Summary: There is no fault in the decision to stop funding Ms X’s phone line. Council staff were not involved with assessing Ms X’s mental health in December 2021.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained about:
1. Unwanted visits, phone calls and other contacts from social workers
2. Stopping funding her phone line.
3. Inappropriately involving psychiatrists and police
4. Medical treatment from various health professionals
5. Holding records which state she is mentally unwell rather than physically unwell
2. Ms X said this caused her avoidable distress, time and trouble and expenses.

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What I have and have not investigated

3. The law allows us to restrict timescales of our investigations and the types of complaints people make to us.
4. I have investigated complaints (a) (b) and (c). I have investigated events between August 2021 and August 2022.
5. We do not always investigate every complaint a person raises with us. I did not investigate:
• complaint (d) because it is a complaint about the NHS which is not a body in our remit.
• complaint (e) because the Information Commissioner is better placed to consider a complaint about records
• Complaints about events before August 2021 because they are late with no good reason (see paragraph six).

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

6. 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)
7. We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
8. 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 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

9. I considered Ms X’s complaint, the Council’s response to her complaint, documents in the next section of this statement and information from Ms X by phone.
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

11. The Council funded Ms X’s landline for many years under legal powers in the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act 1970 which ended when the Care Act 2014 came into force. The Council continued to fund Ms X’s landline after the law changed and it was no longer obliged to. An officer reviewed Ms X’s phone provision in November 2020 and decided to continue funding.
12. The Council reviewed its policy on funding landlines in November 2021 because the law had changed and mobile technology had moved on. The Council and BT contacted eligible people.
13. An officer spoke to Ms X at the start of December 2021 and reviewed funding for her landline by completing a ‘low level assessment’. This is a simple assessment for people who receive services like frozen meals (it isn’t an assessment for eligibility for care and support, which is a longer assessment). Ms X confirmed she had a mobile phone which she was able to use to contact the Council. The officer explained the Council would fund her landline until the end of December. Ms X received a letter confirming this.
14. The Council told me in because Ms X had a mobile, it no longer considered provision of a landline necessary because she was able to use her mobile to summon help or contact services.
15. The Council told me health professionals made a referral for an assessment of Ms X’s mental health in December 2021 following concerning calls from Ms X. the Council said it was not involved in this process.
16. Ms X and a member of staff from the complaints team spoke in May 2022. They spoke about visits to her home in December when staff were not wearing masks and other issues. Ms X said she did not want the Council to visit her.
17. Ms X complained to the Council about the issues she has raised with us. The Council did not uphold her complaint.

Was there fault?

Unwanted visits, phone calls and other contacts from social workers and inappropriately involving psychiatrists and the police

18. There is not enough evidence to suggest council officers were involved in contacting Ms X other than about the landline which I deal with below.
19. On the basis of documents I have seen and from information from the Council, I am satisfied it was the NHS that referred Ms X for an assessment for her mental health and this would have involved NHS staff visiting her. There is no fault by the Council which had no involvement.

Stopping funding her phone line.

20. There is no fault in the Council stopping funding. The law has changed since funding was put in place and the Council isn’t required to do this anymore. I am satisfied the Council acted appropriately before ending funding by ensuring Ms X had another way of keeping in touch with the outside world.

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Final decision

21. There is no fault in the Council’s decision to stop funding Ms X’s phone line. There is no evidence council staff were involved in assessing Ms X’s mental health in December 2021.
22. I have completed the investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman