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Ombudsman criticises council over failure to support vulnerable mother properly

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has criticised a London borough for failing to carry out adequate assessments of the support a disabled mother needed when her young son moved from nursery to school.

The mother, who has physical and mental health needs, takes strong medication and is in chronic pain, lives with her young son. She has no family or friends in the area to help with her fluctuating needs in an emergency, the LGO said.

An investigation by the Ombudsman found Ealing Council at fault for:

  • failing to complete care assessments in a timely manner and for not putting in place proper contingency plans for the mother’s fluctuating needs;
  • not completing annual care reviews;
  • failing to give the mother the correct personal budget, so she could not pay for a child minder to take her son to school;
  • not taking all reasonable steps to reach agreement with the mother about how to meet her eligible needs.

Ealing provided a nursery place for the son, supported by a care agency to get him there, which he often attended till 6 pm. However, the council did not reassess the family when the boy moved to primary school, so there was no respite after school finished at 3 pm.

The care agency meanwhile said it could not guarantee it could get the son to school on time, so the mother investigated other arrangements.

She told Ealing that a child-minder had agreed to take the boy to school and look after him afterwards. The council agreed she could use her direct payments to fund this.

However, the council did not put enough money into her account to cover both the child minder’s fees and those of the care agency which looked after her needs. This contributed to a debt to the agency of around £17,000.

Following the investigation, Ealing has agreed to:

  • honour the agreement to pay transport and assistance to get the son to school;
  • pay the difference between the amount paid into the mother’s direct payment account for this element of the support package and the amount she paid out. Ealing has calculated this to be nearly £12,000 and it will be paid to the care agency to settle part of her debt;
  • apologise to the mother for its failure to plan and provide assistance for contingencies;
  • pay her £2,000 for her distress, time and trouble and uncertainty; and
  • review the collaborative working between adults and children’s social services and implement any identified improvements.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “The problems in this case stemmed from the council not assessing properly whether the mother’s needs had changed when her son started school. It was entirely predictable that they would do, and the council should have foreseen this.

“There is doubt over whether the mother’s – and her young son’s – needs have been met properly over the period, and whether the debts she has accrued have been exacerbated by the situation.

“I welcome the commitment the council has since made to implement the remedies I have recommended.”