Summary: Mr X complained the Council stopped his son Mr Y’s direct payment and did not manage the transition from childrens to adult social care adequately. We upheld the complaint. The Council did not deal with the transition in line with the Children Act 1989 or Care Act 2014. This meant Mr Y missed out on care and support to which he had a legal entitlement and Mr X lost out on opportunities to have a regular break from his caring role. Both suffered avoidable distress. The Council will apologise, make payments to reflect the injustice and review its services to ensure transition cases are dealt with in a timely manner.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council stopped his son Mr Y’s direct payments and did not manage the transition from children to adult social care adequately.
2. Mr X said this meant Mr Y missed out on activities and caused them avoidable distress.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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 the future we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), 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(i), as amended)
6. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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What I have investigated

7. Although the complaint is about things which happened in 2021 and so over 12 months ago, I have investigated. This is because Mr Y does not have mental capacity to bring the complaint and so the legal provision about late complaints I have set out in paragraph three does not apply.

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How I considered this complaint

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

Relevant law and guidance

10. A council must carry out an assessment for any adult ‘with an appearance of need for care and support’. (This is called an ‘adult social care assessment.’) (Care Act 2014, section 9)
11. A council must carry out a carer’s assessment where it appears a carer may have needs for support. The assessment must include an assessment of the carer’s ability and willingness to continue in the caring role, the outcomes the carer wishes to achieve in daily life and whether support could contribute to achieving those outcomes (Care Act 2014, section 10)
12. An adult social care assessment should be carried out over an appropriate and reasonable timescale taking into account the urgency of needs. Councils should give the person an indicative timescale and keep them updated. (Care and Support Statutory Guidance 2014, paragraph 6.24)
13. The Care Act spells out the duty to meet eligible needs (needs which meet the eligibility criteria). (Care Act 2014, section 18)
14. An adult’s needs meet the eligibility criteria if they arise from or are related to a physical or mental impairment or illness and as a result the adult cannot achieve two or more of the following outcomes and as a result there is or is likely to be a significant impact on wellbeing.
• Managing and maintaining nutrition
• Maintaining personal hygiene
• Managing toilet needs
• Being appropriately clothed
• Making use of the home safely
• Maintaining a habitable home environment
• Accessing work, training, education
• Making use of facilities or services in the community
• Carrying out caring responsibilities.

(Care and Support (Eligibility Criteria) Regulations 2014, Regulation 2)

15. The Care Act explains the different ways a council can meet eligible needs by giving examples of services that may be provided including accommodation in a care home, care at home, counselling, information, advice and advocacy (Care Act 2014, section 8)
16. If a council decides a person is eligible for care or a carer is eligible for support, it should prepare a care and support plan or carer’s support plan which specifies the needs identified in the assessment, says whether and to what extent the needs meet the eligibility criteria and specifies the needs the council is going to meet and how this will be done. The council should give a copy of the care and support plan to the person. (Care Act 2014, sections 24 and 25)
17. The care and support plan/carer’s support plan must set out a personal budget. A personal budget is a statement which specifies the cost to the local authority of meeting eligible needs, the amount a person must contribute and the amount the council must contribute. (Care Act 2014, section 26)
18. There are three ways in which a personal budget can be used.
• As a managed account held by the local authority with support provided in line with the person’s wishes.
• As a managed account held by a third party with support provided in line with the person’s wishes.
• As a direct payment (a direct payment is money a person gives to a council to meet agreed needs).
19. The duty to meet eligible needs is not discharged because the person has another entitlement to a different service which could meet those needs which they are not using. (Care and Support Statutory Guidance, paragraph 10.25)
20. If a child is likely to need care and support after becoming 18, a council must, if satisfied the child would benefit, assess their needs for care and support (This assessment is called a child need’s assessment.) When the child turns 18, the council must decide whether to treat the assessment as an adult social care assessment. Care Act 2014, section 58)
21. Councils must safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need. A child is in need if:

• they are unlikely to achieve or maintain a reasonable standard of health or development unless the council provides support;
• their health or development is likely to be significantly impaired unless the council provides support; or
• they are disabled. (Children Act 1989, section 17)

22. If a child turning 18 receives services/funding as a child in need and their child needs assessment (for adult social care services) is not completed, then children’s services/funding must continue until the council has completed an adult social care assessment and made a decision on the young person’s eligibility for adult social care and support. (Children Act 1989, section 17ZH)
23. The LGSCO’s Principles of Good Administrative Practice set out our expectations of councils. We say they should ‘Put things right’. This means operating an effective complaints procedure which includes offering a fair and appropriate remedy where a complaint is upheld.

What happened

24. Mr Y is a young man with learning disabilities, living with Mr X who is his main unpaid carer. Mr Y’s 18th birthday was in September 2021. As a child in need, Mr Y received a direct payment (DP) which Mr X managed on his behalf. Mr X used the DP for clubs and activities for Mr Y to attend.

2021

25. In December 2021, a Head of Service from the Council approved continuation of the children’s services DP for two months to allow for completion of Mr Y’s adult social care assessment. There is no record of the Council actioning the Head of Service’s decision. The last DP from children’s social care was August 2021.

2022

26. In March 2022, a social worker completed an adult social care assessment for Mr Y. The social worker noted Mr X said he did not want residential respite care for Mr Y or carers in the home. The outcome of Mr Y’s social care assessment was he was eligible for care and support under most of the outcomes summarised in paragraph 14. However, as Mr X and Mr Y’s education placement were meeting Mr Y’s eligible needs and as there were no unmet needs, the Council did not commission any care and support services or provide a DP.
27. In April 2022, Mr X had a carer’s assessment. This noted he was Mr Y’s main carer with support from his ex-wife where possible. It described the challenges for Mr X in his caring role. He was eligible for carer’s support. The carer’s support plan of July set out a one-off payment (a carer’s DP) to be used flexibly for respite provision.

2023

28. Mr X wrote to the Council in January 2023 asking for Mr Y’s DP to be reinstated. There was no action by the Council until June. Mr X complained to the Council the same month. The Council’s notes said it referred Mr Y to the transitions team and noted a new assessment was needed as his education placement was due to end.
29. The Council responded to Mr X’s complaint in July saying:
• Mr Y’s children’s services DP stopped when he became 18. This was correct.
• The outcome of Mr Y’s adult social care assessment was that he was not eligible for support
• It took ‘some time’ for the adult social care assessment to be completed.
• Mr X did not receive a reply to his letter in January 2023 to the DP team. It was unclear why not, but the DP team would have told him payment stopped when Mr Y turned 18
30. In October 2023, the Council issued a carer’s support plan for Mr X. The Council granted him a further one-off carer’s DP.
31. The Council completed a social care assessment in December 2023. Mr Y was eligible for care and support and most of his needs were met through education provision or by Mr X. The assessment recommended support to access community facilities and his father needed respite from his caring role. Support was recommended by way of a direct payment for the family to employ a personal assistant (PA.) The next step was to create a care and support plan.

2024

32. An internal note said the social worker presented Mr Y’s case to the funding panel at the end of January 2024. The request was for the panel to agree funding of 10 hours a week of personal assistant (PA) support for Mr Y to provide respite for Mr X. The funding panel did not agree funding. It said instead, the social worker needed to explore other sources of support like buddies and volunteering. The social worker spoke to Mr X and told him the funding panel’s decision. He was not happy.
33. The records indicate the social worker researched the panel’s suggestions and provided Mr X with information about how to access free and universal provision including a sitting service (for respite care) and football groups. The social worker ended their involvement in the case.
34. Meantime, Mr X’s advocate contacted adult social care in March 2024 about the ending of Mr Y’s DPs. There is no record of a response and no action on the case between March and November.
35. Mr X complained to us in September 2024.
36. In the middle of November, a social worker was asked to review Mr X and Mr Y and resubmit the case to the funding panel.
37. In November 2024, the Council awarded a further carer’s DP for Mr X. His carer’s support plan used existing information as Mr X had done a self-review indicating no change in circumstances.

2025

38. In January 2025, the Council issued a further complaint response. It said:
• Mr Y’s (children’s social care) DP was for £3000 a year and not £2500 as previously stated. The DP was made monthly in advance and the final payment at the end of August 2021 and covered provision until Mr Y turned 18 in September. The Council was sorry that he was not told in advance about the DP stopping.
• Adult social care assessments in 2022 concluded Mr X was meeting Mr Y’s needs and happy to continue doing so. So no adult care and support services were provided.
• In June 2023, a further adult social care assessment was recommended as Mr Y’s education was due to end. A further assessment took place in December, and a recommendation for 10 hours of care and support was made, which the panel declined.
• There was a further assessment underway and when complete, a decision would be met about eligibility and support.
39. The Council issued a care and support plan in April 2025. This sets out funding of 10 hours a week DP to enable the family to purchase 10 hours a week of support from a PA for Mr Y to access the community and to give Mr X a break.
40. The review of Mr Y’s care and support plan in May 2025 said Mr X received a carers grant in November 2024. Mr X had found a PA for Mr Y and they were due to start shortly.

Findings

41. The Council was at fault and this caused injustice because:
1. As a child with significant learning disabilities, Mr Y had an appearance of need for adult care and support. Yet there was a failure to complete a child needs assessment before his 18th birthday to ensure any services he was entitled to as an adult were identified and in place. This was not in line with section 58 of the Care Act 2014. It caused Mr X avoidable frustration and confusion about Mr Y’s entitlement to adult care and support.
2. Mr Y’s children’s social care DP stopped when he turned 18. It should have continued between September 2021 and March 2022 to be in line with section 17ZH of the Children Act 1989. This caused a loss of services to which Mr Y had a legal entitlement. The Head of Service told officers the childrens DP should continue ‘for two months’, although this was not acted on and the two-month period was arbitrary: the DP should have continued until the adult social care assessment process was completed.
3. There was no fault in the Council’s decision-making under the Care Act 2014 between April 2022 and July 2023. The March 2022 assessment concluded Mr X and the education placement were meeting Mr Y’s eligible needs and there were no unmet needs. On balance and relying on the written records, it is likely Mr X said he did not want respite care for Mr Y during the March 2022 assessment, although he denies this.
4. Although the Council noted Mr Y needed a fresh adult social care assessment in June 2023 as his education was ending shortly, an assessment did not take place until December 2023. Taking six months to complete an assessment where there is a significant change in circumstances was not reasonable, appropriate, timely or in line with paragraph 6.24 of Care and Support Statutory Guidance. It delayed consideration of Mr Y’s eligibility and a decision on services and/or funding. This caused avoidable distress, confusion and uncertainty,
5. The funding panel rejected the social worker’s recommendation for a DP to meet Mr Y’s eligible need for support to access community facilities. Instead, the panel offered possible alternative services to meet Mr Y’s eligible unmet needs. While councils are entitled to discharge the legal duty to meet eligible needs by arranging universal or general services, it was fault of the Council to close Mr Y’s case without ensuring those universal services were in place and actually delivering care and support to meet eligible unmet needs. The evidence available indicates universal services were unsuitable, could not meet needs or had no places available. Paragraph 10.25 of Care and Support Statutory Guidance stresses the duty to meet eligible needs is not discharged just because a person is entitled to a different service which could meet needs. Mr Y’s needs remained unmet and so the Council had a duty to meet them. Mr Y has a loss of entitlement to regular support to enable him to access the community between January 2024 and April 2025.
6. The Council’s complaint responses failed to identify key areas of fault and injustice as I have set out in points (a) to (e). And the first response wrongly said Mr Y was not eligible for adult services, which was incorrect. He was eligible, but there was no requirement for care and support as his eligible needs were being met elsewhere (by Mr X and his education placement). Also, the Council’s complaint responses did not provide an adequate remedy. This was not in line with our expectations as I have set out in paragraph 23 and it caused Mr X avoidable confusion

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Agreed Action

42. Within one month of my final decision, the Council will complete the following actions:
1. Issue an apology to Mr X and Mr Y We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended in my findings.
2. Make payments of £750 to Mr X and £3000 to Mr Y to reflect the avoidable distress, frustration, confusion and loss of services identified in the previous section. This takes into account lost social care provision between the following periods:
1. September 2021 and March 2022
2. January 2024 and April 2025.
43. Within two months of my final decision, the Council will:
1. Complete a review of procedures in children’s social care services to ensure those children receiving section 17 provision who appear to be in need of adult care and support are identified and receive child needs assessments in a timely manner (meaning: in good time before their 18th birthday).
2. Issue a briefing note to relevant staff to ensure services provided under section 17 of the Children Act do not end at a child’s 18th birthday where they are likely to be entitled to adult social care and support and have not yet had an adult social care assessment.
44. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the actions in paragraphs 42 and 43.

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Decision

45. I find fault causing injustice. The Council has agreed actions to remedy the injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman