Latest news with #LocalGovernmentandSocialCareOmbudsman
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
SEND assessment delay 'prolonged injustice' for mum
"Significant delays" by a council in assessing a child's special educational needs caused his mother "prolonged injustice", a government watchdog has ruled. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman ordered Slough Borough Council to pay her £1,000 for delays and lack of communication. Its report said the council's faults had caused her "significant distress and frustration". The council said it acknowledged the findings of the report and had complied with all of its recommendations. The mother, named as Ms X in the ombudsman's report, asked the council to update her son B's education health and care plan (EHCP) in March 2024. This is a legal document reviewed annually that sets out what a council has to do to meet a child's special educational needs. She wanted the council to update B's EHCP with information from a private occupational therapist's assessment she had sourced, and asked if it could reimburse her for the cost. Ms X then complained "shortly after" about the time the council had taken to update B's EHCP after a review in October 2023, and asked for a personal budget to pay for his occupational therapy. The council replied that B's annual review would take place in April, that she could discuss a personal budget then, and that it might need to take 14 weeks to reassess his needs. The council also said it had "not yet decided" whether to reimburse Ms X for the private occupational therapist's assessment. B's annual review took place in April and the council wrote to Ms X in June saying it had prepared an amended plan, that it would reimburse her for the occupational therapist's assessment and reassess B's needs. In response to her complaint, Slough Borough Council said it would consider her request for a personal budget. It accepted there had been delays in updating B's plan and securing a decision around the private occupational therapist funding. When the council did issue an updated ECHP in September 2024 the reassessment had still not taken place – and was ongoing at the time of the ombudsman's decision in March this year. The council 'said waiting for the outcome of the private OT's review, had delayed this consideration'. The ombudsman ruled this delay was "especially severe" and the the council should pay Ms X £750. In addition, the ombudsman said there was a "lack of communication! from the council in explaining its decision whether to award Ms X a personal budget, and that there was a delay in deciding whether to reimburse her for the private assessment. It said the council should pay Ms X a further £250 for these. The council said: "We are conscious of historic failings and delays within parts of our SEND service and recognise the impact this has had on some families. "In response, we have taken clear steps to strengthen the service — including increasing staffing capacity, improving oversight, and ensuring Education, Health, and Care (EHC) needs assessments are completed in a more timely and consistent way." It added: "We remain committed to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND and to working closely with families to provide the support they need." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Authority to pay £11,750 over special needs case Council to pay £6,500 after failing autistic child SEND delay 'horrible' for boy, 11 Mother awarded £9,400 over education battle for son Slough Borough Council Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Vulnerable man wrongly had care ended
A vulnerable man was caused "distress and uncertainty" after he was left without care for three months when a west London council wrongly cut his support, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has ruled. Hillingdon Council withdrew care for the man, named only as Mr B in the report, after deciding he did not need it. It has made a "symbolic payment of £300" for causing distress to the man, who has a learning disability. Hillingdon Council said: "We accept the decision of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and have met all the agreed actions in its report." The ombudsman said that Mr B was receiving seven hours of weekly care, including help with meals, housework, shopping and appointments. In August 2023, he told the council he was being bullied by a resident in his shared house. Shortly after the report, the council was told by his carers that Mr B could get to the shop himself, make a simple meal and sometimes cancelled care. In May 2024, Hillingdon Council reassessed Mr B's care needs, and found that he had some difficulties saying words, memory problems, and could not always understand things said to him. The council said it was unclear whether Mr B had been diagnosed with a learning disability. It added that Mr B could give them all the information needed and decided he did not need carers to help. His care was ended in June. In August, a learning disability assessment confirmed Mr B had a learning disability, an extremely low working memory, and some problems working things out. It also found he needed help to learn new things. The council reassessed Mr B again in September and reinstated his care, stating: "Hillingdon Council can now understand how his learning disability affects him." The ombudsman found that the diagnosis of a learning difficulty was not needed to find out whether Mr B had care needs. The ombudsman said: "The council's failure to meet Mr B's care needs from mid-June to mid-September, is fault. This caused Mr B distress and uncertainty. It meant he did not have the support he needed." A spokesperson for Hillingdon Council said: "We have apologised to and compensated the complainant for the faults it highlighted. As an organisation, we regularly review internal processes, such as how we assess eligibility of care, to ensure we best serve residents and meet their needs." Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to Supported housing in crisis, groups tell Starmer Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
BBC News
24-04-2025
- BBC News
West Northamptonshire Council failed homeless man for second time
A council has been ordered to pay £750 to a homeless man and told to make service improvements after it failed to provide him with emergency accommodation for a second Northamptonshire Council apologised for refusing the man's homelessness request and for any distress individual, referred to as Mr X, had also complained that the Conservative-controlled authority repeated failures from a previous incident in 2023, when he was forced to sleep in his car for a fortnight after he said his mother had assaulted Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) said the council had "further compounded" the stress the man was under. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the man had again approached the authority for homelessness assistance in August 2024 after he was forced to return to the same place where he had experienced domestic told West Northamptonshire Council he had returned to sleeping in his car and had tried to take his life several response, the council recommended he contact his landlord to ask to move into his tenancy, which was due to start in September, early. It said it recognised he was temporarily homeless, but that Mr X did not meet the priority need criteria for temporary accommodation. 'Significant fault' The LGSCO report said: "The ombudsman has already found significant fault with this council for its handling of Mr X's case when he previously fled domestic abuse."It said the council "should have considered his approach as a homelessness application, not a request for advice" and "the council's actions amount to a fault".The investigator added that the council's actions and improvements promised after the 2023 incident had not addressed "the underlying issue" of failing to properly identify and assess homelessness watchdog asked the council to provide evidence that it has given its staff further training, told it to circulate the investigation and apologised to the individual for their Northamptonshire Council said it was "committed to learning from this [case]" and had "begun taking steps to implement the ombudsman's proposed actions, including further training to our housing and homelessness teams". Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
25-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Sheffield elderly woman's care fell below standards, council told
Council delays in reviewing the care of a woman who was unable to move and communicate independently "fell below an acceptable standard", an ombudsman Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman said the woman, named as Mrs C, had a care plan of four daily visits by Hallam24 Healthcare, on behalf of Sheffield City it found evidence of missed care visits, instances where Mrs C had been left in an unsafe lying position in her bed, and a lack of incontinence pad City Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs C's daughter, named as Miss B, for the care failings. Mrs C has since died. Miss B alerted the council to concerns in April 2023 which included finding untaken pills and carers forgetting to give Mrs C requesting a short-term review into Mrs C's care, Miss B moved in with her mother and reported further missed care visits despite meeting with care managers earlier that October 2023, Miss B reported concerns including carers not changing Mrs C's incontinence pads and leaving her in unsafe lying ombudsman's report highlighted that the council had made safeguarding inquiries with Hallam24 Healthcare in November 2023 which were not presented to Miss B until August 2024, three months after Mrs C had died. Sheffield City Council agreed to apologise to Miss B for the care given to Mrs C, the delays and lack of communication as well as a symbolic payment of £500 "to acknowledge the uncertainty, stress and worry caused by the fault".The council will now have to provide staff training about good communication and issue a briefing to remind the council and Hallam24 Healthcare staff of the importance of reassessing and completing reviews of care plans in a timely manner. Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
BBC News
05-03-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Only one Peterborough adult social services complaint upheld
A complaint made on behalf of a man with severe health issues was the only one against Peterborough City Council's adult social services upheld by the ombudsman over the course of a case was one of 49 taken to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman between April 2023 and March 2024."The number of complaints being received about adult social care services in Peterborough is low, both compared with neighbouring authorities and in terms of the numbers of people receiving services," said Shabina Qayyum, Labour cabinet member for adults and health.A total of 4,357 people received support during the 12 months. The average complaint response time was 23 working days, according to the Local Democracy Reporting figures form part of an annual review into complaints to be discussed at the council's adults and health scrutiny committee on 11 case upheld by the ombudsman involved a man who complained about the care provided to his son, who has severe autism, learning and communication difficulties, and complainant said the council failed to arrange a Section 117 review for his son despite a recommendation by the ombudsman in May 2022.A Section 117 means a patient gets free aftercare when they leave hospital for support or services linked to their council was ordered by the ombudsman to apologise, and to pay £100 to the complainant. Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
