide two-to-one support for Mr Y in the community. The Council agreed to complete a review of the package of support.
24. Mrs X complained to the Council after the meeting. She complained the Council adult social care and education service had neglected Mr Y since 2021.
25. In September 2024, Mrs X said she would not visit the social education placement, because she wanted an education setting for Mr Y.
26. The Council tried to source another day placement. In October 2024, the Council arranged for Mr Y to visit to a different day service. The Council rearranged the visit, but Mrs X and Mr Y did not attend.
27. The Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint in November 2024. The response focussed on Mr Y’s education since 2021. The response confirmed Mrs X did not want the social care placement offered, as she wanted Mr Y in an educational setting. The Council said Mr Y had a support plan in place to meet his assessed needs.
28. At the end of November 2024, Mrs X asked the Council to increase Mr Y’s direct payment.
29. Mrs X complained to the Council in January 2025. She repeated the Council had neglected Mr Y.
30. The Council completed its support plan review in February 2025. The social worker asked the Council to increase the package of care to 24 hours per week, 12 hours per week with two carers. The Council agreed to fund an extra six hours per week, totalling 12 hours per week, six hours per carer. The Council referred Mr Y for additional internal support and asked the social worker to consider the remaining 12 hours after completing the work.
31. The Council responded to Mrs X’s January 2025 complaint in February 2025. The Council resent the complaint response from November 2024. The Council response offered Mrs X an escalation to stage two or she could approach the Ombudsman.
32. Mrs X was not satisfied with the Council’s response and has asked the Ombudsman to investigate. Mrs X would like the Council to pay compensation for the impact on Mr Y.
33. In response to my enquiries the Council stated it had not completed the complaint process. The Council acknowledged the confusion in this case because of the education and social care parts of this matter.

My findings

34. This is a complex matter. The Council adult social care and education services supported Mr Y. This investigation is about the adult social care service. I have completed a different investigation regarding educational matters.
35. The Ombudsman’s role is to review how councils have made decisions. We may criticise a council if, for example, it has not followed an appropriate procedure, not considered relevant information, or failed to properly explain a decision it has made. We call this ‘fault’, and where we find it, we can consider the consequences of the fault and ask the council to address these.
36. However, we do not provide a right of appeal against council decisions, and we cannot make operational or policy decisions on councils’ behalf. If we do not find fault in how a council has made a decision, then we cannot criticise it, no matter how strongly a complainant feels it is the wrong decision. We do not uphold complaints simply because someone disagrees with what a council has done.
37. The Council provided support to Mr X. It is for the Council to assess Mr Y’s needs and decide how much support it provides. The Council offered Mr Y a placement at a social education placement. Mrs X did not accept this offer because she wanted Mr Y to attend an education placement. The Council’s actions were in line with the law and statutory guidance. The Council was not at fault.
38. Mrs X asked the Council to increase its social care support for Mr Y. The Council completed a review and recommended an increase in support hours. The Council recommended it completed some intensive work and after this, the social worker could ask for the remaining increase. This is in line with the law and statutory guidance. The Council was not at fault.
39. There are some concerns about the Council’s handling of Mrs X’s complaints. I have addressed these points in Mrs X’s other investigation.

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Decision

40. I have completed my investigation. The Council was not at fault.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman