Summary: Ms X complained the Council repeatedly failed to make reasonable adjustments to how it communicates with her. Despite saying it would communicate by email it has sent letters by post and telephoned her causing significant distress. While the Council has taken further action to ensure staff are aware of the agreed reasonable adjustments and do not make further errors the Council, issues are still occurring. So further recommendations have been made so the Council keeps to the agreed reasonable adjustments.

The complaint

1. Ms X complained the Council repeatedly failed to make reasonable adjustments to how it communicates with her. It agreed to communicate by email only, however it has sent her letters and telephoned her on several occasions. It also sent a contractor to her building, unannounced, when she was shielding due to Covid-19.
2. Ms X says these events have caused her significant distress.

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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 an injustice, we may suggest a remedy. (Local Government Act 1974, sections 26(1) and 26A(1), as amended)
4. 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

5. As part of the investigation, I have:
• considered the complaint and the documents provided by the complainant;
• made enquiries of the Council and considered the comments and documents the Council provided;
• sent my draft decision to both the Council and the complainant and taken account of their comments in reaching my final decision.

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What I found

6. The reasonable adjustment duty is set out in the Equality Act 2010 and applies to any body that carries out a public function. Its aim is that, as far as reasonably possible, people who have disabilities should have the same standard of service as non-disabled people.
7. Service providers have to consider removing or preventing obstacles to people with disabilities accessing their service. If the adjustments are reasonable, they must make them.
8. In June 2019 Ms X made a formal request for the Council to make reasonable adjustments in respect of how it communicated with her. She requested not to send anything by post and for all communication to be via email. She said text messages could be used for emergencies. She also asked not to be telephoned saying she is unable to deal with calls.
9. The Council took steps to comply with the request including putting alerts on its housing management system. However, there were instances when the Council did not meet the request and contacted Ms X by post and telephone. The Council also says that one letter sent to the property was addressed to the property owner.
10. The Council says Ms X reported a problem with the amount of heat being released from a storage cupboard in her building in May 2020. She told the Council she was quarantining due to COVID-19 and would not be able to grant access to the building. The Council says it asked the contractor to contact it before attending the building so it could notify Ms X. It says the contractor did not contact it and he left without gaining access through the communal door.
11. Ms X made a further complaint about the Council’s failure to meet her reasonable adjustments. The Council responded saying that although it had taken action previously, it felt it could have better communicated the agreed reasonable adjustments. It said it would work with Heads of Service to review and update its guidance to staff on making reasonable adjustments. It also said it would contact Ms X by email to communicate and formalise arrangements in respect of her reasonable adjustment.
12. After taking legal advice regarding the service of legal notices, the Council emailed Ms X on 14 September to formally confirm the arrangements for her reasonable adjustment. The letter confirmed the Council would contact her by email but also explained there may be times when it is legally required to send documents by post. It said it would email to warn her in advance if this was going to happen. It also set out circumstances when its contractors may need to use post, such as a utilities emergency. The Council asked her to confirm her agreement with this arrangement. It says to date, Ms X has not confirmed her agreement.
13. Ms X provided some information which showed the Council called her on 5 November. The Council has looked into this but says it is unable to identify where the call originated. It says this is because the system used by the Council means individual numbers are not identified but show as the main switchboard number.
14. Ms X has now provided details of the continued contact by the Council by post and telephone. The information provided amounts to more than 15 contacts since September 2020. Ms X says this is extremely stressful for her resulting in panic attacks which sometimes require medical intervention.

Analysis

15. Ms X complained the Council repeatedly failed to make reasonable adjustments to how it communicates with her. It agreed to communicate by email only, however it has sent her letters and telephoned her on several occasions. It also sent a contractor to her building, unannounced, when she was shielding due to Covid-19.
16. The information provided shows that although the Council agreed to the reasonable adjustments requested by Ms X, it has failed to keep to this agreement. There have been significant instances of contact by post and telephone. The Council says this is due to human error and it has apologised for its failings.
17. There has been fault by the Council in this case and I acknowledge that due to Ms X’s disabilities, this has caused her significant distress. I acknowledge the Council took steps after Ms X’s complaint in July 2020 to improve the situation and try to limit and further errors.
18. A multi service meeting was held involving all teams that frequently communicate with Ms X. The purpose of the meeting was to understand any challenges that exist to provide the reasonable adjustment, clarify any legal requirements to correspond by post and agree actions to ensure the request is met consistently by all teams. All affected staff have been advised of the need to meet Ms X’s request and the existing alerts on the IT management system had been reviewed.
19. The Council also recently published a standalone policy on making reasonable adjustments and it arranged special briefings to communicate this to all staff. It also produced supplementary internal guidance for staff on communicating by email as a reasonable adjustment.
20. Despite taking this action, the Council continues to make contact by post and telephone. The amount of contact is of a level that suggests the action taken above is not sufficient and more action is needed. I appreciate the Council is a large organisation with many different departments and some will have more regular contact with Ms X and that there can be no absolute guarantee that mistakes will not happen again. However, the Council has agreed to meet Ms X’s request for a reasonable adjustment, with some exceptions, and so it must meet it. I am therefore recommending further action is taken by the Council to enable it to meet Ms X’s reasonable adjustments.

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Agreed action

21. To remedy the injustice caused to Ms X as a result of Council’s continued failure to meet her reasonable adjustments it should, within one month of my final decision, take the following action:

Pay Ms X £300 to recognise the distress caused by the repeated failure to meet her reasonable adjustment;

Designate a senior manager to take overall responsibility for meeting the reasonable adjustment. This manager will be Ms X’s point of contact and she will be able to report problems to them in respect of the reasonable adjustment; and

Provide clear details to Ms X, by email, of any exceptions it will have to make in respect of contact by telephone or post and the reasons for this.

22. The Council has already taken the following actions in response to our investigation and draft decision:

Removed Ms X’s telephone number and address from its main customer database and added a reference to the point of contact if staff have any queries;

Removed Ms X’s telephone number from the housing management system and created a flag to advise staff of the point of contact; and

Sought advice from the Council’s Equalities Lead and Barnet Inclusion for additional advice.

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Final decision

23. 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.

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman