Summary: Miss X complained about how the Council made reasonable adjustments when communicating with her. There was fault in how the Council considered Miss X’s requests for reasonable adjustments and how it considered her complaint about this. The Council agreed to confirm what adjustments it considers reasonable, apologise to Miss X, pay her a financial remedy and share our decision with relevant staff.

The complaint

1. Miss X complains the Council discriminated against her by failing to provide reasonable adjustments after she asked for these in 2023. She also says the Council took too long to respond to her complaints.
2. As a result, Miss X says she was caused avoidable time, stress and upset. She wants the Council to properly apologise and make the reasonable adjustments she has asked for.

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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 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. 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)
5. We cannot decide if an organisation has breached the Equality Act as this can only be done by the courts. But we can make decisions about whether or not an organisation has properly taken account of an individual’s rights in its treatment of them.
6. Organisations will often be able to show they have properly taken account of the Equality Act if they have considered the impact their decisions will have on the individuals affected and these decisions can be challenged, reviewed or appealed.
7. 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.
8. 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

9. I considered:
• the information Miss X provided;
• the Council’s comments on the complaint and the supporting information it provided; and
• relevant law and guidance.
10. Miss X 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

11. Equality act and reasonable adjustments
12. The Equality Act 2010 provides a legal framework to protect the rights of individuals and advance equality of opportunity for all. It offers protection, in employment, education, the provision of goods and services, housing, transport and the carrying out of public functions.
13. The Equality Act makes it unlawful for organisations carrying out public functions to discriminate on any of the nine protected characteristics listed in the Equality Act 2010. They must also have regard to the general duties aimed at eliminating discrimination under the Public Sector Equality Duty.
14. The ‘protected characteristics’ referred to in the Act are:
• age;
• disability;
• gender reassignment;
• marriage and civil partnership;
• pregnancy and maternity;
• race;
• religion or belief;
• sex; and
• sexual orientation.
15. The reasonable adjustment duty is set out in the Equality Act 2010 and applies to any body which carries out a public function. It aims to make sure that a disabled person can use a service as close as it is reasonably possible to get to the standard usually offered to non-disabled people.
16. Service providers are under a positive and proactive duty to take steps to remove or prevent obstacles to accessing their service. If the adjustments are reasonable, they must make them.

What happened

17. Miss X has difficulties processing written information. To help with this, she prefers to receive written documents in large print, and on a specific coloured background.
18. During its investigation of a different complaint in September 2023, Miss X asked the Council to send her all written information in large print. At that time, Miss X did not specify a particular size of large print.
19. The Council sent Miss X subsequent correspondence about her complaint in typical large print text, and also sent its response to a later subject access request she made, in the same size font.
20. Miss X said she had further contact with the Council in October 2023. At that time, Miss X said the Council agreed to send her future documents in a specific, larger size of print, and it would ensure this applied to all Council departments. However, neither Miss X nor the Council provided a copy of that correspondence.
21. Miss X complained to the Council in late February 2024 about the lack of reasonable adjustments. She told it about the agreement she believed it had made in October 2023 and that she had asked for large print in written documents and emails several times. This letter also referred to the specific size of print Miss X wanted the Council to use.
22. A few days latter Miss X followed up her complaint with more information. In that letter Miss X also asked the Council that she wanted it to use coloured paper, although she did not state what colour. In that letter Miss X asked the Council to ensure all departments followed her requests. Miss X complained to the Ombudsman around the same time.
23. In April 2024 Miss X contacted the Council because it had sent her a council tax bill in normal size print. In that letter, she asked the Council for documents on a green background.
24. The Council sent its final response to Miss X’s complaint about the lack of reasonable adjustments in late May 2024. In its response the Council said:
• it could not find the correspondence Miss X had referred to from October 2023. However, Miss X had sent the Council a large number of letters and emails, which made it difficult to search for the specific message she had referred to;
• it issued all council tax bills in standard format, but anyone who needed a bill in a different format would be sent a further copy in the format they needed;
• before it had chance to issue a large print bill in early 2024, Miss X contacted it and asked for one in large print and on yellow paper. It then sent Miss X a large print copy on A3 yellow paper;
• the bill it sent in April 2024 was provided electronically and Miss X could adjust the size and colour of this to meet her needs;
• it had no record of Miss X asking for green paper until she contacted it in April 2024;
• to avoid future difficulties with the colour of paper, it sent Miss X transparent, yellow and green coloured overlays which she could use to change the colour of hardcopy documents. In future, it would send Miss X documents in large print, on while paper.

My findings

25. The Ombudsman cannot decide if a council has discriminated against someone; only the courts can do this. However, we can consider whether a council has properly considered someone’s request for reasonable adjustments and properly taken into account its duties to them.
26. On the balance of probabilities, I consider the evidence shows that:
• Miss X asked the Council for large print correspondence in late September 2023, however it was not clear whether this related to all correspondence or just to the complaint the Council was responding to at the time.
• The Council agreed to Miss X’s request and sent her its complaint response and response to her later subject access request in ‘normal’ large print from September 2023.
• Miss X asked the Council, in October 2023, for a specific size of large print in and for all Council departments to be made aware of her needs.
• Miss X repeated her request for specific size print and for this to apply to all Council departments in February 2024.
• The Council sent Miss X a large print copy of her council tax bill in March 2024, but did not send her a large print copy of the April 2024 bill because it sent this electronically and it believed Miss X could adapt this electronic bill to meet her needs.
• The Council sent Miss X coloured overlays for her to use with its final response to her complaint.
27. The Council took some steps to try to meet Miss X’s needs by making reasonable adjustments. However, I am satisfied there was fault with how the Council considered Miss X’s requests, implemented the reasonable adjustments it agreed and responded to Miss X’s complaints about this.
28. In my view, the Council:
• failed to act on Miss X’s requests for her reasonable adjustments to be shared with all Council departments;
• failed to explain to Miss X that if she had contact with a Council department she had not previously dealt with, she would need to make that department aware of her needs;
• missed opportunities to clarify with Miss X exactly what adjustments she wanted, when it became clear there was an outstanding dispute about this, and confirm to what extent it considered these reasonable; and
• took too long to issue its final response to her complaint.
29. I accept the volume of correspondence Miss X sent to the Council made this difficult. However, the Council still had a duty to properly consider Miss X’s requests, explain to her what adjustments it considered reasonable and to implement any adjustments it agreed to.
30. I also accept that it may not be appropriate or possible for the Council to share details of agreed reasonable adjustments with departments someone does not have any contact with. However, where this is the case, it should have explained this to Miss X.
31. I am satisfied these failures caused Miss X avoidable frustration, upset, time and trouble over a period of several months. In the circumstances, I am satisfied a financial remedy is appropriate to recognise that injustice.

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Agreed action

32. Within one month of my final decision, the Council should:
1. confirm with Miss X what adjustments she would like the Council to make, including:
• the specific size and font she would like the Council to use;
• which colours she prefers to receive written information; and
• whether Miss X prefers to receive electronic or hardcopy information, including whether she wishes to continue with electronic council tax billing.
1. set out, in writing and in straightforward terms, what adjustments the Council considers reasonable and how it provide written information to Miss X in future;
2. share details of the agreed adjustments with all Council departments Miss X currently deals with;
3. explain, in writing and in straightforward terms, what Miss X should do if she starts to deal with a new Council department and how to make any such department aware of the agreed adjustments;
4. apologise to Miss X for the distress, time and trouble caused by the failures I have identified above; and
5. pay Miss X £300 to recongise that distress, time and trouble.
33. 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 I have recommended in my findings.
34. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.
35. I would normally have recommended the Council review how it decides and communicates requests for reasonable adjustments. However, the Council said it is currently developing a process to deal with such requests centrally.
36. Instead, the Council should also share a copy of my final decision with the officers developing that process. It should do this within a month of my final decision.

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Final decision

37. I have completed my investigation. There was fault in how the Council considered Miss X’s requests for reasonable adjustments and how it considered her complaint about this. The Council agreed to confirm what adjustments it considers reasonable, apologise to Miss X, pay her a financial remedy and share my decision with relevant staff.

Investigator’s decision on behalf of the Ombudsman

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Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman