Summary: The Council failed to ensure Mr Y received his full allocated support hours, and so he missed out on services which he was entitled to receive. The failure also had a detrimental impact on his mother in her caring role. The Council accepts there was a shortfall and agrees to make a payment to Mr Y and Ms X to recognise the distress caused.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council failed to ensure her adult son, Mr Y, received his full allocated support hours.

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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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), 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(1), as amended)

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What I have and have not investigated

4. A previous complaint to this office (24-015-482) dealt with issues relating to financial assessment and charging for Mr Y’s care. I will not be investigating any issues dealt with as part of that complaint.

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How I considered this complaint

5. I have:

• considered the complaint and information submitted by Ms X, which included the Council’s final complaint response, and discussed the complaint with Ms X;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the responses;
• taken account of relevant legislation.

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What I found

Relevant legislation

6. The Care Act 2014 establishes a legal entitlement for individuals to have their needs for care and support met. Local authorities (councils) are responsible for ensuring this occurs. 
7. The Act gives local authorities a legal responsibility to provide a care and support plan. When preparing a care and support plan local authorities must involve any carer the adult has. The support plan may 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.
8. Section 27 of the Care Act 2014 requires local authorities to keep care and support plans under general review to ensure they continue to meet the person's needs.
9. Direct payments are monetary payments made to individuals who ask for one to meet some or all of their eligible care and support needs. They provide independence, choice, and control by enabling people to commission their own care and support to meet their eligible needs.
10. The personal budget must always be an amount enough to meet the person’s eligible care and support needs. It can be administered by the Council, by a third party, or as a direct payment.

Background

11. Mr Y, a man in his twenties, lives with his mother, Mrs X, who provides him with support alongside formal services provided by the Council. He has autism, along with a learning disability and mental health challenges. Mrs X also has her own health concerns.
12. A Care Act assessment completed by the Council in August 2022 identified Mr X's care and support needs. The assessment noted that Ms X provided ongoing support with nutrition and the upkeep of his home and ensured his safety for the duration of his waking hours. 
13. The Council records show Mr X received 15 hours weekly support for community access and leisure, provided by a care agency commissioned by the Council, with the addition of a two-day-per-week day service. 
14. According to records from that period, Mr X could only initially manage 10 hours of support per week, so it was agreed he would start with ten hours per week to allow for gradual adjustment, with the goal of increasing to the full 15 hours over time.
15. The records show the Council reviewed the support in January 2023, that Mr X was ‘engaging well with support’ and that 15 hours would ’be loaded’.
16. Ms X says Mr Y received approximately 8 hours of support per week. The Council asserts that during the June 2023 review, both Mr Y and Ms X confirmed the support level was sufficient and that no concerns regarding insufficient hours were raised.
17. Mr Y stopped attending the day service in April 2024, but Ms X did not tell the Council. She said she thought the service provider would report the absence. The Council says it received no such notification. The Council also says that Ms X did not ask for any additional support following Mr Y's withdrawal from the day service.
18. In September 2024, Ms X contacted the council to report that the support agency had given notice to terminate Mr Y's care package. She also said Mr Y had not received the full support hours initially agreed upon. Ms X requested an urgent review of Mr Y's needs, a carers assessment, and sought support with hiring a cleaner and a gardener, saying that neither she nor Mr Y could handle these tasks.
19. The records show the care provider gave the Council notice it intended to cancel its contract due to the travel time and costs from its base to Mr X's home, stating it would stop support the following week if no agreement was reached. During email correspondence, the care provider provided evidence to the Council showing Mr X's allocated support hours were supposed to include travel time
20. Ms X says the Council met with the care provider to discuss the situation, but she was not invited to the meeting.
21. In October 2024, the Council reviewed Mr Y's needs. It was during this review that the Council learned Mr Y had stopped going to the day service. The reviewing officer was also told by Ms X that Mr Y was receiving fewer hours than he was supposed to. Ms X told the social worker that Mr Y wanted to end his support plan ‘with immediate effect’ and did not want to start looking for more support until the new year.
22. The records show the Council told Ms X it would source a new care provider closer to the home to avoid extra transport costs. Ms X says she cancelled the care package on the advice of the care provider.
23. Ms X says another care provider was not sourced until June 2025. The Council’s records show Ms X declined a further review. It was not until the end of January 2025 that Ms X was willing to discuss Mr Y’s support plan again. The social worker’s note says the plan was to work with Ms X and Mr Y to develop a support plan with some hours in the community. In April it was agreed that Mr Y would receive funding for ‘supported living without accommodation 28 hours a week’. The care began on 12 May.
24. The Council says “As part of any review of care and support, individuals and their families are routinely advised that they may contact Adult Social Care at any time should support needs change or if they feel that the support being provided is not adequately meeting the individual’s needs”. It says “contact was only made by (Ms X) in September 2024, following notification from (the care provider) that they were no longer able to continue providing (Mr Y’s) support hours

Carer assessment

25. The Council completed a carers assessment of Ms X in May 2023. The Council acknowledges the assessment document refers to Mr Y been in receipt of 15 hours per week support, and that it highlighted the impact Ms X’s caring role had on her. It says Ms X was clear that she was happy to continue supporting Mr Y. Ms X was awarded a one-off carers payment. A further carers assessment was completed in May 2025. Subsequently, Ms X was provided with a carer’s direct payment which can be used to pay a cleaner, gardener and support with domestic tasks to relieve some of the pressure of her caring role.

Analysis

26. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to decide if a person has social care needs, or if they are entitled to receive services from the Council. The Ombudsman’s role is to establish if the Council has assessed a person’s needs properly.
27. The assessment must consider how a person’s needs may change or fluctuate. It should also consider how they impact on their wellbeing and the results the adult wants to achieve. An assessment should consider both physical and psychological needs.
28. The Council acknowledges Mr Y received less support hours than had been agreed and commissioned but as neither Ms X nor Mr Y complained about this until October 2024, it assumed they were satisfied with the arrangement.
29. While Mr Y and Ms X did not complain until October 2024, the Council's primary responsibility was to ensure the support was delivered correctly from the outset and going forward. It failed to do so.  Councils have a duty to ensure that care and support plans are implemented and that people receive the agreed support. It was fault on the part of the Council that it did not ensure the implementation of the plan.
30. The cessation notice from the care provider should have triggered a review of Mr X's needs and a need to find an alternative provider. It failed to do so, consequently there was a period of some months when Mr Y did not receive the support for which he had been assessed.
31. However, the reason why alternative support was not in place until May 2025 was because Ms X initially declined a further review. It was agreed that a new social worker would be allocated in the New Year and this worker made contact and worked with Ms X and Mr Y to identify and source alternative support
32. Carers travel time to a service user’s home should not be deducted from the service user's allocated support hours, as it was in this case. The Council should have commissioned a sufficient arrangement with the care provider to fund carers travel time. Shortening care visits to account for carers travel time also contributed Mr Y receiving less care than he was entitled to. 

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Agreed Action

33. Our remedies aim to try to put the person back in the position they would have been if the fault had not happened, in this case we cannot achieve that. Therefore, the recommendations below symbolise and acknowledge the distress and difficulties both Ms X and Mr Y have been put through because of the Council’s failings.  

Within four weeks of my decision the Council should:

• issue Mr Y with a formal apology and provide a symbolic payment of £500 to acknowledge the negative impact of its failure to deliver his full support hours;
• the Council should apologise to Ms X for the failings identified above. A payment of £250 should be made to acknowledge Ms X’s time and trouble pursuing the complaint, with a further payment of £300 to acknowledge the distress and injustice caused;

34. Provide this office with evidence of the above.

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Final Decision

35. The Council failed to ensure Mr Y received the full allocated support hours. Consequently, he missed out on services he was entitled to receive.
36. The Council’s failure also had an impact on Ms X’s caring role
37. The above recommendations are a suitable way to remedy the injustice caused and I have therefore completed the investigation.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman