Summary: The Council has commissioned an independent social worker to review Ms A’s records and needs. This investigation will be discontinued therefore as I cannot say what difference the previous assessments made to the current situation until the results of the review are known.

The complaint

1. Mrs X (as I shall call the complainant) complains that the Council failed to assess the needs of her daughter, who has autism, correctly.

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What I have investigated

2. I started to investigate the complaint as set out above. I am discontinuing the investigation for the reasons set out below.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We can decide whether to start or discontinue an investigation into a complaint within our jurisdiction. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 24A(6) and 34B(8), as amended)

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How I considered this complaint

4. I considered the written information provided by Mrs X and by the Council. Both parties had an opportunity to comment on this statement before I discontinued the investigation.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

5. Sections 9 and 10 of the Care Act 2014 require local authorities to carry out an assessment for any adult with an appearance of need for care and support. They must provide an assessment to all people regardless of their finances or whether the local authority thinks an individual has eligible needs. The assessment must be of the adult’s needs and how they impact on their wellbeing and the results they want to achieve. It must also involve the individual and where suitable their carer or any other person they might want involved.

The Council must carry out the assessment over a suitable and reasonable timescale considering the urgency of needs and any variation in those needs.

6. The Care and Support (Eligibility Criteria) Regulations 2014 sets out the eligibility threshold for adults with care and support needs and their carers. The threshold is based on identifying how a person’s needs affect their ability to achieve relevant outcomes, and how this impacts on their wellbeing.
7. To have needs which are eligible for support, the following must apply:

1. The needs must arise from or be related to a physical or mental impairment or illness.

2. Because of the needs, the adult must be unable to achieve two or more of the following:

• Managing and maintaining nutrition;
• Maintaining personal hygiene;
• Managing toilet needs;
• Being appropriately clothed;
• Being able to make use of the adult’s home safely;

• Maintaining a habitable home environment;
• Developing and maintaining family or other personal relationships;

• Accessing and engaging in work, training, education or volunteering;
• Making use of necessary facilities or services in the local community including public transport, and recreational facilities or services; and
• Carrying out any caring responsibilities the adult has for a child.

3. Because of not achieving these outcomes, there is likely to be, a significant impact on the adult’s well-being.

What happened

8. Ms A is a young woman who was previously identified as being on the autistic spectrum disorder. At school she had an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) which referred to her autism, PTSD and specific language impairment.
9. Ms A transitioned to the Council’s Community Independence and Welfare Team in November 2020. In 2021 the Council carried out two separate assessments of her needs which did not identify any eligible needs for support.
10. Mrs X complained to the Council about the assessments. There were times when Ms A was unwilling for the Council to share information with Mrs X and the Council could not respond fully at those times. When the Council responded it said to Mrs X that Ms A did not have a confirmed diagnosis of autism.
11. Mrs X complained to the Ombudsman.
12. The Council says the team manager who replied to Mrs X believed there was a review of Ms A’s condition by health colleagues. It acknowledges she should have been more through in her own review of the case before writing to Mrs X in those terms.
13. The Council also acknowledges that as a result, “(Ms A’s) needs in relation to her autism have not been central to assessments that have been carried out. Whether this would have changed the outcome is currently unknown. We therefore have commissioned an independent social worker to review the records and carry out an assessment of (Ms A’s) needs in accordance with section 9 of the Care Act 2014.”

Analysis

14. The Council did not specifically consider Ms A’s diagnosis of autism, as it should have done, when it carried out the 2021 assessments of her needs.
15. The Council has now arranged for an independent social worker to carry out a review which should identify whether that failure caused any material injustice to Ms A.
16. Once the outcome of the review is known the Council should take action to rectify any shortcomings.

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Final decision

17. I have discontinued the investigation as it is not possible to reach a finding before the outcome of the review is known.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman