Summary: I did not find fault with the Council for the support it offered Ms Z through both her care and support plan and safeguarding.

The complaint

1. Miss X complained the Council failed to support Ms Z and provide her with clear and concise information.
2. Miss X says the loss of Ms Z’s social worker and lack of care and support has caused Ms Z severe physical and mental health challenges.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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)
5. 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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How I considered this complaint

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

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What I found

Rules and Regulations

Care assessment

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. 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.

Direct Payments

10. 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.
11. The gateway to receiving a Direct Payment must always be through the request from the person. Councils must not force someone to take a Direct Payment against their will. They should not place someone in a situation where a Direct Payment is the only way they can get personalised care and support.

Mental Capacity

12. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 is the framework for acting and deciding for people who lack the mental capacity to make particular decisions for themselves. The Act (and the Code of Practice 2007) describes the steps a person should take when dealing with someone who may lack capacity to make decisions for themselves. It describes when to assess a person’s capacity to make a decision, how to do this, and how to make a decision on behalf of somebody who cannot do so.
13. 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.

Safeguarding

14. A council must make enquiries if it thinks a person may be at risk of abuse or neglect and has care and support needs which mean the person cannot protect themselves. An enquiry is the action taken by a council in response to a concern about abuse or neglect. An enquiry could range from a conversation with the person who is the subject of the concern, to a more formal multi-agency arrangement. A council must also decide whether it or another person or agency should take any action to protect the person from abuse. (section 42, Care Act 2014)

What happened

15. In January 2024, the Council carried out an Adult Social Care assessment of Ms Z. The Council noted no concerns about Ms Z’s mental capacity during its assessment. The Council decided Ms Z had eligible care needs and agreed provide a Direct Payment so Ms Z could pay a Personal Assistant to meet these care needs. The Council started payment in February 2024.
16. In July 2024, the Council reiterated that Ms Z had eligible care needs following a reassessment. This reassessment reconfirmed that Ms Z had no cognitive impairments and her care and support needs were solely physical.
17. A safeguarding referral was raised with the Council about Ms Z on 5 August 2024. The Council contacted Ms Z on the same date. Ms Z told the Council she had moved out of her mother’s house and was staying with friends because of the emotionally abusive situation with her mother. Ms Z told the Council she did not want to return to the house or have the Council contact her mother. Ms Z also told the Council the Personal Assistant support was not working.
18. The Council lodged a formal safeguarding concern and spoke with Ms Z again asking to complete a risk assessment of her current living situation and provide advice about using a different Personal Assistant. Ms Z declined both.
19. Following further contact with Ms Z to get consent to speak with Ms Z’s mother or her Personal Assistant, Ms Z declined again. The Council closed the safeguarding referral as unable to gain consent and cannot proceed with information gathering. The Council told Ms Z it would still like to carry out a risk assessment of her current living situation and advised her to approach the homelessness department if she could no longer live with friends.
20. The Council wrote to Ms Z in October 2024 to advise of the end of active involvement. The Council said it would still review Y’s care needs each year.
21. In January 2025, Miss X complained to the Council about it closing the case in October 2024. Miss X said the Council had been careless and had left Ms Z without support while she experienced domestic violence.
22. The Council responded to advise it had provided support through a Direct Payment to Ms Z and it would not review this more than yearly unless there was a change in circumstances. The Council directed Miss X to the National Domestic Abuse helpline for Ms Z.
23. Miss X sent a letter seeking escalation of her complaint. The Council advised it did not receive this letter.
24. In May 2025, Ms Z told the Council her Personal Assistant had not provided support since August 2024 and she was no longer living with her mother. Ms Z said she was living friends who did not want carers going into their home so she did not want to commission a service. The Council recommended Ms Z approach the homelessness team. The Council told Ms Z it would be stopping her Direct Payments since she was not using this to source a Personal Assistant and she had declined a commissioned service.
25. The Council continued to pay Ms Z’s Direct Payments until June 2025. In August 2025, the Council provided a final backdated Direct Payment to cover until August 2025. The Council made no further Direct Payments to Ms Z.
26. Following the stop in Direct Payments, Ms Z contacted the Council requesting a reassessment. The Council completed an assessment in September 2025. The Council said it no longer considered Ms Z had eligible care needs and noted the key barrier to independence was housing, which a housing application was addressing.

Analysis

Capacity

27. Each assessment of Ms Z’s care and support needs has shown consideration of Ms Z’s mental capacity. In each instance, the Council noted that Ms Z had the mental capacity to make her own decisions and there was no reason to question her decision making.
28. The Council has considered Ms Z’s capacity in each instance and has not considered the threshold was reached for a formal assessment. There is no evidence Ms Z lacked capacity to make her own decisions about her care. The Council has used this position to inform its decision making with its involvement with Ms Z. I do not find fault with the Council.

Direct Payments

29. When the Council completed a care assessment for Ms Z, it agreed to provide Direct Payments to meet her eligible care needs. Ms Z used this to hire a Personal Assistant.
30. Despite Ms Z’s Personal Assistant not providing support since August 2024, the Council continued to pay Ms Z for her Personal Assistant until August 2025. When Ms Z confirmed to the Council in May 2025 that her Personal Assistant was not providing support, the Council offered a commissioned service but Ms Z declined this. Despite this, the Council continued to pay the Direct Payments for a further few months.
31. The Council acted appropriately to stop the Direct Payments when Ms Z was not using this to source a Personal Assistant to meet her eligible care needs. The Council suggested an alternative Personal Assistant and offered a commissioned service; Ms Z declined both. The Council paid Ms Z for a year for a Personal Assistant she was not utilising. The Council could have stopped Ms Z’s Direct Payments sooner but not doing so has not put Ms Z to a disadvantage.

End of care needs

32. When the Council reassessed Ms Z’s care needs in September 2025, it decided Ms Z had no eligible care needs following the change in her circumstances.
33. The Ombudsman is not an appeal body, so cannot comment on the merits of judgements and decisions made by councils in the absence of fault in the process.
34. The Council completed an assessment of Ms Z and considered her situation when it decided Ms Z had no eligible care needs. Since the Council considered the relevant policies and reached a suitable decision based on a full reassessment, I do not find fault with the Council.

Safeguarding

35. When the Council received a safeguarding concern about domestic abuse towards Ms Z in August 2024, it contacted Ms Z and raised a formal referral. The Council contacted Ms Z immediately and confirmed she was no longer living with the alleged perpetrator.
36. The Council sought consent from Ms Z to complete a risk assessment and to speak to Ms Z’s Personal Assistant or mother, the alleged perpetrator of the domestic abuse. Ms Z declined consent for the Council to speak with either. The Council liaised with its safeguarding department and relevant professionals working with Ms Z, notably her advocate.
37. The Council decided not to carry out a safeguarding investigation because it could not make enquiries and there were alternative methods of support Ms Z, through the housing department. The Council completed this full action within 14 days of receiving the referral.
38. Notably, Ms Z did not move back in with the alleged perpetrator and Ms Z continued to receive support from the Council through Direct Payments. The Council made the decision to support Ms Z through its housing department rather than completing a safeguarding investigation. Since there was no ongoing risk to Ms Z, because of the change in her living circumstances, Ms Z had capacity to make her own decisions and support was in place for Ms Z through both Direct Payments and the housing department, I do not find fault with the Council. The Council adhered to Ms Z’s wishes to not contact the alleged perpetrator and therefore, not proceed with a safeguarding investigation; this was a decision the Council was entitled to make in the circumstances because of the lack of ongoing risk to Ms Z.

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Decision

39. I have completed my investigation as there was no fault by the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman