Summary: The Council was at fault as it did not properly plan for Mr Y’s transition to adult care services and delayed completing an assessment of Mr Y’s adult care needs. This caused avoidable uncertainty, distress and frustration to Mr Y and Mr X. The Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to recognise the fault and the injustice caused. It also agreed to service improvements to prevent recurrence.

The complaint

1. Mr X complained the Council failed to assess his child, Mr Y’s social and care needs and complete the necessary transition planning from children to adult care services.
2. He says the Council have refused to involve or seek Mr Y’s views in carrying out the assessment for transition to adulthood
3. He wants the Council to carry out the assessment and recognise the distress, frustration, time and trouble caused to himself and Mr Y.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

4. 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)
5. When considering complaints we make findings based on the balance of probabilities. This means that we look at the available relevant evidence and decide what was more likely to have happened.
6. 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)
7. 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(1), as amended)
8. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

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What I have and have not investigated

9. Mr X brought his complaint to us in August 2025. Therefore, events before August 2024 have not been investigated. However, I have referred to earlier events to give a background and allow understanding of the Councils subsequent actions relating to Mr Y’s transition.
10. I have not investigated matters after August 2025 when Mr X brought his complaint to the Ombudsman. Mr X has already made further complaints about subsequent matters from this time.

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How I considered this complaint

11. I considered evidence provided by Mr X and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
12. Mr X and the Council had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision. I considered any comments before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant law and guidance

Transition from children’s to adult social care (ASC)

13. 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.
14. The Care Act 2014 says councils must carry out a social care needs “transition” assessment where there is likely to be a need for care and support after the young person turns 18. There is no set age to carry this out, but the intent is to decide what services the child will need when they turn 18. Transition assessments should begin when it would be of “significant benefit” to the young person, i.e., when the council is reasonably confident about what their needs for care and support will be when they turn 18.
15. Transition assessments should be carried out in a reasonable timescale. Councils should inform the person or carer of an indicative timescale over which the assessment will be conducted and keep them informed. (Care and Support Statutory Guidance, paragraph 16.32)
16. 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.
17. 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
18. For young people with an EHC Plan, preparation for transition to adulthood must begin from year nine (age 13 to 14). Transition planning must consider the young person’s needs as they move towards adulthood. It should plan to support their choices for further education, employment, career planning, financial support, accommodation, and personal budgets where appropriate (The Special Education and Disability Code of Practice 2015).
19. The Children and Families Act enables councils to continue children’s services beyond age 18 and up to 25 for young people with EHC plans.

The Council’s process for transition from children’s to adult services

20. The Council’s policy on transition from children’s to adult services says:
• A transition assessment helps identify the needs someone may have support for as an adult;
• If a person meets national eligibility criteria, ASC is responsible for working with a young person to create a support plan and putting in place a personal budget for care and support.; and
• From year 9 (age 13-14) Education, Health and Care Plans focus on preparation from adulthood.

The Council’s own review into ASC transitions

21. In October 2025 the Council carried out a ‘deep dive’ into 50 young people who had received their first Care Act Assessment from ASC to understand their experience of transition from age 14. This was completed as it recognised that:
• Transition planning was not proactive; a young person was usually seen by ASC for the first time in the year of their 18th birthday;
• EHC Plan reviews were not generally attended by ASC; and
• There were delays and gaps in provision for young people identified as having ongoing care and support needs at transition.

What happened

22. Mr Y is a young adult with a learning disability and has an Education, Health and Care Plan. A social work assessment in January 2024 identified he required:
• a transfer of his care to the adult care services team before he turned 18 years of age;
• possible direct payments for a personal assistant not limited to term time; and
• continued support towards adulthood, including the annual review of Education Health Care (EHC) Plan funded provision of tutors, Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) and psychotherapy.
23. In February 2024, an annual review of Mr Y’s EHC Plan took place. The review included Speech and Language Therapy (SaLT) input for transition. The review also acknowledged a moving to adulthood plan must be completed as part of the process. No plan was completed or attached to the review.
24. In April 2025 a Tribunal decision relating to Mr Y’s EHC Plan found a Care Act Assessment had not yet taken place for Mr Y. The Tribunal reminded the Council that transition to adulthood should be well planned and integrated into any EHC Plan review. Further, it said the Council should carry out an assessment as a matter of urgency so it could be considered as part of an upcoming EHC Plan annual review.
25. The April annual review of Mr Y’s EHC Plan said:
• A preparing for adulthood plan had been completed in mid March 2025 but it did not confirm that details of transition had been sent to Mr Y or is family;
• An assessment for transition to adulthood needed to be completed as Mr Y would turn 18 in four months;
• Mr X had requested a timescale for completion, but this was dependent on Mr Y’s engagement;
• Transition to ASC was taking longer than expected and had started late; and
• No social care amendments could be identified until after an assessment had been completed.
26. At the start of May 2025, the Council’s ASC transitions department began Mr Y’s Care Act Assessment.
27. In early July 2025 the Council apologised to Mr X for being unable to carry out an arranged meeting and said the first draft of an assessment would be sent out soon. It advised it wanted Mr Y to have meaningful involvement and suggested ways this could happen.
28. In early July 2025 Mr X complained to the Council, he said:
• The Council was obligated to carry out an assessment for any child that was likely to require care and support into adulthood, and this should take place before the child reached 18 years of age;
• A social work assessment in January 2024 had identified Mr Y would transfer to ASC when he was in his 17th year;
• Mr Y’s EHC Plan Tribunal in April 2025 had advised the assessment should take place as a matter of urgency so it could be considered as part of Mr Y’s next annual review;
• A meeting had failed to take place in July 2025 regarding Mr Y’s assessment. His views had still not been captured and his long-term tutor and EHC Plan assigned family support worker had been removed; and
• Children and young person’s social care had not been in touch with Mr X for months nor conducted any child in need reviews.
29. At the end of July 2025 the Council sent Mr X and Mr Y a draft copy of the Care Act assessment. It said:
• Mr Y had consented to information being gathered from Mr X and professionals due to his difficulty in meeting new people;
• Information had been gathered from EHC Plan annual reviews and Children and Young People’s services;
• A meeting had been held with Mr Y, but his views were not gathered due to the distress caused. He had consented to his tutor and psychotherapist providing information on his behalf;
• Mr Y’s views and insights would need to be gathered as support and work with ASC progressed. His involvement in his care and support planning could be gathered using options such as advocacy, written and verbal input via trusted professionals and family; and
• Care and support planning may involve continued support from children’s services. Ongoing work was needed to implement effective support for Mr Y, alongside gaining his views and preferences and assessing mental capacity around care and support. It said a longer-term approach to ASC assessments was required. It requested a care and support planning meeting for Mr Y the following week.
30. The Council replied to Mr X’s complaint in mid-August 2025. It said following legal consultation it had enough information to complete Mr Y’s assessment in preparation for adulthood. It recognised Mr Y’s views were central to this, and the assessment could be updated where appropriate. As the assessment had now been completed, a care a support plan would now be written.
31. Mr X escalated his complaint, referring to comments made by his MP which said distress was being caused to parents and carers due to poorly managed transitions.
32. The Councils final response said it had reviewed the points made by Mr X but had no further comments to make.
33. Mr X remained unhappy with the Councils response and actions and asked the Ombudsman to investigate.
34. Mr Y’s Care Act assessment and care and support plan were completed later in the year.
35. The Council told us:
• ASC had no record of Mr Y prior to mid-March 2025 when it received a referral from Children and Young People’s Services (CYPS);
• At the beginning of April, a home visit had been undertaken where Mr Y was only seen briefly. A subsequent meeting was postponed due to Mr Y’s reluctance and Mr X was emailed a link for Mr Y to undertake a supported self-assessment; and
• At the end of May 2025, a meeting was arranged for June to gather information for the Mr Y’s assessment but this did not take place. It was rearranged and took place at the beginning of July.

Analysis

36. Mr Y has an EHC Plan and therefore the Council should have started planning for his transition to adult services when he was in year 9. Mr Y’s EHC Plan review in February 2024 identified a moving to adulthood plan must be completed as part of the review process. The evidence shows, despite this, it was not completed until March 2025, some 13 months later, nor was it shared with Mr X and Mr Y. That was fault.
37. The Council acknowledged in the April 2025 review that Mr Y required time to engage with the process and his transition process was taking longer than anticipated and had started late. Had the Council started planning for Y’s transition to adulthood earlier it would have been in a better position to allow time for Mr Y’s engagement in the assessment process. The lack of planning for Y’s transition to adult services was not in line with statutory guidance and was fault, causing frustration and uncertainty to Mr Y and Mr X.
38. The Council should have completed Mr Y’s Care Act 2014 assessment before his 18th birthday in August 2025. It agreed to this when it completed the social work assessment in January 2024 and was reminded of the need for a well-planned transition by the Tribunal in April 2025. The evidence shows, while it began the assessment in May 2025, it only produced a draft two weeks before Mr Y’s 18th birthday and requested care and support planning meeting shortly after, not giving Mr X or Mr Y time to sufficiently consider or comment on the assessment. At the end of this investigation, it had not finalised a Care Act assessment or issued a care and support plan for Mr Y, this was fault. This caused distress, frustration and uncertainty to Mr X and Mr Y around the support Mr Y would receive when he turned 18 and if access to support would have happened sooner if the Council had completed the assessment on time.

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Action

39. To remedy the injustice caused, within one month of the final decision the Council has agreed to take the following action:
1. apologise to Mr X and Mr Y for the injustice caused by the failings identified during this investigation. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how councils should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council should consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended.
2. Make a symbolic payment of £300 to Mr X and Mr Y to recognise the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by the Council’s failure to properly plan Mr Y’s transition to adulthood and the delay in completing his Care Act assessment
40. Within three months of the final decision the Council agreed to take the following action:

c) Produce an action plan to address the outcomes of its review into 50 young person’s transitions after Care Act assessment, this should include but is not limited to, the training or briefing of relevant staff on the findings.

41. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

I found fault causing injustice.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman