Summary: There was no fault in the Council’s response to Ms X’s request for a downstairs toilet.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (the Council) took five years to deal with her request for a downstairs toilet.
2. Ms X also complained all her neighbours have downstairs toilets.
3. Ms X said she experiences incontinence due to not being able to get to her toilet and this causes avoidable distress.

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What I have investigated

4. I have investigated the complaint at paragraph one from 2020. My reasons for not investigating the other complaint are at the end of this statement.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

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. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)
7. We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. In this statement, I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. If we are satisfied with a council’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)

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How I considered this complaint

8. I considered Ms X’s complaint to us, the Council’s response to the complaint and documents described later in this statement.
9. A colleague discussed the complaint with Ms X.
10. Ms X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

11. This complaint involves events that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government introduced a range of new and frequently updated rules and guidance during this time. We can consider whether the council followed the relevant legislation, guidance and our published “Good Administrative Practice during the response to COVID-19”. We expected emergency working to cause backlogs to many temporarily lower priority services. We said councils should plan ahead for a phased return to normal working, considering a triage approach where appropriate.
12. Councils award Disabled Facilities Grants to people with a qualifying disability who need adaptations in their home to help them remain in their home. They may be awarded to provide or improve access to a toilet. When a person asks a council for a disabled facilities grant, the law says the council has to check the works are necessary and appropriate to meet the disabled person’s needs. (Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, section 24).
13. Usual practice is for a council to check works are necessary and appropriate by carrying out an occupational therapy (OT) assessment and asking the person’s doctors for information about their condition.

What happened

14. Ms X has disabilities. She already has some adaptations to her home including a stairlift. Her toilet is upstairs.
15. Ms X complained to the Council in October 2020.
16. The Council’s response to Ms X’s complaint apologised for the delay in responding and said officers had arranged an OT assessment for the start of July. The response went on to explain the Council’s procedures for dealing with requests for adaptations:
• She needed to have an OT assessment before a downstairs toilet would be approved and the target timescale for completing this was normally six weeks normally. This could not be achieved because of COVID-19.
• During the pandemic, the Council did assessments by Microsoft teams (video) as home visits were on hold. This was unsuitable for her and so she refused.
• She was placed on a waiting list for when visits resumed.
• Visits resumed in May 2021 but there was a backlog of cases.
• It partially upheld her complaint due to the delay.
17. Unhappy with the Council’s response, Ms X complained to us.
18. Since Ms X’s complaint, an OT has assessed her. The assessment noted Ms X said she was incontinent and could not get to the toilet on time because her stairlift was too slow and the toilet was upstairs. She reported pain and bladder incontinence due to muscle weakness and she used pads. Ms X said she had reported this to the GP who had not suggested any medical interventions. The OT said Ms X already had a safe way of accessing the toilet but acknowledged the stairlift was slow if she needed the toilet urgently. A commode downstairs was not appropriate. The OT advised they would contact the GP to confirm incontinence and any treatment options before recommending a ground floor toilet.

Was there fault?

19. There was no fault by the Council. It modified its usual way of responding to requests for adaptations because of COVID-19. Offering a video assessment was an acceptable policy response to minimise non-essential contact during the pandemic and reduce risk to staff and members of the public and was not fault. Ms X declined a video assessment and so she was placed on a list for a visit once home visits resumed.
20. The OT assessment took place within two months of home visits resuming. This was within an appropriate timeframe and so my view is there was no fault.
21. At the time of writing, the Council is waiting for information from Ms X’s GP. This is not fault as it is open to the Council to seek confirmation of a person’s medical condition before deciding an adaptation is necessary and appropriate to meet their needs. I expect the Council to chase the GP for outstanding information before the OT makes a final recommendation.

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Final decision

22. There was no fault in the Council’s response to Ms X’s request for a downstairs toilet.
23. I have completed the investigation.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

24. I did not investigate matters going back five years. These issues are late and there is no reason Ms X could not have complained to us sooner.
25. I did not investigate why Ms X’s neighbours have downstairs toilets as this causes her no injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman