Blackburn with Darwen Council (24 012 497)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 21-Oct-2025

Summary: Mrs C complained that the Council had significantly reduced her care and support hours without adequate justification, which was causing her and her husband significant distress and inconvenience. We found some fault in the second assessment in October 2024. But we also found that Mrs C has not taken up offers of reablement care to provide more evidence of her care and support needs. The Council has agreed to offer Mrs C a period of reablement care followed by a review of the assessment from October 2024.

Staffordshire County Council (24 017 165)

Statement Not upheld Assessment and care plan 21-Oct-2025

Summary: Ms C complains the Council has not assessed her care needs properly and Council commissioned care agencies were inadequate. There was no significant injustice caused by the care agencies commissioned by the Council and no fault in the Council’s decision to reduce services.

Surrey County Council (25 007 620)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Assessment and care plan 21-Oct-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the support provided to Miss B by the Council. The complaint is late and there are no good reasons to investigate now.

Surrey County Council (24 020 735)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 19-Oct-2025

Summary: Mr B complained the Council delayed financially assessing his mother, who I will refer to as Mrs C; gave him inaccurate financial information; and referred to mental capacity assessments as a formality. There was fault by the Council. It delayed allocating Mrs C’s case for a care assessment to be carried out. Because of the fault, there was a short delay in Mrs C receiving funding from the Council after her finances fell below the upper capital limit. This caused distress and worry to Mr B. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr B. It has also agreed to send us evidence of a review it has carried out of its case allocation processes, and evidence of training it has provided to staff about the Mental Capacity Act.

London Borough of Islington (24 021 764)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 16-Oct-2025

Summary: Ms X complained on behalf of Ms Y and Mr Z about the Council’s handling of a reassessment of Ms Y’s care needs. We find no fault in the Council’s decision not to fund 24-hour care. However, we find fault in the significant delays in completing the reassessment and in providing assistive technology. As a result, Mr Z had to continue caring for Ms Y longer than he wished, causing him avoidable distress, uncertainty, and risk of harm. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Ms Y and Mr Z, arrange for the outstanding assistive technology to be installed, and assign a named social worker to oversee future care planning.

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (25 000 854)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 16-Oct-2025

Summary: We found fault with the Council failing to explain how Mrs X’s reduced care package, following a care review, will meet her needs. The Council agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £250 for the avoidable distress, uncertainty and potential lost opportunity its fault caused. The Council agreed to complete a reassessment of Mrs X’s needs and either explain how the proposed level of care meets her eligible needs, if it maintains the level of care outlined in the 2024 care and support plan, or produce a revised care and support plan. The Council also agreed to remind officers about the importance of providing suitable explanations to service users when reducing a person’s personal budget and about how the new personal budget will meet their eligible needs.

London Borough of Wandsworth (24 019 089)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 15-Oct-2025

Summary: Mr Y complains the Council delayed in making Direct Payments available after he resumed his role as a carer. We find there was fault by the Council which caused distress to Mr Y. The Council will apologise and make a symbolic payment of £500.

East Sussex County Council (24 014 845)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Assessment and care plan 14-Oct-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council wrongly charging Ms Y for her care and support. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons why he did not complain sooner.

Lincolnshire County Council (24 020 313)

Statement Not upheld Assessment and care plan 14-Oct-2025

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint further. This is because we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X wants or link the injustice he claims to the actions of the Council and its commissioned care provider.

Herefordshire Council (25 003 516)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Assessment and care plan 14-Oct-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council refusing a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act 2010. There is not enough evidence of fault. The Council considered the request, explained its reason to refuse, and offered an alternative. The Ombudsman cannot decide the Council has breached the Equality Act, the complainant can make a claim of disability discrimination to court.