Summary: Mrs X complained the Council delayed assessing her son’s adult care needs on his transition from children to adult care services. We find the Council was at fault as it significantly delayed completing an assessment of Mrs X’s son’s adult care needs. This caused avoidable distress and frustration, and Mrs X had to privately fund provision for her son. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to apologise to Mrs X and her son, make payments to them and implement service improvements.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council delayed assessing her son’s (Mr Y) adult care needs on his transition from children to adult care services. She says Mr Y went into crisis and the Council’s delays had an impact on his mental health. She also says she had to pay privately so Mr Y could access some support.

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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. We may investigate complaints made on behalf of someone else if they have given their consent. (Local Government Act 1974, section 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 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

6. I considered evidence provided by Mrs X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Mrs 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

Relevant law and guidance

8. When a child reaches 18 years of age, they are legally an adult and responsibility for meeting their needs moves from the council’s children services to its adult services. The legal basis for assessing their needs changes from the Children Act 1989 to the Care Act 2014. However, councils can decide to treat a children’s assessment as an adult assessment and can also carry out joint assessments.
9. Statutory guidance says transition assessments should begin when the council can be reasonably confident about what the young person’s needs for care and support will look like when they turn 18.
10. After completing the transition assessment, the council must give an indication of which of their needs are likely to be “eligible needs” under the Care Act 2014, and which are not.
11. If the council is going to meet the person’s needs under the Care Act 2014 after they are 18, it must create a care and support plan and produce a personal budget. This needs to be done early enough that the package of care and support is in place at the time of transition. If adult care and support is not in place on the child’s 18th birthday and they have been receiving support from children’s services, the council must continue providing services until adult care and support is in place to take over, or until it is clear that adult care and support is not needed. This ensures there is no ‘cliff-edge’ where someone reaching the age of 18 suddenly finds themselves without the care and support they need at the point of becoming an adult.

What happened

12. Mr Y has complex needs. The Council carried out a transition assessment for him in November 2021 when he was still a child. It decided it was likely he would be eligible for care and support when he turned 18. It agreed to make a referral to adult services to complete a full Care Act 2014 assessment before his 18th birthday in June 2023.
13. An officer from the Council’s transitions team emailed adult services in May 2023. She said Mrs X had expressed concerns that she did not want support for Mr Y to stop when he turned 18. The Council arranged interim direct payments from June to September so Mrs X could continue to pay for support for Mr Y. This funded access to a 1:1 enabler and a personal fitness and wellbeing trainer. Direct payments are monetary payments made to individuals who ask for them to meet some or all of their eligible care and support needs.
14. Mrs X called and emailed the Council several times in October. She said Mr Y was still waiting for an assessment. She asked about further interim funding for Mr Y. She sent a follow up email in November and said Mr Y had been without support since the beginning of September. The Council arranged further interim direct payments from November to January 2024.
15. Mrs X emailed the Council in February and said she was still waiting for an assessment for Mr Y. She said Mr Y was struggling to attend his specialist college placement and he was becoming more isolated. The officer in the transitions team sent two emails chasing adult services in February and March.
16. Mrs X complained to the Council in March about its delays in completing the assessment and providing Mr Y with support. She said the interim funding finished in January and the delays were having a detrimental impact on Mr Y. She said she was now privately funding support for Mr Y.
17. Mrs X sent a further chaser in April and said she had not received any further updates.
18. The Council assigned a social worker to Mr Y’s case at the end of May.
19. The Council issued its response to Mrs X’s complaint. It apologised for its delays and lack of communication about Mr Y’s assessment. It said it had now assigned a social worker to his case.
20. The Council met with Mrs X in early June to understand Mr Y’s needs and what would be the appropriate support for him. Mrs X said Mr Y’s mental health had got worse and he needed to build his confidence. She said she wanted Mr Y to continue accessing support from his two personal assistants.
21. The Council finalised the assessment and the end of July and issue a care and support plan. It agreed funding so Mr Y could continue to access his existing provision via a direct payments package.

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Analysis

22. Mrs X refers to matters from May/June 2023 onwards, but she did not refer her complaint to us until October 2024. Events before October 2023 would usually be caught by the restriction in paragraph four of this statement. However, I have exercised discretion to look at earlier events as it was an ongoing matter affected by continual delays. Mrs X did not let matters drift and she constantly pursued the Council.
23. The Council should have completed Mr Y’s Care Act 2014 assessment before his 18th birthday in June 2023. It agreed to this when it completed the transition assessment in November 2021. It did not finalise the assessment and issue a care and support plan until July 2024. This is a significant delay and is fault.
24. The Council agreed interim direct payments for Mr Y from June to September 2023 and November 2023 to January 2024. However, it did provide any funding from September to November 2023 and from January to July 2024. This is against statutory guidance which states councils must continue providing services until adult care and support is in place to take over.
25. The Council was also at fault for its communication with Mrs X. It failed to reply to her emails and keep her updated on when it was going to complete the assessment.
26. The Council’s faults have caused Mrs X and Mr Y a significant injustice. Mrs X had to pay for Mr Y to access support during the periods the Council failed to provide funding. This placed a financial burden on her. She was also caused avoidable distress and frustration by the delays and the Council’s failure to communicate with her effectively. Mr Y also suffered distress as he did not know when the Council would complete the assessment, and it is clear his mental health suffered during this time. He also has some uncertainty that he may have been able to access more support if the Council had completed the assessment on time.

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Agreed action

27. By 24 April 2025 the Council has agreed to:

• Apologise to Mr Y and Mrs X for the injustice caused by fault in this statement.
• Reimburse Mrs X the money she paid for Mr Y’s social care support from September to November 2023 and January to July 2024 (on receipt of copy invoices provided by Mrs X)
• Pay Mrs X £350 for her distress and frustration.
• Pay Mr Y £300 for his distress and uncertainty.

28. By 23 May 2025 the Council has agreed to issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they complete a Care Act 2014 assessment and create a care and support plan in good time to ensure a smooth transition from children’s services to adult care services. If adult care and support is not in place on the child’s 18th birthday, the Council should continue providing services until adult care and support is in place to take over.
29. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Final decision

30. There was fault by the Council, which caused Mrs X and Mr Y an injustice. The Council has agreed to my recommendations and so I have completed my investigation.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman