Summary: Ms X complained on behalf of Ms Y that the Council failed to review Ms Y’s care needs assessment and support plan. We find the Council at fault for significant delay in completing the assessment and support plan. This caused Ms X ongoing distress and frustration. We recommend the Council apologises, makes a payment to Ms X for distress and uncertainty, and review its processes for signing off and sharing care assessments.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained on behalf of Ms Y that the Council failed to review Ms Y’s care needs assessment and support plan.
2. She says this put Ms Y at risk of not getting the support she needs.

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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 future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), 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/care provider has done. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26B and 34D, 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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What I have and have not investigated

6. I have not investigated matters relating to events before May 2024. This is because Ms X did not complain to us about those matters until October 2025, which is more than 12 months after she became aware of them. I have seen no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate those earlier matters. Therefore, I have only considered the Council’s actions from May 2024 as these form part of an ongoing review and complaint handling process which is directly relevant to the issues complained about. Any dates mentioned before then, are for background information purposes only.

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How I considered this complaint

7. I considered evidence provided by Ms X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
8. 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

Legislation and Guidance

Assessment

9. 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.
10. 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.

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.

Reviews

12. 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.

What happened

13. Ms Y lives in supported living accommodation. The Council completed a Care Act assessment and support plan in September 2022. This said Ms Y had eligible needs and a direct payment for seven hours of support per week was arranged.
14. In December 2023, the Council carried out a review meeting, followed by a further meeting in May 2024.
15. In May, the Council issued a written review assessment. This identified Ms Y needed seven hours of support per week, structured through daily interventions for medication, personal care and household tasks. Ms X says this was completed by a student social worker and was not signed off by management.
16. In late May, Ms X requested a copy of the associated support plan as she had not received it. The Council said it would provide a copy.
17. In October, having still not received the support plan, Ms X complained to the Council. She said the May assessment was inaccurate, had not been signed off and that she remained without a copy of the support plan.
18. In its complaint response, the Council said:
• The assessment had been issued without management oversight and without input from family members.
• The assessment was incomplete and contained inaccuracies.
• A support plan had been completed but was not shared with Ms Y or Ms X. The Council said that, given the issues with the assessment, the support plan would not have accurately reflected Ms Y’s needs.
• The time between assessments had breached statutory guidelines.
19. Following the Council’s complaint response, it told Ms X it would allocate Ms Y a social worker and complete an up-to-date Care Act assessment and support plan.
20. In mid-October, the Council met with Ms Y’s family to discuss next steps. A new social worker was allocated, and a review meeting was scheduled for November.
21. In January 2025, Ms X requested an update on the progress of the assessment. The Council said the allocated social worker was off sick and apologised for the delay.
22. In February 2025, the Council completed the Care Act assessment following the review process, which concluded that Ms Y required seven hours of support per week. A copy of the assessment was shared in May.
23. Later in May, Ms X provided comments to correct inaccuracies in the assessment. She also informed the Council of two safeguarding incidents in which Ms Y had been reported missing and asked whether the assessment would be reviewed to consider whether Ms Y should be treated as a falls risk. In addition, she requested a copy of the associated support plan.
24. In July, Ms X contacted the Council again, following her May comments, and said she was still awaiting an amended review assessment.
25. In October 2025, Ms X complained to us.
26. In February 2026, Ms X contacted the Council as she had not received a copy of the updated assessment and support plan. The Council confirmed it would provide a copy and said it would contact the care provider to check whether a falls risk assessment was in place.
27. In March, the completed assessment and support plan were internally quality assured and signed off.
28. In April, Ms X was sent a financial audit based on the 2025 assessment. She informed the Council that she still had not received a copy of the completed assessment.
29. In May, the Council shared a copy of the assessment and support plan with Ms X.

My findings

Delay in completing reassessment and support plan

30. Statutory guidance requires Councils to keep care and support plans under regular review, at least annually. In this case, the Council issued a review assessment in May 2024. It has accepted this was completed without management oversight, was incomplete, and contained inaccuracies. It also accepted that the associated support plan was not shared with Ms Y or Ms X. This is fault, which caused avoidable uncertainty and frustration for Ms X.
31. The Council completed a further assessment in February 2025, but this was not shared until May 2025. Following Ms X’s comments on this, a reviewed and finalised assessment and support plan were not provided until May 2026. I consider this a significant delay, causing Ms X uncertainty throughout. This is faut.
32. Ms X repeatedly contacted the Council for updates. The Council indicated it would share the assessment, but it cannot evidence that this occurred. Ms X maintains she did not receive it. I am therefore satisfied the Council did not provide the assessment when it said it would, which added to Ms X’s uncertainty and frustration.
33. Ms Y’s existing care and support package remained in place throughout this period, and there was no change to the level of support she received. When the assessment was eventually completed, it did not identify any change in eligible needs or required provision. While the delays amount to fault and caused avoidable uncertainty, there is no evidence that Ms Y experienced a loss of care or direct impact on her support as a result.

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Action

34. To remedy the injustice by the above fault, within four weeks of my final decision, the Council will:
• Apologise to Ms X, in line with our guidance on remedies, for the delay in completing and sharing the assessment.
• Make a payment of £200 to Ms X to acknowledge the distress and frustration caused by the delay and poor communication.
35. Within three months, the Council will:
• Review its processes for signing off and sharing Care Act assessments to ensure:
1. that assessments are progressed and signed off without avoidable delay, and;
2. completed assessments and support plans are consistently shared with the person and/or their representative in a timely manner.
36. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

37. 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