Summary: Mr X complained the Council delayed carrying out housing adaptations to a Council owned property required to meet a family member, Mr Y’s, needs. Mr X also complained about poor communication and delayed complaints handling. The Council was at fault. It delayed progressing the major housing adaptation, communicated poorly and delayed responding to Mr X’s complaint. This caused Mr X and Mr Y an injustice. The Council has already apologised. It will also make a symbolic payment and act to improve its services.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council delayed carrying out house adaptations, to a Council owned property, required to meet a family member, Mr Y’s, needs. Mr X also complained about poor communication and delayed complaints handling. As a result Mr X says Mr Y had to live in a property unsuitable to meet his needs, with inappropriate bathing facilities, causing skin infections and distress. Mr X also said it impacted on his mental health and caused him distress, frustration and time and trouble.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

2. 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
3. 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)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered:
• the information Mr X provided and spoke to him about the complaint on the telephone;
• the information the Council provided;
• relevant law and guidance, as set out below; and
• our guidance on remedies, published on our website.
5. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered their comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

Disabled adaptations

6. Disabled facilities grants (DFG) are provided under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996. Councils have a statutory duty to give grants to disabled people for certain adaptations. These include enabling the disabled person to access their home and essential facilities within the home, like bathrooms, bedrooms, and kitchens.
7. DFGs are capital grants that are available to people of all ages and in all housing tenures (i.e. whether renting privately, from a social landlord or council, or owner-occupiers) to contribute to the cost of adaptations. They are administered by local housing authorities in England and enable eligible disabled people to continue living safely and independently at home.
8. Before approving a grant, a council must be satisfied the work is necessary, appropriate for the disabled person’s needs, and is reasonable and practicable.
9. Statutory guidance says eligible council tenants can apply for a DFG in the same way as any other applicant. However local housing authorities with a Housing Revenue Account (HRA) should fund home adaptations for council tenants through this account.
10. The process of applying for a DFG usually requires an assessment by an Occupational Therapist or other qualified assessor to identify the person’s needs.
11. Government guidance sets out expected timescales for progressing an application and completing the works.
12. The guidance gives the following timescales:
• Urgent and simple works – 55 working days
• Non-urgent and simple works – 130 working days
• Urgent and complex works – 130 days
• Non-urgent and complex works – 180 working days

(Disabled facilities Grant (DFG) Delivery: Guidance for local authorities in

England 2022)

Care Plans

13. The Care Act 2014 gives councils a legal responsibility to provide a care and support plan. The care and support plan should consider what needs the person has, what they want to achieve, what they can do by themselves or with existing support and what care and support may be available in the local area. When preparing a care and support plan the council must involve any carer the adult has. The support plan must include a personal budget, which is the money the council has worked out it will cost to arrange the necessary care and support for that person.

Complaints handling

14. The Council follows the following complaints procedure for Adult Social Care complaints:
• Stage 1: complaints would be acknowledged within two working days and a point of contact provided to the complainant. A full written response would be provided within 20 working days from the date the complaint was processed for investigation. If it was a complex complaint the complainant would be advised of an extended response date; and
• Stage 2: the complainant could request a review of the stage 1 investigation if they remain dissatisfied with the outcome. Another officer would be allocated as a point of contact and a response would be provided within 20 working days from the date of receipt.

What happened

15. Mr Y lives in a three bed Council owned property with three other family members. Mr Y has complex disabilities and mobility issues. He found it difficult to access stairs and bathing facilities on the first floor. Mr Y was sleeping in a bed in the living room on the ground floor and was supported by his family for daily living activities. Two family members received a direct payment for a total of five hours per day (a total of 25 hours per week) to support Mr Y with washing, dressing, meal preparation, appointments and accessing the community. Informal care was also provided by another family member, Mr X.
16. In mid-March 2022 Mr X, contacted the Council about making adaptations to Mr Y’s home. The Council agreed for an Occupational Therapist (OT) assessment to be undertaken.
17. In late June 2022 an OT visited and assessed Mr Y’s property. The OT report said Mr Y was unable to use the stairs because of reduced mobility and pain and the bathroom was located on the first floor. Mr Y’s skin had deteriorated because of problems with maintaining personal hygiene, he was doubly incontinent. Mr Y was supported by his family with bed washes and slept in the living room. Mr Y struggled with all transfers. The OT made recommendations to explore more suitable options to access bathing and toileting facilities on the ground floor.
18. In mid-September 2022 an OT carried out a second assessment for Mr Y. The OT recommended a level access bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor which was wheelchair accessible. The Council record said the recommendation needed to be checked and assessed by a contractor to make sure it was possible. The record also noted a telephone conversation with Mr Y’s family and it was agreed the family did not wish to move property.
19. The same day the Council sent Mr Y a letter updating him on the major adaptation request. The recommendation was sent to the Council’s Housing Department to review the OT recommendation and the Council said it would be in contact in due course.
20. In September 2022 Mr Y’s second OT assessment was sent to the Council’s capital investment team. Due to a backlog the capital investment team did not process the assessment until March 2023. The Council did not keep Mr X updated in this period. It says this was because of a lack of resources.
21. Mr X said the Council did not contact him until mid-April 2023 when a Council contractor surveyor assessed Mr Y’s property and recommended the best way to extend the property for a ground floor bedroom and bathroom. The surveyor said they would be back in touch with Mr X with design and plans.
22. A week later the Council received a proposed plan for Mr Y’s level access bathroom and bedroom extension. In June 2023 the Council confirmed it would carry out the works.
23. The surveyor did not contact Mr X and in mid-June 2023, Mr X rang the Council’s DFG phone number which Mr X said went to voicemail, with no option of leaving a message and gave a Council email address. Mr X said the email address given did not exist and he received a bounce back email. He contacted the Council’s Housing Repair Team and OT Team but both departments said he needed to contact the Council’s DFG team. Mr X continued to try and ring the DFG helpline with no answer.
24. In mid-July 2023 Mr X made a formal complaint to the Council. He said he had not heard back from the Council’s DFG Team about Mr Y’s property adaptations.
25. A week later the Council emailed Mr X and said a Council officer would be assigned to his complaint within 2 days. A Council complaints officer was assigned to Mr X’s complaint and they told Mr X the Council’s Housing Repair Team would contact him as soon as possible.
26. In mid-August 2023 Mr X had not been contacted by the Council’s Housing Repair Team and he made a new complaint to the Council. This was registered with a new complaint number and the Council assigned Mr X a different Council complaints officer who told Mr X the Housing Repair Team would contact him directly. Three days later Mr X emailed his MP for help with the delays and the MP contacted the Council.
27. In August 2023 the Council reviewed Mr Y’s Care and Support Plan because a family member could no longer support Mr Y or help him with accessing the community. Mr X said Mr Y would not engage with care agency workers and it was agreed that a mixture of care by one family member and attending a day care centre would meet Mr Y’s needs.
28. In late-September 2023, the Council wrote to Mr X’s MP and said OT recommendations were sent to the Council’s Housing Department which were then filed in strict date order and with the same priority level. Mr Y would be contacted directly when the work was due to be carried out to discuss in detail the timescale for completion. It apologised for the inconvenience caused to Mr Y.
29. Between mid-October 2023 and early 2024 Mr Y’s family support worker chased the Council’s Housing department several times for an update on the progress of the extension works because Mr Y’s skin was deteriorating. They did not receive a response.
30. In November 2023 the Council submitted then withdrew a planning application for Mr Y’s extension because some information was missing.
31. In early January 2024 Mr Y saw a doctor about a skin infection. A Doctor’s record said the likely cause was due to his lack of bathing facilities.
32. In early-February 2024 Mr X still had no update from the Council and he made a new complaint. The Council said it was already dealing with his complaint from August 2023 and apologised for the delay in responding. The Council said it had asked for further information and when it had the outcome it would contact Mr X.
33. In mid-March 2024 the Council’s contractor surveyor attended Mr Y’s property so Mr X could sign the design and plans for the extension. Mr X asked the surveyor when the works would begin and a timescale for the works, but the surveyor could not provide a timescale.
34. After a review of Mr Y’s Care and Support Plan, in late March 2024, the Council reduced Mr Y’s direct payment for a family member’s help to 15 hours per week and put in place a commissioned service for Mr X to attend a day care centre two days a week. In April 2024 Mr X told me the family member stopped caring for Mr Y because of other responsibilities.
35. The extension design was finalised in April 2024, the Council registered a planning application for the extension and planning permission was granted in the same month.
36. In late May 2024 the Council sent Mr X a stage 1 response. It apologised for the delay in providing a response to his complaint and for not providing updates on the major adaptation work. It said the delay was because of queries raised by the surveyor following a quote for the works. It said the works could not be agreed until the queries had been finalised. The Council said it had escalated the matter to its contractors and it would update Mr X in two weeks. It said the adaptations were complex so it may take time to finalise the quote and works. The Council acknowledged the process around installation of aids and adaptations needed reviewing and a review was underway to keep applicants updated on timescales for works and any delays.
37. In early June 2024 Mr X emailed the Council and said he was unhappy with the stage 1 response.
38. In June 2024 the Council approved the costs for Mr Y’s extension.
39. In late June 2024 the Council sent Mr X a stage 2 response and apologised for not keeping Mr X updated on the adaptation works. The Council said the initial delays were because of incorrect entries on its system and it apologised. The Council also said there were delays in finalising the quotes for the works and a planning department delay in approving the works. The works would start in early July 2024. The Council offered Mr X £500.00 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays and poor communication.
40. In early July 2024 the extension works started at Mr Y’s home.

Enquiries

41. In response to my enquiries the Council said:
• it gave Mr X a complaints telephone number and a telephone number for the capital investments team but there was no record it had given Mr X a DFG telephone number; and
• the DFG policy did not apply because it is a Council owned property and its repairs policy (2009) applied.

My findings

Adaptation delays

42. The Council says its DFG procedure does not apply in this case as Mr Y is a council tenant. Anyone of any housing tenure can apply for a DFG, however for council tenants the works are funded differently. DFGs are mandatory grants. This means if the four tests of “reasonable, practicable, necessary and appropriate” are met, a council must approve a grant. If a council has a different scheme or policy for adapting its own housing stock, it should either apply the same tests as the DFG process, or else allow its tenants to apply for a DFG if it refuses works which would be mandatory under the DFG process. An individual needing adaptations should not be disadvantaged due to being a council tenant or treated any less favourably than had they applied for a DFG.
43. In this case the Council decided Mr Y’s home required adaptations but has delayed doing them. This delay is fault.
44. Government guidance on DFGs for non-urgent but complex adaptations says councils should aim to get from assessment to completion of works in 180 working days. The OT initially assessed Mr Y in June 2022 and completed a second assessment in September 2022. Due to a backlog in the Council capital investment team no work took place on the assessment for six months, when a survey took place of Mr Y’s property. It took until June 2023 for the Council to agree the works. Due to planning delays and delays with agreeing costs it took until early July 2024 to start the works. The works should have been completed by early March 2023. The works only started in early July 2024 which was a delay of about 16 months. This delay is fault and caused Mr Y an injustice. As a result of the delays Mr Y has been without the adaptations he needed to access toilet and bathing facilities causing his skin to continue to deteriorate. The Council has already apologised to Mr X for the frustration caused by delay.

Communication

45. The Council was at fault for poor communication with Mr X. Between September 2022 and April 2023 the Council failed to update Mr X. The Council said this was because of a backlog in its capital investment team and a lack of resources meant it did not keep Mr X updated, this was fault. It took another year for the Council to contact Mr X about approving the plans for Mr Y’s extension due to delays in agreeing the design and in receiving planning approval. This further delay was also fault. Once planning permission was approved it took another three months to agree the costs and set a start date for the work. This information was only provided to Mr X though a corporate complaints response. The continued lack of updates provided to Mr X between September 2022 and June 2024 caused him frustration, distress and avoidable time and trouble. The Council has already apologised to Mr X and said it was reviewing its communication processes but it should also make a suitable symbolic payment.

Complaints handling

46. The Council was at fault for delay in sending Mr X his stage 1 response. Mr X first complained in July 2023 and a new complaint was registered for the same issue in August 2023 and February 2024. The stage 1 response was not issued until late May 2024 which was a delay of nine months and was fault. It caused Mr X avoidable time and trouble chasing the response, confusion and frustration.
47. The Ombudsman has already made recommendations to this Council about a similar case of delay in the complaints process. The Council has agreed to take action to ensure it is able to respond to complaints with the timeframes set out in its complaints procedure. On this basis, no further recommendations were needed.

Care and Support Plan

48. The Council has carried out care and support plan reviews for Mr Y when the situation changed with his family members providing support. The Council continues to pay a direct payment for a personal assistant to help Mr Y with his daily needs. It is open to Mr Y’s family to employ a new carer or request a new assessment of Mr Y’s needs if the existing plan is not meeting his needs. The Council was not at fault.

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Agreed action

49. The Council has already proposed a remedy of £500 for the adaptation delays and poor communication. I do not consider this to be a suitable remedy for the injustice caused.
50. To remedy the injustice for the faults I have identified. Within one month of the final decision the Council will:
1. pay Mr Y £2,400, based on £150 a month between early March 2023 and early July 2024 he has been without a downstairs toilet and shower room he needs; and
2. if not already done so, pay Mr X a total of £500 for the frustration, distress and avoidable time and trouble caused by the poor communication and for the avoidable time and trouble, confusion and frustration caused by the delayed stage 1 response.
51. Within 12 weeks of the final decision the Council will provide the Ombudsman with an update on its review around installation of aids and adaptations. In carrying out the review the Council will ensure:
1. council tenants are not disadvantaged compared to those in other housing tenures in how it deals with requests for adaptations; and
2. applicants are kept updated on timescales for works and any delays.

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Final decision

52. I have completed my investigation finding fault causing injustice. The Council has already apologised and has also agreed to take action to remedy the injustice and prevent reoccurrence of the faults.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman