Summary: There was no fault by the Council. It based its decision that Mr X did not need supported living accommodation on an assessment of his needs. It paid for hotel accommodation for around nine months and supported Mr X to get housing help from the housing authority.

The complaint

1. Ms K complains on behalf of her brother, Mr X. Ms K says the Council failed to provide appropriate care and housing support for her disabled brother. It wrongly removed him from supported living without proper assessment or planning, leaving him distressed and homeless.
2. Ms K says the Council’s failings caused them both severe distress and impacted on Mr X’s physical and mental health. He has lost his home and has no access to proper cooking facilities.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. 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. 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

5. 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)
6. Ms K complains about events from the summer of 2023. She complained to the Council in the summer of 2024 and did not complain to the Ombudsman until November 2025. This means that we would normally investigate the Council’s actions from November 2024 to November 2025. I have exercised discretion to investigate the Council’s actions from January 2024 to take account of the fact that Ms X was also caring for her brother and he was deeply distressed at his situation. This includes the bulk of the Council’s actions when Mr X had left his supported living accommodation.

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How I considered this complaint

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

The law and guidance

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.

What happened

11. I have investigated the Council’s actions from January 2024 to November 2024. I have included other information by way of background. The Council is responsible for adult social care. It is not responsible for housing and homelessness. This is for the housing authority which is an unconnected borough council.
12. Mr X is disabled. In January 2023, the Council arranged for him to move to supported living accommodation. The care provider at the accommodation, had assessed Mr X and decided that he would be a good fit for supported living.
13. Ms K said that Mr X’s last care needs assessment involving Ms K had been in July 2022. However, the Council advised Ms K that it had completed a six-week review at the end of March 2023. It spoke to the supported living manager. The Council concluded that Mr X was completing daily living tasks independently and needed no, or minimal support from staff. It had concluded that Mr X had no care and support needs. At that time, the Council told Ms K this, and advised her to help her brother apply for housing.
14. In June 2023, the Council gave Mr X 28 days to leave the accommodation, because it had decided that it was not suitable for him. The Council says that Mr X was not engaging with staff at the accommodation. Neither he nor Ms K had given the correct information so that housing benefit could be paid, and there were significant rent arrears. Ms K has told me that there was confusion around her brother’s tenancy agreement and his benefits, and he could not manage these matters without help.
15. Ms K contacted the Council and it met with her and Mr X to discuss the situation. Ms K understood that the Council would place Mr X in a hotel until the housing authority could assess his housing needs. The Council’s records say that Mr X agreed he would like his own place.
16. The Council placed Mr X in a hotel. Mr X stayed in the hotel from mid-August 2023 to May 2024, and the Council paid for this.
17. Ms K helped her brother with a housing assessment in mid-December but the housing authority did not go ahead with emergency accommodation because Ms K said her brother needed social care support.
18. The Council continued to pay for Mr X to stay in a hotel. Its case notes are clear that Mr X does not want adult social care support. He only wants support from Ms K. She agreed she could support him if he is housed near to her. The Council’s case notes show that it continued to liaise directly with the housing authority. In January 2024, the housing authority decided that Mr X needed supported living accommodation rather than its general needs housing. The Council reiterated to the housing authority that it had assessed Mr X and decided that he does not need supported housing, and it asked to meet with the housing authority to discuss this.
19. In February 2024, the Council met with the housing authority. It had originally planned for Mr X to come to this meeting too, but Ms K was not available. The Council and the housing authority agreed to meet again with Mr X and Ms K to discuss the best way forward.
20. Ms K told the Council she could no longer support Mr X and he needed supported housing. The Council offered to meet with Ms K to discuss this, and that it would assess Mr X’s needs once he was housed.
21. The Council continued to fund the hotel for Mr X and in April 2024, it formally requested that the housing authority take responsibility for Mr X’s housing needs.
22. In May 2024, the Council told Mr X that he had to leave the hotel and it emailed Ms K to request that she support him to make a homelessness application. The housing authority said it would place him in emergency accommodation. Ms K said she could no longer support Mr X with this as she had her own health needs, and she is not living nearby.
23. On the last day of his stay at the hotel, the Council came to support Mr X to attend a housing assessment. The housing authority gave Mr X emergency accommodation at a hotel. The hotel was some way from Mrs K and in an area that Mr X was not familiar with. However, the housing authority could not find an available room any nearer, and so it took Mr X to the hotel.
24. The next week Mr X had an appointment to be assessed by an emergency accommodation provider. The Council went to Mr X’s hotel to support him. However, the Council had not told Mr X that it would be visiting him that day, and he became distressed and confused. The Council tried to contact Ms K but could not reach her. Its case notes say it left her a voicemail setting out that if Mr X did not go to the emergency accommodation, he was at risk of homelessness. Mr X left the hotel and the Council support workers again tried to speak to him about going to the emergency accommodation, but he did not accept their support.
25. Ms K complained to the Council. She said that the Council had not included her in its review of Mr X’s care needs, and it had not got a true picture of his needs. The Council said it had assessed Mr X and he has no care and support needs. It said it could not assist him with his housing situation and the housing authority needs to assess him now. The Council said it had already explained this to Ms K.
26. Ms K had also complained that the Council caused Mr X distress when its support workers turned up unannounced. The Council apologised that it had not arranged the meeting with Mr X in advance, but explained that it had asked the hotel to notify Mr X that two support workers would be visiting him to help him get his housing assessment. The Council acknowledged that that Mr X needs notice and support to manage appointments, but in the circumstances, the Council felt that it could not wait.
27. The emergency accommodation provider booked another assessment appointment with Mr X. The Council called him to make sure he could get there, but had to leave a voice mail for him. The Council made a referral to the safeguarding team, who passed Mr X’s case to a mental health team.
28. In mid-June, the emergency accommodation provider agreed to house Mr X. Ms K liaised with the Police and the accommodation provider to make sure that he was supported to go there. The Council continued to liaise with the housing authority. It said that it would reinstate its homelessness duties to Mr X if he agreed to stay at the emergency accommodation. Mr X stayed overnight but Ms K tells me that the housing authority did not reinstate its homelessness duties and so Mr X had to leave the emergency accommodation. Ms K moved him to a hotel which she paid for.
29. Ms K contacted the Council again for help. It said that Mr X would need to approach the housing authority to be rehoused, and the Council agreed to review Mr X’s social care needs.
30. The Council reviewed Mr X’s care needs in late July 2024. Its record is taken from a number of meetings and conversations with Mr X and people involved in his care, including Ms K, the manager of the supported living accommodation and the Council’s adult social care manager. The Council’s review concluded that Mr X can manage his care and domestic needs, and he can travel independently. But he needs support with communication, his medication, admin and his finances. The Council concluded that Mr K does not needs supported living accommodation but he needs housing and some outreach support.
31. Ms K asked the Council to reconsider her complaint. She said the review did not give a true picture of Mr X’s needs. The Council confirmed it had reviewed Mr X’s needs over several meetings with Mr X, Ms K and his support worker. The Council said it would assess Mr X’s needs again once he was in settled accommodation.

Was there fault by the Council causing injustice to Mr X and Ms K

32. This has been a clearly distressing and unsettling time for Mr X and Ms K. However, there is no fault in how the Council dealt with Mr X’s care and housing support.
33. At the heart of this complaint is Ms K’s belief that her brother should be in supported living accommodation. This is for the Council to decide based on its assessment. I have not looked at the Council’s review from March 2023, as this is outside the scope of my investigation. However, the Council’s records show that it kept this under review during its liaison with the housing authority and, more formally, when it reviewed Mr X’s care needs in July 2024.
34. There is no fault in the Council’s 2024 review of Mr X’s care and support needs. This concluded that Mr X did not need supported housing. I appreciate that Ms K does not agree with this, but it is based on the Council’s observations and meetings with Ms K, Mr X, and the manager of the supported living accommodation.
35. The Council did conclude however, that Mr X needed some help and support with communication, medication, his finances, and admin. Ms K had been doing this, but as Mr X had to move further away, she told the Council she could not continue. The Council said that it would reassess Mr X’s support needs when he was rehoused, but I have also looked at how it supported him in the meantime.
36. The Council funded emergency hotel accommodation for Mr X from August 2023 to May 2024. This supported Mr X while he was trying to resolve his housing situation. It liaised with the housing authority to make sure that Mr X was not left without accommodation and to help the authority assess his housing needs.
37. The Council also supported Mr X to go to his appointments to progress his homelessness case with the housing authority and the emergency accommodation provider. The Council apologised that on one occasion its support workers did not tell Mr X that it would be visiting to help him with that.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman