Council told to apologise for failing to action recommendation by Ombudsman to assess woman’s needs as a carer

Southend-on-Sea City Council has agreed to apologise to a mother for twice failing to assess her needs as a carer, despite agreeing to do so following a previous investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman’s second investigation concluded that the council failed to carry out a “proper” parent carer’s assessment, as it did not consider the woman’s needs as a carer, or take into account that she herself had disabilities, and instead focused on her son’s needs.

In her previous complaint, the mother told the Ombudsman the council had not carried out a parent carer’s assessment when looking at her son’s needs as a disabled child.

The council agreed to the Ombudsman’s recommendation to assess her needs as a carer.

However, the Ombudsman’s second investigation found the council had not actioned the recommendation in full.

The investigation also found that when the mother complained to the council, it failed to consider her concerns under the statutory three stage children’s complaints process, as it should have done.

To remedy the injustice caused, the council was recommended to:

• apologise to the mother for not carrying out a proper carer’s needs assessment;
• pay her £1,000 to recognise her distress and the time it has taken to complain twice;
• arrange for an independent social worker to carry out a standalone assessment for the mother;
• carry out training on how to conduct a parent carer’s needs assessment and issue a briefing note to all relevant staff detailing complaints that fall within the scope of the statutory children’s complaints procedure.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, Amerdeep Somal, said: “Southend Council failed to conduct a proper assessment of the mother’s needs despite agreeing to do so with my office.

“The assessment it did make, did not properly consider the impact on her mental health and wellbeing of being a carer for a disabled child. This raises my concerns that the council is not fully aware of its duty to ensure both the needs of service users and their carers are fully considered when carrying out combined assessments.

“I have asked the council to carry out some training with its officers about completing such assessments, and to remind them about those complaints which fall under the Children’s Statutory Complaints Process. I hope this will ensure complaints are dealt with appropriately in future.”

Cllr Laurie Burton, cabinet member for children, young people, and SEND at Southend-on-Sea City Council said: “We have fully accepted the findings of the Ombudsman and will take the actions outlined in the report. We remain committed to ensuring children and their families receive the appropriate support and services, and we will take the learning from the LGO’s findings forward.

“We have apologised to the complainant for our errors and will work with them to ensure their needs are properly addressed.”

Lottie Winson