Blackburn with Darwen Council (19 014 415)

Category : Children's care services > Disabled children

Decision : Not upheld

Decision date : 22 Jun 2020

The Ombudsman's final decision:

Summary: Mrs L complained the Council failed to put support in place for her two sons, M and N, outside of term time. There is no evidence of Council fault. Mrs L can ask the Council for support to encourage her eldest child’s independence if she wishes to do so.

The complaint

  1. The complainant, whom I shall call Mrs L says the Council has failed to consider her and her sons’ support needs over holiday periods. Mrs L has three sons – two of whom live at home.

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The Ombudsman’s role and powers

  1. We investigate complaints of injustice caused by ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’. I have used the word ‘fault’ to refer to these. We cannot question whether a council’s decision is right or wrong simply because the complainant disagrees with it. We must consider whether there was fault in the way the decision was reached. (Local Government Act 1974, section 34(3), as amended)
  2. If we are satisfied with a council’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

  1. I considered the information provided by Mrs L and spoke to her on the telephone. I made enquiries with the Council and assessed its response. I sent Mrs L and the Council a copy of my draft decision and took comments received into consideration before issuing a decision.

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What I found

  1. Mrs L has three sons who have autism. At the time the Council’s latest assessment was written (in February 2019) the eldest had moved into supported living. The two younger children, M and N, live with Mrs L at home.
  2. The assessment on Mrs L outlines the support available to her and her family. One of her nieces has Carers Allowance to support N for 35 hours each week through the year. In addition, Mrs L has three hours of support paid per week for M and N, again through term-time and holiday time. The Council says M and N can access holiday activities locally, which might ease the pressure on Mrs L. It acknowledges, however, the family “needs to be proactive when getting these applications back to the appropriate people within the given timeframe to secure a place as this has been an issue more recently”. This is because Mrs L cannot “request…support at short notice” and, presumably, because of demand.
  3. In my view, the Council’s assessment provides appropriate detail of the family’s circumstances; it also explains the difficulties. We would not look at matters of professional judgement (such as a written report) unless there was evidence of fault. I cannot see evidence of fault in the assessment. There are clear concerns, however, that Mrs L does not necessarily follow ‘advice or strategies’ that might help in getting M to do some care tasks himself or promoting the independence of both M and N. The assessment ends that parents “would benefit from some direct work around promoting M’s independence as he gets older as opposed to simply carrying out all tasks for him presuming that he cannot fulfil them”. Mrs L can ask for this direct work should she wish to take it up.
  4. On the grounds the Ombudsman cannot replace a Council’s properly made decision with his own, I am finding no fault.

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Final decision

  1. I have found no fault in the actions of the Council.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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