The Ombudsman's final decision
Summary: We will not investigate Ms C’s complaint about the Council’s assessment of her care needs and support provided. This is because the Council has agreed to reassess Ms C and will consider the additional information it has received. The Council will decide whether Ms C has assessed needs requiring more support than previously assessed. Further investigation could achieve no more than this.
The complaint
Ms C complained the Care Needs Assessment completed by the Council was inaccurate and did not meet all of her needs or provide adequate support to meet her needs. Ms C says the Council should refund council tax she paid but should have been considered as Disability Related Expenditure, place needs before budgets and be clear about financial assessments. In addition Ms C is concerned the Council has breached personal data about her.
The Ombudsman’s role and powers
We investigate complaints about ‘maladministration’ and ‘service failure’, which we call ‘fault’. We must also consider whether any fault has had an adverse effect on the person making the complaint, which we call ‘injustice’. We provide a free service, but must use public money carefully. We may decide not to start an investigation if the tests set out in our Assessment Code are not met. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended) We normally expect someone to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner if they have a complaint about data protection. However, we may decide to investigate if we think there are good reasons. (Local Government Act 1974, section 24A(6), as amended)
How I considered this complaint
I considered information provided by the complainant.
I considered the Ombudsman’s Assessment Code.
The complainant had an opportunity to comment on my draft decision.
My assessment
The Council’s response to Ms C’s complaint advised if she has any comments on her March assessment or amendments requiring further assessment it will do so. Ms C says she told the Council on several occasions, what she needed but it did not respond. However, Ms C says she has recently been admitted to hospital and she now requires additional support. Ms C says her daughter contacted the Council who has arranged for a Social Worker to undertake a new assessment of her needs and was waiting to the crisis intervention team to attend to provide care in the interim.
Any injustice caused to Ms C will be remedied by the Council’s reassessment and we could achieve no more than this even if we investigated. The Council has confirmed Ms C was admitted to hospital and discharged with an increased package of care under the NHS Discharge Funding Programme for four weeks. The package of care commenced on 1 August. The Council has confirmed it will complete a Care Needs Assessment during the four weeks. We could achieve no more than this.
Ms C confirmed her complaint about charging her for council tax which should have been excluded from her DRE assessment has now been resolved.
Ms C is concerned the Council has breached her personal data. It would be reasonable for Ms C to ask the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to consider whether there has been a breach of data.
Final decision
We will not investigate this complaint. This is because the Council has agreed to reassess Ms C and will consider the additional information it has received. The Council will decide whether Ms C has assessed needs requiring more support than previously assessed. Further investigation could achieve no more than this.
Investigator's decision on behalf of the Ombudsman