Durham County Council (25 011 077)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Assessment and care plan 22-Dec-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about information the Council has recorded or shared. The Information Commissioner’s Office is better placed to consider data concerns. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s assessment of housing and care needs, it is entitled to rely on recorded data. There is not enough evidence the Council’s actions led to the claimed injustice.

West Northamptonshire Council (24 019 888)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 19-Dec-2025

Summary: Mr X complained about a delay providing his relative Ms Y with additional care and about fault in the financial assessment for her care charge. The Council is at fault. It took too long to make Ms Y’s direct payment available to her after revising her care and support plan to include extra care. The Council made an incorrect statement about Ms Y’s mobility vehicle which caused avoidable distress. The Council will apologise and make a symbolic payment.

Kent County Council (25 003 822)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 19-Dec-2025

Summary: Mr X complained on behalf of a care provider about the Council’s handling of payments relating to a service user. As part of the complaints process, the Council apologised for causing a delay in increasing payments for the service user from December 2024. It resolved the issue and put steps in place to prevent such delays in future. We found the Council’s response and action to be appropriate, and some parts of Mr X’s complaint related to contractual matters. We have therefore not made any further findings or recommendations.

Northumberland County Council (24 022 291)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 18-Dec-2025

Summary: Mrs F complained the Council breached her mother, Mrs B’s human rights by placing her in a care home against her wishes and charging her incorrectly. We found delay in seeking a home care provider which caused uncertainty. The Council has agreed to make a symbolic payment to Mrs B to remedy this injustice. We found no fault in the rest of the complaint. There is no evidence the Council has not had due regard to Mrs B’s human rights.

Oxfordshire County Council (25 000 946)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 18-Dec-2025

Summary: We found the Council was at fault. The care and support plan it created for Mr X did not set out clearly the agreed expectations for the division of his care between paid and informal carers. This caused Mr X’s wife, Mrs X, confusion and uncertainty. The Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mrs X.

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (25 002 822)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 18-Dec-2025

Summary: Mr X complained the Council delayed completing a social care needs assessment and that it has denied him getting medical treatment by making false statements. While there was a delay in completing the care needs assessment, this did not affect the outcome as Mr X continues to refuse to accept the care offered to meet his assessed needs.

Westminster City Council (25 014 427)

Statement Upheld Assessment and care plan 18-Dec-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Mr X’s care needs. This is because the Council has already remedied any injustice Mr X suffered during its complaints process.

Staffordshire County Council (25 001 986)

Statement Not upheld Assessment and care plan 17-Dec-2025

Summary: The complaint is about the Council’s decision that it would not fund the fees for the care home the complainant was in. So she needed to move when the Council took over the care funding. Also that the Council did not give the complainant a choice of alternative care homes to move to. We see no fault in the way the Council arrived at its decision about the maximum care fees it would pay. It did only provide one alternative care home, but has explained why. We do not uphold the complaint.

Blackpool Borough Council (25 006 999)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Assessment and care plan 17-Dec-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council completed a mental capacity assessment before the complainant’s late mother was discharged from hospital in June 2025. There is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (25 008 432)

Statement Closed after initial enquiries Assessment and care plan 17-Dec-2025

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about delays in the Council completing a care act assessment for Ms X’s son and its subsequent decision not to backdate direct payments. A complaint about that is late and there are no good reasons for us to exercise discretion to consider it now. Additionally, we will not investigate a complaint about the Councils request to reassess Ms X’s son and its decision on how his direct payment can be used. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant our involvement.