Summary: Miss X, on behalf of her son Mr Z, complained the Council failed to convene a meeting to identity a suitable care provider to deliver social care for her son. The Ombudsman recommended the meeting as part of a remedy on a previous complaint and the Council failed to arrange it which is fault causing further frustration and Mr Z missing out on provision. A payment to recognise the frustration is agreed.

The complaint

1. Miss X, on behalf of her son Mr Z, complained the Council failed to convene a meeting to identify a suitable care provider to deliver social care for her son.
2. Miss X says this has caused frustration and that Mr Z has missed out on provision aimed at integrating him with his peers.

Back to top

The Ombudsman’s role and powers

3. 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)
4. 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)
5. Under our information sharing agreement, we will share this decision with the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted).

Back to top

How I considered this complaint

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

Back to top

What I found

8. Mr Z is 19 years old. He has physical and neurodevelopmental disabilities. Mr Z’s EHC Plan, from May 2021, included social care provision stating a care worker should take him to activities, independent of his parents, each week throughout the year with the aim of him socialising with his peers
9. The Council accepts that it has failed to deliver any social care provision since May 2021. Miss X has complained about this failure and twice the Ombudsman has upheld her complaints and made recommendations.

Complaint history

10. Miss X first complained to the Ombudsman in 2022, when her son Mr Z was aged 16, about the Council’s failure to secure the social care provision set out in her son’s EHC Plan. We found no social care provision had been delivered since it was added to the EHC Plan in May 2021. We upheld the complaint and our recommendations included an apology, payments to recognise the lost provision and the distress caused we required the Council to demonstrate that offers of alternative ways to access care were made.
11. Miss X made a second complaint to the Ombudsman in December 2023 when her son was aged 17. This complaint was about delay in the EHC Plan annual review process, continued failure to deliver social care provision set out in the EHC Plan and failure to provide occupational therapy set out in the EHC Plan. We found that still no social care provision had been delivered as well as upholding the other elements of the complaint. Our recommendations included an apology, payments for distress and lack of social care provision, and to convene a meeting to identify a suitable care provider to deliver the social care to Mr Z. We indicated the meeting should include senior officers with budget and decision making authority and to use their best endeavors to find a care provider.
12. We follow up with councils to ensure the agreed remedy is provided. Although the Council provided evidence of completing some actions, we had to follow up regarding the agreed meeting. In March 2025, two months after we closed our investigation, the Council said that as Mr Z was 18 the meeting should be completed by Adult Services not Children’s Services. It then told us the case had been closed to Children’s Services and it was Miss X’s responsibility to refer her son to the Adult Team. We were not satisfied with this and so opened a new complaint on the basis of non-compliance with an Ombudsman’s recommendation.
13. As part of our investigation of this new complaint, the Council then told us it was an oversight to indicate that it had accepted all recommendations.
14. Analysis
15. The Council’s failure to provide the agreed remedy is fault. It has given different reasons for why the meeting was not arranged including that it was an oversight to agree the meeting, that Miss X would not engage and that it would be “futile” to arrange a meeting because Miss X would refuse all available options.
16. It is not clear why the Council did not contact us after the final decision was issued to say that it did not agree with the recommended actions. Instead it provided evidence of the other remedy actions it was taking and said it would ask adult social care to arrange the meeting. It was only when we pursued compliance with the remedy that it said it was an oversight that the meeting was agreed.

The failure to provide the remedy as agreed has raised expectations and caused unnecessary frustration. However, the Council has offered to complete an adult social care assessment if Mr Z, who is now over 18, wishes for this to happen. As it appears Miss X continues to refuse an adult care assessment for her son, I cannot say that Mr Z has missed out on services.

Back to top

Action

17. To remedy the injustice caused as a result of the failure to provide the previously agreed remedy, the Council will, within one month of my final decision, take the following action:
• Apologise to Miss X and Mr Z for the fault identified. We publish guidance on remedies which sets out our expectations for how organisations should apologise effectively to remedy injustice. The organisation should consider this guidance in making the apology;
• Make a symbolic payment of £250 to recognise the frustration caused; and
• Remind officers of the importance to ensure they properly consider and respond to all elements of remedies on an Ombudsman decision to prevent similar problems occurring in the future.
18. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Back to top

Decision

19. I have completed my investigation with a finding of fault for the reasons explained in this statement. The Council has agreed to implement the actions I have recommended. These appropriately remedy any injustice caused by fault.

Back to top

Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman