Summary: Mr X complains the Council is failing to provide him with enough support to meet his care needs. There was a period in 2023 when the Council did not respond to Mr X’s e-mails because they were going to a junk folder. The Council needs to apologise for the distress this caused.

The complaint

1. The complainant, Mr X, complains the Council is failing to provide him with enough support to meet his care needs.

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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 have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by Mr X;
• discussed the complaint with Mr X;
• considered the comments and documents the Council has provided in response to my enquiries;
• considered the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies; and
• invited comments on a draft of this statement from Mr X and the Council, for me to consider before making my final decision.

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What I found

What happened

5. Mr X has autism. He works in a distribution warehouse twice a week.
6. The Council reviewed and updated Mr X’s care and support plan in November 2022. It continued to fund 21 hours a week of support from an agency. This was to help with:
• Making use of necessary facilities in the local community – help identifying places and activities for people with autism and support with virtual meet ups and exploring dating agencies.
• Developing and maintaining family or other personal relationships – help accessing the community to participate in social groups and activities.
• Accessing and engaging in work, training, education or volunteering – help looking for a new job (his employment had ended in March 2022 when he did not pass the probationary stage)
• Maintaining a habitable home environment – help managing his collection of models, including his expenditure and retention of models which were cluttering his home.
• Managing and maintaining nutrition – reminding and prompting about healthy eating.
• Being able to make use of the home safely – referring Mr X to hoarding services and the fire brigade, if progress in decluttering the property was not made in the near future.
7. The review said Mr X had been assessed as having to contribute £99.91 a week (an increase from £62.95) towards the cost of his care. It said Mr X had a debt of £4,574.14 in unpaid client contributions from 21 September 2021 to 12 October 2022.
8. Mr X complained to the Council about a lack of support in October 2023. When the Council replied, it said:
• He received 21 hours a week to help with managing his tenancy, dealing with benefits and money issues, visiting his parents, looking for work, including updating his CV and attending sessions to help develop friendships and relationships.
• It would reassess Mr X’s needs and discuss additional support if he had any unmet needs.
• It could rerefer him to its employment service.
• His social worker had roughly monthly contact with him, but he could contact its duty team when his social worker was not available.
9. Mr X complained to the Council about a lack of support again in January 2024. When the Council replied in February, it said:
• His social worker had contacted him roughly every month up to December 2023;
• His review was delayed because his social worker was away from work;
• It would review his needs within the next few weeks.
• He received 21 hours of support a week to help find employment, manage his tenancy, benefits and finances, and visit his parents.
• He could contact the duty social work team whenever his allocated social worker was not available.
10. The Council reviewed Mr X’s needs in February 2024. The review said he:
• had not received all his support hours during the COVID-19 pandemic (11 hours a week until the end of December 2021, after that they increased and since May 2022 he had received 21 hours a week);
• was working in a distribution warehouse for seven hours a week;
• had not been successful in increasing his hours 15 a week;
• he was receiving support with his work at the warehouse and in looking for more work;
• was staying at his mother’s home, as he was using his flat to store his models;
• had made little progress towards achieving his wellbeing goals (finding more work and having a girlfriend).
11. The Council referred Mr X for more support in looking for work.
12. The Council’s records for 2023 show:
• there was contact with Mr X about paying ongoing and outstanding charges for his care;
• there was further contact over two safeguarding issues;
• a lot of Mr X’s e-mails went into his social worker’s junk folder, so he did not receive out of office messages.

Is there evidence of fault by the Council which caused injustice?

13. It is not clear why or for how long Mr X’s e-mails went to his social worker’s junk folder. However, this supports his claim of a lack of response from the Council. The Council failed to address this fault when responding to Mr X’s complaints. It needs to apologise for this fault and the distress caused to Mr X.
14. However, the Council was not at fault over the way it assessed Mr X’s needs. There is no evidence Mr X’s needs have changed and the Council has continued to provide support in meeting his eligible care needs. It appears Mr X has not made the progress he wanted to make in achieving his employment and social goals. But that is not evidence of fault by the Council, but reflects the complexities of Mr X’s circumstances.

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Agreed action

15. I recommended the Council:
• Within the next four weeks writes to Mr X apologising for the failure to address the fact that his e-mails went to a junk folder and the distress caused by the lack of responses.
16. The Council has agreed to do this. It should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

17. I have completed my investigation on the basis there has been fault causing injustice which requires a remedy.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman