Summary: Miss Y complains about the Council’s actions in relation to a package of home care it commissioned in 2022. The Council upheld some parts of the complaint and Miss Y has received a remedy which we consider to be appropriate. We do not find fault in the other parts of Miss Y’s complaint for the reasons explained in this statement.

The complaint

1. Miss Y complains about the Council’s actions in respect of her care and support needs. Miss Y says:
1. The care provider commissioned by the Council did not complete a risk assessment before it commenced the package of care and support.
2. The care provider commissioned by the Council committed a data breach when it sent her a confidential document relating to the care and support needs of another service user.
3. The support plan completed by the care provider contained fabrications and factually incorrect information.
4. The Council did not arrange advocacy support for her until September 2023, despite making a request in August 2022.
5. The Council took too long to respond to her request for direct payments.
6. The Council has not completed the actions it agreed when it responded to her complaint in November 2022.

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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. During my investigation I considered the information provided by Miss Y and gave her the opportunity to discuss her complaint with me.
5. I made enquiries of the Council and considered its response.
6. Miss Y and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments received before making this final decision.

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What I found

Complaint a)

7. Miss Y has assessed care and support needs under the Care Act 2014. She complains the provider of the home care commissioned by the Council did not complete a risk assessment before starting her package of care. The Council met with Miss Y in October 2022 to discuss her concerns. The Council’s notes of that meeting confirm the care provider did not complete a risk assessment and there was no record of an initial meeting with the care provider to discuss Miss Y’s care plan.
8. The Council has confirmed that Miss Y’s financial contribution towards the charges for the period during which the provider delivered care have been waived. I am satisfied this is an appropriate remedy for the fault identified and I have not recommended any further remedial action.

Complaint b)

9. The Council has already acknowledged that a care plan received by Miss Y contained confidential information about a third party. The Council met with Miss Y in October 2022 to discuss her concerns and reported the data breach to its internal legal team. The Council also notified the service user concerned, spoke with the care provider, and undertook a safeguarding investigation. The Council says the care provider made service improvements to prevent future recurrence.
10. Our role is to consider complaints where the person bringing the complaint has suffered significant personal injustice as a direct result of the actions or inactions of the care provider. This means we will normally only recommend a remedy if we find that fault has caused serious loss, harm, or distress as a direct result of faults or failures. We will not normally investigate a complaint and recommend remedy where the alleged loss or injustice is not a serious or significant matter.
11. While I appreciate the data breach caused Miss Y some concern, I am not persuaded that she suffered a significant injustice from the fault. The person who suffered the most injustice is the service user who is not party to this complaint.

Complaint c)

12. When the Council met with Miss Y in October 2022 it acknowledged that parts of Miss Y’s support plan contained inaccuracies. The Council agreed to assign an allocated worker to review Miss Y’s care and support needs. Following this Miss Y received a new package of care from November 2022.
13. The Council has confirmed that Miss Y’s financial contribution towards the charges for the period during which the provider delivered care have been waived. I am satisfied this is an appropriate remedy for the fault identified and I have not recommended any further remedial action.

Complaint d)

14. The Council’s records show Miss Y requested the support of advocacy services in late September 2022. The Council made a referral to an advocacy service two days later. The records show the Council called Miss Y to notify her of the named advocate on 11 October 2022.
15. I do not uphold this complaint because the Council acted promptly and arranged advocacy support for Miss Y within two weeks of her request.

Complaint e)

16. The Council wrote to Miss Y in October 2022 with an action plan to discuss the possibility of Direct Payments (DP). The discussion went ahead on 4 November and the Council agreed to have a further discussion with Miss Y’s allocated social worker. On 24 November the Council provided Miss Y with a DP information pack. The Council says Miss Y agreed to consider it further “in the future”.
17. The records show Miss Y spoke with the Council on 2 August 2023 to request another discussion about DPs. The meeting took place in early September 2023. The Council provided information in writing on 6 October to confirm the arrangements for a DP. On 29 October Miss Y emailed the Council to confirm that she did not wish to proceed with DPs.
18. I do not uphold this part of Miss Y’s complaint. The records show the Council provided prompt advice each time Miss Y requested information about DPs. In late 2023 Miss Y confirmed that she no longer wanted to proceed due to her concerns about affordability. There is no evidence of any fault by the Council causing injustice.

Complaint f)

19. The Council responded to Miss Y’s complaint on 17 November 2022 with an action plan. I do not uphold the complaint because I am satisfied the Council completed the agreed actions. This is because:
• records show Miss Y’s new package of care started from 23 November 2022.
• the Council provided DP information in November 2022 and again in October 2023.
• the Council reported the data breach to its legal team on 31 October 2022 and took appropriate safeguarding action to help reduce future risk.

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Final decision

20. I have completed my investigation. The actions already undertaken by the Council have provided an appropriate remedy for any injustice caused by fault and we do not recommend anything further.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman