Summary: Mrs X complained the Council did not manage the transition from children’s services to adult social care for her daughter, Ms G, failed to meet Ms G’s identified needs when she finished education, and failed to communicate with Mrs X about the matter properly. The Council was at fault when it made errors in deciding how Ms G’s care needs could be met, and in communicating those decisions to Mrs X. The Council will apologise and make symbolic payment to Ms G for the care she did not receive and to Mrs X for the avoidable distress and impact on her own health conditions caused by the Council’s faults.

The complaint

1. Mrs X complained the Council did not manage the transition from children’s services to adult social care for her daughter, Ms G, failed to meet Ms G’s identified needs when she finished education, and failed to communicate with Mrs X about the matter properly. Mrs X said Ms G was only able to attend a day centre for one day a week for three months, instead of the three days a week agreed by the Council and Mrs X and her husband had to provide the transport. Mrs X said Ms G’s wellbeing and development was negatively affected and Mrs X was caused pain and expense in transporting Ms G herself. Mrs X wanted the Council to recognise its faults and provide an appropriate service and transport to meet Ms G’s 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. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We do not start or continue an investigation if we decide further investigation would not lead to a different outcome, or there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by our investigation. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended, section 34(B))
4. 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.
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 before making a final decision.

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What I found

Relevant legislation and guidance

Education, Health and Care Plan

8. A young person with special educational needs may have an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. This document sets out the young person’s needs and what arrangements should be made to meet them. An EHC Plan can be in place up until the person turns 25, or until the end of the course they are studying or the end of the academic year if they turn 25 before the course is completed.

Transition from children to adult social care

9. 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.
10. 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. However, for a young person with an EHC Plan, the process should begin in year 9 (age 13 to 14).
11. If transition assessment and planning is carried out as it should be, there should be no gaps in the provision of care and support. However, if adult care and support is not in place when the young person turns 18, the council must continue providing the services under children’s legislation until it is in place or until it decides the young person does not have “eligible needs”.

Adult social care

12. Sections 9 and 10 of the Care Act 2014 require councils to carry out an assessment for any adult with an appearance of need for care and support. They must provide an assessment to everyone regardless of their finances or whether the council thinks the person 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.
13. The Care Act 2014 gives councils a legal responsibility to provide a care and support plan. The care and support plan should consider what needs the person has, what they want to achieve, what they can do by themselves or with existing support and what care and support may be available in the local area. When preparing a care and support plan the council must involve any carer the adult has. The support plan must include a personal budget, which is the money the council has worked out it will cost to arrange the necessary care and support for that person.
14. Direct payments are monetary payments made to individuals who ask for them to meet some or all of their eligible care and support needs. They enable people to arrange their own care and support to meet those needs.

What happened

15. Ms G lives at home with her parents, Mr and Mrs X. Ms G has disabilities which mean she needs support to meet her needs. Mr and Mrs X provide informal support for Ms G in order to ensure her needs are met. Ms G had an EHC Plan that set out the special educational provision she required. In 2024 Ms G turned 25 years old, at the time she was attending college on a course that would end in July 2024.
16. In March 2024 the Council held an assessment and care and support meeting with Mrs X to discuss ongoing support for Ms G when her college course and EHC Plan ended. The Council officer verbally agreed Ms G should attend an adult day service at Centre 1 when her course ended. Centre 1 was over 20 miles from Ms G’s home. Mrs X asked for transport for Ms G as she and Mr X were unable to due to their own health needs. The care and support plan recorded Ms G had eligible care needs that could be met by attending a day centre with one-to-one support. It also recorded travel expenses would reduce the risk of carer breakdown and Mr and Mrs X had poor health and limited ability to drive. It recorded the Council would commission the care.
17. In April the Council confirmed it agreed for Ms G to attend Centre 1 for five days a week with transport.
18. Ms G’s college made arrangements to support Ms G’s transition to Centre 1. Ms G began attending Centre 1 in the middle of May 2024 for a day at a time. Mrs X subsequently asked the Council to reduce the agreed package to three days a week, instead of five, to meet Ms G’s needs.
19. The Council sent written confirmation of the funding for three days and transport via direct payments at the beginning of July 2024. The Council states it did so in error as it authorised the funding without proper checks to see if there was a more local provision that was available and could meet Ms G’s needs.
20. The Council completed a new care and support plan for Ms G later that month, it identified a personal budget for Ms G’s care. It wrote to Mrs X and told her of the personal budget. The Council told Mrs X the personal budget did not include transport.
21. Mrs X complained to her MP, she said the Council had gone back on an agreement for Ms G to attend Centre One for three days a week and the transition from children to adult social care had been badly managed. The MP raised the complaint with the Council.
22. In August the Council told Mrs X that it was still waiting to approve Ms G’s package of care as it was consulting local providers to see if any could meet Ms G’s needs.
23. Later that month the Council responded to Mrs X’s complaint. It said it completed an assessment of Ms G’s adult care needs and decided she had some eligible care needs. It accepted it had been confused and miscommunicated to Mrs X that she could have a direct payment to commission a day centre, but there was no funding for transport included. It apologised for the confusion. It said it had identified a local suitable day provision that was a Council service (Centre 2) and was much closer to home. As it could meet Ms G’s needs locally it would not fund transport, although Ms G and Mrs X were entitled to use a different day provision if they wished.
24. The Council asked Mrs X to confirm which centre she wanted Ms G to attend so it could either commission Centre 2 directly or provide a direct payment for Centre 1. It reiterated it would not fund transport to Centre 1.
25. Mrs X complained that Centre 2 could not meet Ms G’s needs as it had already told her it could not do so prior to the Council agreeing Centre 1, which was discussed in the meeting in March. Mrs X reiterated her complaint and said she had not received the completed needs assessments for Ms G and she believed them to be incomplete.
26. The Council responded to Mrs X and agreed Mrs X was expecting Ms G to be able to attend Centre 1 with transport based on its verbal and email correspondence. It said it had not followed its own processes and considered local provision at the time and whether there was eligibility for transport. It said since then Centre 2 had said it could meet Ms G’s needs. It apologised for the confusion and distress the miscommunication caused. It said it would complete a new needs assessment with Ms G to ensure it reflected all of her needs.
27. The case records show that a week later the Council confirmed with Centre 2 in a telephone call that based on the needs assessment Centre 2 could meet Ms G’s needs.
28. Mrs X remained dissatisfied with the Council’s response and complained to us.
29. Two weeks later the Council reconsidered its decision and in considering Ms G and Mr and Mrs X’s wellbeing it agreed to provide funding for three days at Centre 1 with one-to-one support and transport and stated it would complete a carers assessment with Mr and Mrs X.

Additional information

30. The Council provided evidence Ms G transitioned from children to adult social care in 2021, although her EHC Plan did continue until 2024.
31. Mrs X stated from July until October 2024 she took Ms G to Centre 1 on one day a week. She stated because of her own health issues this caused her pain and fatigue. She was not able to manage the two other days per week.

My findings

32. The Council has accepted it made errors in how it made its decisions about Ms G’s care package in 2024 and about how it communicated those decisions with Mrs X. That was fault and the Council accepts that it caused confusion and as a result Mrs X believed Ms G would be provided with a package of care consisting of three days at Centre 1 per week with transport.
33. The Council agreed in March 2024 that Ms G required three days of provision, one-to-one support and transport from July 2024. The Council told Mrs X in July it would not fund transport as Ms G’s needs could have been met at Centre 2 locally. However, the record shows Centre 2 did not confirm it could meet Ms G’s needs until October 2024. So, at the time it decided not to provide transport, the Council did not know if Ms G’s needs could be met at Centre 2. When the Council reconsidered its decision in October it confirmed Ms G required three days of provision, one-to-one support and transport to Centre 1. On the balance of probabilities Ms G required that package of support for the interim period. As a result of the fault identified in paragraph 32 Ms G missed out on transport and two days provision per week from July to October 2024.
34. Mrs X transported Ms G to Centre 1 for one day a week between July and October. The Council was aware Mrs X experienced her own health problems with limited ability to drive and had identified transport was required to avoid carer breakdown. The Council’s fault caused Mrs X distress, pain and expense.
35. The Council has provided evidence that Ms G transitioned from children services to adult services prior to 2024. I have not investigated that matter further as it is beyond the period of investigation and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable by investigating it.

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Action

36. Within one month of this decision the Council will:
• Write to Mrs X and Ms G and apologise for the injustice they were caused as a result of the Council’s faults. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The Council will consider this guidance in making the apology I have recommended;
• Make a symbolic payment to Ms G of £500 to recognise the impact of missing two days of social care provision between July and October 2024;
• Make a symbolic payment to Mrs X of £500 to recognise the confusion, distress and impact on her health conditions caused by the Council’s faults; and
• Remind relevant Council officers to ensure new care packages have been appropriately authorised prior to providing agreement to service users or their representatives.
37. The Council will provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

38. I find fault causing injustice. The Council will carry out the recommendations to remedy that injustice.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman