Summary: Ms C complains the Council inappropriately withdrew her daughter’s, Ms D’s, transport to day support services. The Council is at fault for failing to properly apply its transport policy; and in the way it decided on, and reduced services to Ms D. This has caused uncertainty about whether the Council’s decision is correct. To remedy the complaint the Council has agreed to apologise to Ms C, and make service improvements.

The complaint

1. Ms C complains the Council failed to properly consider the decision to remove funding for transport for her daughter, Ms D, to day support because she has higher rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA).
2. Ms C says the Council’s decision has resulted in added pressure to her, and Ms D is unable to cover all her travel costs.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word fault to refer to these. We consider whether there was fault in the way an organisation made its decision. If there was no fault in how the organisation made its decision, we cannot question the outcome. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
4. We may investigate complaints from the person affected by the complaint issues or from someone else if they have given their consent. If the person affected cannot give their consent, we may investigate a complaint from a person we decide is a suitable representative. Here, we decided Ms C was a suitable representative for Ms D. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26A and 34C, 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 Ms C and the Council as well as relevant law, policy and guidance.
7. Ms C 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

What should have happened

Council’s policy

8. West Sussex County Council Adults’ Services – Transport Policy, the “Transport Policy” says,
9. “2.2. Adults’ Services has a legal duty to provide transport to customers who are eligible for social care support in certain circumstances. The Care Act 2014 sets out that duty as follows: “The national eligibility criteria set a minimum threshold for adult care and support needs and carer support needs which local authorities must meet. All local authorities must comply with this national threshold.
10. 3.4 This means that Adults Services will only fund transport for people with social care needs, where there is no suitable or appropriate alternative.
11. 4.4. The assumption is that customers will travel independently except where assessment shows that this is not possible. The test used in the assessment should be: “If Adults Services does not provide transport, would this result in an eligible need for services going unmet?” Practitioners must consider other ways in which the customer can reasonably be expected to attend services and/or support making his/her own arrangements to get there.
12. 4.9. Some people’s transport arrangements may change following a reassessment of their social care needs. Where a change to a person’s support plan is necessary, the impact upon the person’s wellbeing must be assessed as well as any impact upon their carer, in line with the Care Act.
13. 4.11. Where people incur additional expenses for transport related to their disability, this will be considered in the financial assessment process and allowances made if appropriate.
14. Appendix 1: When funding for transport would not be provided says,
15. “Transport should only be provided to the nearest available day service/day opportunities that meet the person’s assessed needs. If a person chooses to attend a service which is further away from their nearest appropriate service, then they will be expected to pay the whole cost of their transport.
16. The key part of the Care and Support Statutory Guidance that supports the use of mobility payments or other services to meet transport needs in relation to care and support is detailed in paragraphs 10.24-10.25.
17. If someone has their own “Motability” vehicle which they drive themselves, we expect the person to use that vehicle to travel to the location of the day opportunity. If an individual or carer makes the decision that the Motability vehicle will not be used, then the onus must be on them to make alternative travel arrangements in the first instance.
18. If someone has a Motability vehicle but they do not use it to transport themselves to day services/opportunities because there is no-one available to drive it for example, we can support them to move from a Motability vehicle to a mobility payment - via Welfare Rights Officers and voluntary information and advice organisations. The Motability.”

Care and Support Statutory Guidance

19. “1.1 The core purpose of adult care and support is to help people to achieve the outcomes that matter to them in their life. Throughout this guidance document, the different chapters set out how a local authority should go about performing its care and support responsibilities. Underpinning all of these individual ‘care and support functions’ (that is, any process, activity or broader responsibility that the local authority performs) is the need to ensure that doing so focuses on the needs and goals of the person concerned.
20. 1.2 Local authorities must promote wellbeing when carrying out any of their care and support functions in respect of a person. This may sometimes be referred to as ‘the wellbeing principle’ because it is a guiding principle that puts wellbeing at the heart of care and support.”

Personal budgets

21. The Care and Support guidance says: “Everyone must receive a personal budget as part of the care and support plan if the local authority is meeting their needs, either because the needs are eligible needs or because it has chosen to meet them. The budget must be allocated “in a timely manner, proportionate to the needs to be met”.

Review of care and support plans

22. The review process should be person-centred and outcome focussed. The Council must involve the person and the carer where feasible and must consider an independent advocate.

Carers’ assessments

23. Where an individual provides or intends to provide care for another adult the council must consider whether to carry out a carers’ assessment if it appears the carer may have any level of needs for support.

What happened

24. Ms D attends a day centre three days a week. The day centre arranges transport for its attendees. This was funded by the Council.
25. The Council introduced a transport policy which says people receiving the mobility part of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) or higher rate mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) should fund their own transport.
26. The Council completed a review for Ms D because of the change in funding for the day support. The review concluded that Ms D had an assessed need for continued day support for three days per week.
27. The Council told Ms C; Ms D would need to fund her own transport costs because her benefits included the higher rate mobility component of DLA. It also provided alternative day support services which were nearer to Ms D so that her transport costs would be less. Ms C says she could not pursue these as one did not have a vacancy and the other did not provide transport.
28. Ms D’s support plan identified that she could not travel on her own and needed support. Ms C asked for a review of the decision emphasising that Ms D could not travel on her own and DLA was insufficient to meet all Ms D’s transport costs. The Council responded saying it had applied its transport policy correctly and Ms D needed to fund her transport.
29. In my initial conversation with Ms C she told me that following the Council’s decision the family had to give up the Motability vehicle (a subsidised vehicle available to people with the higher rate mobility component of DLA) which was funded through the DLA. Ms C says this was because Ms D did not have funds to pay for transport, and as Ms C cannot drive she could not transport Ms D. As a result Ms D no longer has the benefit of a Motability car.

Was there fault causing injustice?

30. I find no fault in the Council having a transport policy, however practitioners must apply the policy properly and not fetter the Council’s discretion.
31. The Council removed funding for transport on the basis Ms D had available funds to get to her day support which would meet her eligible need for “Engaging with the community”. However the Council failed to properly consider whether these resulted in Ms D having an appropriate alternative, nor did it consider Ms D’s overall wellbeing and the impact of the change on her. In particular the difficulty she may encounter accessing other social activities outside of going to the day support or changing to a different provider. The Council also failed to consider whether the changes would impact Ms C in her caring role.
32. This is not in line with the wellbeing principle set out in the Care Act, the duties owed to carers, nor the requirements under paragraphs 3.4 and 4.9 of the Transport Policy and is fault.
33. As a result Ms D has the uncertainty that but for the faults identified the Council would not have stopped funding her transport to her day support.

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Action

34. I have found fault causing injustice. I consider the following actions are suitable to remedy the complaint. The service improvements are in addition to those already identified as part of another complaint, case reference 24009730.
35. Within four weeks of the final decision the Council will:
1. apologise to Ms C and Ms D for the uncertainty caused by the Council’s failure to properly review Ms D’s needs;
2. reassess Ms D’s need for transport to day support taking into account the faults identified in this statement and ensuring the decision is in line with the Council’s Policy, duties owed to carers, and the wellbeing principle set out in the Care Act.
36. Within three months of the final decision the Council will review the faults identified in this complaint and produce/amend practice guidance to officers so they correctly apply paragraphs 3.4 and 4.9 when looking at how people access day support. In particular that they properly consider whether there is a suitable alternative before making the decision to remove funding for transport to day support, and they are mindful of the general wellbeing principle and the impact of decisions on carers.
37. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

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Decision

38. I find fault causing injustice. I consider the actions above are suitable to remedy the complaint. I have ended my investigation and closed the complaint on this basis.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman