Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the outcome of an occupational therapy assessment on the complainant’s request for a Disabled Facilities Grant to adapt her home. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council in how it carried out the assessment . Also, the Council has offered a new assessment to be carried out by a different Officer. Further investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

The complaint

1. The complainant, I shall call Mrs X, says the Council’s Occupational Therapist (OT) failed to assess her properly when she asked for adaptations to her home. She says the OT lied about her in the assessment.
2. Mrs X wants a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) to pay for installing a ramp to her back garden and raise her downstairs toilet.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. The Ombudsman investigates complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse impact on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service but must use public money carefully. We do not start or may decide not to continue with an investigation if we decide:

• there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating
• further investigation would not lead to a different outcome

(Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6))

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered information provided by Mrs X and the Council.
5. I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.

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My assessment

6. DFGs fall under the terms of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. Councils have a statutory duty to give grant aid to disabled people for certain adaptations. Before approving a grant, a council must be satisfied the work is necessary, meets the disabled person’s needs, and is reasonable and practicable.
7. The Council carried out an OT assessment on Mrs X’s request for adaptations to her home via a DFG.
8. The OT recommended a half step stair with rails to enable Mrs X to access her back garden. And a raised toilet seat for the downstairs toilet.
9. Mrs X complains the OT did not assess her properly and lied about her on the assessment form.
10. I recognise Mrs X is unhappy with the Council’s decision. From the information I have seen there is no evidence of fault in the way it completed and decided her assessment. However, it has agreed that a different OT will visit Mrs X and complete a new assessment.
11. We are not an appeal body and we cannot question the merits of a council’s decision where there is no sign of fault in the way the decision was reached. This a matter of professional judgment for suitably qualified council officers to make.

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Final decision

12. We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint because there is not enough evidence of fault in the way the Council carried out its assessment. And, as the Council has agreed to carry out a new assessment, further investigation by us is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman