Summary: The Council failed to review Mrs X’s carers assessment.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complains the Council failed to pay her payments to meet her needs as a carer in 2017, 2018 & 2019.

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What I have investigated

2. I have investigated matters from November 2019 onwards. I explain the reasons for this at the end of this statement.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. 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)
5. 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

6. I have:

• considered the complaint and discussed it with Mrs X;
• considered the correspondence between Mrs X and the Council, including the Council’s response to the complaint;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the responses;
• taken account of relevant legislation;
• offered Mrs X and the Council an opportunity to comment on a draft of this document, and considered the comments made.

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What I found

Relevant legislation

7. Where an individual provides or intends to provide care for another adult and it appears the carer may have any needs for support, councils must carry out a carer’s assessment. Carers’ assessments must seek to find out not only the carer’s needs for support, but also the sustainability of the caring role itself. This includes the practical and emotional support the carer provides to the adult.
8. Following an assessment, a carer may be eligible for a discretionary payment or a personal budget. A carers payment is intended to help pay towards the cost of something which supports the carer in their caring role. These are usually one-off payments specifically to help a carer achieve an identified outcome. 

Background

9. Mrs X assists her husband to care for his adult daughter. In 2017, this office published a public report about the Council’s failure to provide care and support to Mrs X’s stepdaughter. As part of the remedy the Council agreed to complete a carers assessment of Mrs X’s husband, there was no agreement to complete a carers assessment of Mrs X.
10. Mrs X asked the Council for a carers assessment in her own right. She says a council officer told her in November 2019, that she was entitled to carers payments.
11. The Council told Mrs X she needed a carers assessment; this was completed on 3 December 2019. I have seen a copy of the assessment, it is detailed and completed properly. Mrs X says she did not receive a payment, and despite the involvement of numerous officers she has not received any payments.
12. The Council says that following the carers assessment, “…a recommendation for a £350 payment to [Mrs X] was put forward and this pertained respite. It says this is a one-off yearly payment that carers maybe entitled to, after a carer’s assessment has been undertaken.
13. The Council made a payment of £350 to Mrs X in February 2020 covering that year. 
14. The Council usually undertakes carers reviews annually, however due to the pandemic reviews have been delayed. Mrs X has not had a review since the initial assessment was completed in December 2019. The Council acknowledges this and apologises. It has already made a referral for a review to be undertaken and informed Mr X about this. The Council says Mrs X has given her consent for this to proceed. The Council says any allowance Mrs X may be entitled to will depend on the outcome of the review.

Analysis

15. Carers are not automatically entitled to an allowance; any allowance is dependent on the outcome of a carers assessment.
16. The carers assessment completed in December 2019 was completed properly and without fault. There was no fault by the Council here.
17. The Council acknowledges a delay in completing a review of Mrs X’s carers assessment. Delays caused by the pandemic in 2020 were beyond the Council’s controls. It was unprecedented times. However, that does not explain the continued delay into 2021. This is fault by the Council for which it should apologise.

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Agreed action

18. The Council will within four weeks of the final decision:

• provide Mrs X with a written apology for its failure to review her carers assessment, and pay her £250 for her time and trouble pursing the complaint with the Council and this office
• complete the review within four weeks
• provide evidence of the above to this office.

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Final decision

19. There is evidence of fault in this complaint. The Council failed to review Mrs X’s carers assessment.
20. The Council has agreed to carry out the above action.
21. It is on this basis; the complaint will be closed.

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Parts of the complaint that I did not investigate

22. I have not investigated Mrs X’s complaint that the Council failed to make carers payments in 2017 & 2018. This because we expect complainants to submit a complaint to the Ombudsman within twelve months of becoming aware of a problem, and that we cannot investigate late complaints unless we decide there are good reasons. In this case I can see no good reason.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman