Summary: Ms X complained the Council has wrongly stopped funding overseas travel for her and her daughter, Miss Y, which they have used as respite care for many years. She complained the replacement respite care the Council has offered will not meet Miss Y’s needs. There was fault by the Council. It failed to keep a record of an earlier decision it made to stop funding the overseas travel. It also did not suitably evidence or explain how it considered the replacement respite care options will meet Miss Y’s needs. Because of the fault, Ms X suffered distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and pay the symbolic payment it has offered if it has not already done so. It has also agreed to arrange a reassessment of Miss Y’s respite care needs and issue a staff briefing.

The complaint

1. Ms X complains the Council has wrongly stopped funding overseas travel for her and her daughter, Miss Y, which they have used as respite care for 25 years. Ms X says the replacement respite care the Council has offered will not meet Miss Y’s needs.
2. Ms X says as a result, both her and Miss Y’s respite needs are not met. She says this has impacted her ongoing health issues, and Miss Y’s quality of life.
3. Ms X would like the Council to review its decision and consider options which would allow some of the overseas respite care arrangement to remain in place.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. We may investigate complaints from the person affected by the complaint issues, or from someone else if they have given their consent. If the person affected cannot give their consent, we may investigate a complaint from a person we decide is a suitable representative. (Local Government Act 1974, section 26A or 34C)
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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How I considered this complaint

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

Care assessment

10. 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.

Care Plan

11. 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.

Direct payments

12. 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.

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What happened

13. This is a summary of events outlining key facts and it does not include everything that has happened in this case.
14. Ms X cares for her daughter, Miss Y. Ms X says the Council has funded overseas travel for many years for her and Miss Y, in which they visit family and use as respite care. Ms X says the arrangement was by direct payments from the Council. She says it was calculated based on the equivalent of a 12-week stay at a placement, which Ms X used as a direct payment to fund three overseas trips a year for her and Miss Y. The Council decided to stop funding the travel in October 2022. It told Ms X there is no long-term agreement in place to guarantee the level of funding Miss Y had been receiving for the respite. The Council acknowledged it had not managed matters well and had raised expectations. It therefore told Ms X it would continue to fund the overseas travel, until March 2023. It told Ms X from April 2023, the next financial year, Miss Y’s requirements for respite would be assessed based on need.
15. In April 2024, Ms X requested funding from the Council for overseas travel, which the Council considered and approved. The Council says the funding was approved as it did not place the decision it made in October 2022 on file to stop funding the overseas travel. The Council says once it became aware of this earlier decision, it revoked its 2024 approval to fund the overseas travel.
16. In February 2025, the Council met with Ms X and Miss Y to review Ms X’s needs as a carer and discuss respite options. The Council offered support by way of a local respite placement or additional support within their home. It also told Ms X she and Miss Y could still also travel overseas if they wish to, but the Council will not fund this. Ms X told the Council she did not wish to accept its respite offers.
17. In April 2025, Ms X complained to the Council about the matter. The Council responded and told Ms X it can meet her and Miss Y’s respite needs through the local provision it has offered, but which Ms X has declined. It said the Council can decide to offer an option that meets needs and is cheaper, despite it not being Ms X’s preferred option. The Council also apologised and offered Ms X £200 to acknowledge the distress caused by its failure to record its decision to stop funding the overseas travel in October 2022.

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Analysis

18. The Council has accepted fault in that it did not record its decision made in October 2022 to stop funding overseas travel on file, and so it should not have approved funding for overseas travel in 2024. This caused distress to Ms X and raised expectations that the Council may continue to fund the travel and caused later frustration when it revoked the funding approval.
19. The Council has offered alternative respite options including support at local respite facilities, respite support at their home, and a short-break option for Ms X with a sleep-in carer for Miss Y. The Council says Ms X has declined these options as she does not feel they are suitable for her and Miss Y and they do not meet Miss Y’s needs.
20. We cannot comment on the merits of judgements and decisions made by councils. So, we cannot comment on the Council’s decision to no longer provide direct payments to Miss Y for overseas travel. We also cannot comment on whether the amount or type of respite support the Council has offered in replacement is correct or suitable for Miss Y. But we can identify whether there was any fault in the way the Council’s decision was reached that it considers the respite support it has offered is suitable for Miss Y.
21. The Council has told us, and Ms X, that the alternative respite options it has offered can meet Miss Y’s needs. But the Council has not evidenced why it considers the respite options it has offered and the amount of respite it has offered, meets Miss Y’s needs. Ms X has asked the Council to clarify how it intends to meet Miss Y’s respite needs, but the Council has provided generic responses that it considers the options it has offered will meet her needs. The Council has not provided suitable information or evidenced how it considered this. This was fault. The fault has caused uncertainty to Ms X about whether the offered support is suitable to meet Miss Y’s respite care needs. I have made a recommendation below in paragraph 23 to reflect this.
22. We have published guidance to explain how we calculate remedies for people who have suffered injustice because of fault by a council. Our primary aim is to put people back in the position they would have been in if the fault by the Council had not occurred. I consider the £200 the Council has offered to Ms X is in line with our guidance and is suitable to acknowledge the distress and uncertainty caused by the Council’s identified fault outlined in paragraphs 18 and 21.

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Action

23. To remedy the outstanding injustice caused to Ms X by the fault I have identified, the Council will take the following actions within four weeks of my final decision:
• Apologise to Ms X for the uncertainty caused by the Council’s failure to evidence and give a suitable explanation about why it considers the alternative respite options, and amount of respite, it has offered will meet Miss Y’s needs. This apology should be in line with our guidance Making an effective apology.
• If it has not done so already, pay Ms X the £200 the Council has previously offered to acknowledge the injustice caused by the Council’s record-keeping fault and its failure to provide suitable information about how it considers the respite options it has offered will meet Miss Y’s needs.
• Arrange to complete a reassessment of Miss Y’s respite care needs. If the Council maintains its decision the options and level of respite care it has offered is suitable, it should explain its rationale to Ms X and outline how the type of respite support and amount of respite offered will meet Miss Y’s needs. It should also update Miss Y’s care plan to reflect any respite support that will be put in place, detailing how the proposed amount and level of respite will meet Miss Y’s care needs.
24. Within three months of my final decision, the Council will also remind relevant staff members of the importance of evidencing and suitably explaining the reasons it considers proposed respite support will meet the service user’s identified care needs.
25. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

26. I uphold Ms X’s complaint and find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman