Summary: Miss X complained the Council did not complete a carer’s assessment for her and about how it has handled Miss Y’s care needs. We find the Council at fault for not completing a carer’s assessment for Miss X and for delays in arranging Miss Y’s care, causing uncertainty and frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise, offer Miss X a carer’s assessment and make a payment to recognise the injustice.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains about the way the Council has handled her daughter, Miss Y’s care needs since September 2023. Miss X says the Council delayed in transferring Miss Y to the right team to provide the support she needs and failed to review her needs to decide whether she needs more support hours. Miss X feels the mental health team is not the right team for Miss Y as they do not understand her needs, but says the Council has failed to address this. Miss X also says the Council has failed to complete a carers assessment for her and has made decisions without taking account of the total family unit and the fact she is caring for two adults. As a result, Miss X says she has been caused real distress and frustration and has not received the respite care she needs.

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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)
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. 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)
5. The law says we cannot normally investigate a complaint unless we are satisfied the organisation knows about the complaint and has had an opportunity to investigate and reply. However, we may decide to investigate if we consider it would be unreasonable to notify the organisation of the complaint and give it an opportunity to investigate and reply. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26(5), section 34(B)6)
6. 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(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

7. We cannot usually investigate issues that took place more than 12 months before they were raised with the Ombudsman, we can only exercise discretion to look back further than this if there are good reasons to do so.
8. Miss X first brought her complaint to the Ombudsman in March 2025, meaning anything that took place before March 2024 would be considered a late complaint.
9. However, I have decided to exercise discretion to look back to when Miss X has said issues began in September 2023. The reason for this is Miss X appears to have been pursuing her concerns with the Council since that time and was not responsible for any delays.
10. We also cannot usually investigate complaints unless we are satisfied the Council has had a chance to look into them first. This includes events that are linked to or ongoing from the complaint that has been brought to us.
11. As the Council responded to Miss X’s complaint in February 2025, I have investigated up to that point.
12. Any mention below of events that took place prior to September 2023 or after February 2025 are for reference only.

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How I considered this complaint

13. I considered evidence provided by Miss X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
14. Miss 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 law and policy

15. 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.
16. 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.
17. Where somebody provides or intends to provide care for another adult and it appears the carer may have any needs for support, the council must carry out a carer’s assessment. A carer’s assessment must seek to find out not only the carer’s needs for support, but also the sustainability of the caring role itself. This includes the practical and emotional support the carer provides to the adult.
18. As part of the carer’s assessment, the council must consider the carer’s potential future needs for support. It must also consider whether the carer is, and will continue to be, able and willing to care for the adult needing care. (Care and Support Statutory Guidance 2014)
19. 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.
20. 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.

What happened

21. I have summarised below some key events leading to Miss X’s complaint. While I have considered everything submitted, this is not intended to be a detailed account of what took place.
22. Miss Y has a diagnosis of autism, learning disability, bipolar disorder, anxiety and sleeping difficulties and lives at home with Miss X and her younger brother, who also has care and support needs. Miss Y had a care package of 22 hours of care per week funded through direct payments.
23. In September 2023 Miss X was in contact with the Council about transferring Miss Y to a team within its adult social care department and asked it to consider increasing her package of care.
24. The Council made enquiries about Miss Y’s diagnosis and medical history to determine which team her care and support should sit with.
25. In April 2024, the Council contacted Miss Y’s GP and her college to seek more information to assist it in determining her primary care needs and information about her diagnoses to assist with the decision about which team to allocate her to.
26. That month, the Council’s mental health care team confirmed Miss Y met the criteria for it to assist with her care needs and asked that a Care Act Assessment be completed prior to her transfer.
27. The Council notified Miss X that it had considered all of Miss Y’s care and support needs, including her learning difficulties, and had decided to place her with its mental health care team. Miss X expressed that she did not feel this was the right team for Miss Y.
28. The Council’s internal notes show the mental health team was aware Miss Y had learning difficulty needs and the learning difficulty needs team agreed to be available to have further conversations with the mental health team to advise where necessary.
29. The Council arranged a home visit for June 2024 to complete a Care Act Assessment for Miss Y.
30. In September 2024, the Council provided Miss X with a copy of a draft care act report for her comments.
31. An internal note shows the adult mental health team manager asked for more information before deciding on Miss Y’s package of care and whether to increase it and asked for an additional meeting.
32. The Council completed the Care Act Assessment in November 2024. This found Miss Y had support needs across all areas of eligible care needs. It recommended a social worker attend a panel meeting to discuss Miss X’s request that Miss Y’s current package be increased and said Miss Y should be transferred to the mental health team for continued support.
33. A Carers Conversation form from November 2024 shows the Council discussed Miss X’s needs as a carer with her, taking account of the fact she was caring for her two children. Miss X expressed that she was feeling burnt out and she was struggling to juggle her caring responsibilities.
34. In response to a complaint Miss X made, in February 2025 the Council accepted there were delays in transferring Miss Y to the mental health team. The Council agreed it would finalise this immediately, with her current package of care of 22 hours of direct payments per week in place ahead of reassessing her needs. The Council said it would explore a carer’s assessment further with Miss X and offered her £500 to recognise the frustration and uncertainty caused by the delays.

Analysis

35. The support plans and reviews from the period I have investigated show consideration of Miss Y’s needs and what support she was currently receiving from Miss X. It is not my role to say what level of support Miss Y needed but the Council appears to have followed the right process when assessing her needs, so I do not find fault here. The Council then agreed to reassess Miss Y’s needs once she was transferred to the mental health team.
36. Miss X has said she does not believe Miss Y should have been placed with the mental health team. However, it is not my role to say what team would be best placed to deliver the support Miss Y requires. The Council’s notes show it considered all Miss Y’s needs when deciding which team would be best placed to deliver her support and sought further information where necessary. The Council acknowledged Miss Y had learning difficulty needs and agreed its learning difficulties team would provide input as and when needed. I appreciate Miss X disagrees with the Council’s decision, but it fully considered Miss Y’s needs when deciding to place her with the mental health team, so I do not find it at fault.
37. However, there were significant delays in transferring Miss Y to the mental health team. The process appears to have started in September 2023 but not concluded until February 2024. This is a significant delay and would have caused uncertainty and frustration for Miss X and Miss Y, which is injustice. The Council has already apologised for this and offered to pay Miss X £500 to recognise the injustice to her and I find this to be a suitable remedy here.
38. Throughout the timeline I have looked at, Miss X expressed that she was struggling to deliver care to both her children and asked the Council to consider her needs as a carer. The Council agreed to this, and I can see it had several conversations with Miss X around the care she was providing, but it does not appear to have completed a full carer’s assessment. I find the Council at fault here which would have caused uncertainty and frustration for Miss X, which is further injustice.

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Action

39. To remedy the injustice caused by the fault identified above, the Council should carry out the following actions within one month of the date of this decision:
• Write to Miss X to apologise for the delays in arranging a carer’s assessment for her. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
• Pay Miss X £200 to recognise the frustration and uncertainty caused by the delays in arranging a carer’s assessment for her.
• Pay Miss X the £500 the Council had previously offered her, if this has not already been paid.
• Write to Miss X to offer a carer’s assessment and set out what steps she needs to follow if she wishes to accept this.
40. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

41. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman