London Borough of Croydon (25 017 333)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 08-Sep-2026

Summary: Mr X complained on behalf of his mother, Mrs Y, about the Council’s failure to respond to his requests for respite care for her. The Council was at fault for failing to respond to one request and delaying in responding to another. It also delayed in responding to his complaint. This caused Mr X and Mrs Y frustration, uncertainty and to miss out on respite. The Council should apologise and make a symbolic financial remedy to recognise this.

Devon County Council (25 020 288)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 07-Sep-2026

Summary: The Council is at fault for the lengthy delay in completing Ms X’s financial assessment review and its limited communication during this period. This caused Ms X avoidable distress and uncertainty about her care costs. There is not enough evidence to show that the assessment decision itself was flawed or caused a financial injustice.

Bristol City Council (25 022 281)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Assessment and care plan 07-Sep-2026

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about care charges for his mother. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

Kent County Council (25 020 041)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 06-Sep-2026

Summary: Miss B complained that the Council delayed in reaching a decision about her mother, Mrs C’s long term care needs, misrepresented Mrs C’s capacity to make decisions about her care and communicated poorly with Miss B. We found there was some delay in progressing Mrs C’s case between May and September 2025 which caused Miss B and Mrs C uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise to them and make a symbolic payment.

Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council (25 012 919)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 03-Sep-2026

Summary: Ms X complained about the Council’s failure to provide overnight respite care to her son. We found fault due to poor transition planning which meant Ms X’s son did not receive overnight respite care for an extended period causing them both distress. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and review its transition processes between children’s and adult’s services in addition to the improvements it has already made to its respite referral process.

Leeds City Council (25 025 588)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Assessment and care plan 03-Sep-2026

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint that her social worker failed to respond to her contact and the Council has refused to allocate her a new social worker. We could not add to the Council’s response or achieve a different outcome.

East Sussex County Council (25 011 311)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 02-Sep-2026

Summary: The Council was at fault for delaying Mrs Y’s financial assessment and for failing to establish appropriate support and communication arrangements for Mrs Y when it shared her care plan and financial assessment letters to ensure she received and understood the information sent to her. This caused avoidable distress and uncertainty for Mrs Y about the amount she would be required to contribute towards her care. The Council was not at fault for arranging a care package to meet Mrs Y’s assessed eligible needs, and there is no evidence to conclude the care package was unnecessary. The Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mrs Y to remedy the injustice caused. The Council agreed to further make a service improvement.

North Northamptonshire Council (25 015 302)

Statement Not upheld Assessment and care plan 01-Sep-2026

Summary: There is no evidence of fault by the Council. It properly assessed Ms X’s needs and offered commissioned care to meet her eligible needs while her preferred PA arrangement was explored. Ms X declined the care offered on more than one occasion.

Newcastle upon Tyne City Council (25 005 718)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 01-Sep-2026

Summary: We will not investigate Mr K’s complaint about arrangements for his late aunt Mrs V’s discharge from hospital, about delays in authorising Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), and about complaint handling. We are unlikely to find fault in the hospital discharge arrangements, and the Council and NHS Trust have accepted fault about the DoLS arrangements and complaint handling. They have apologised and taken action to improve. We are unlikely to achieve more by investigating.

London Borough of Hackney (26 013 162)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Assessment and care plan 01-Sep-2026

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the outcome of a care assessment from 2022. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons to investigate.