Date of decision: 01 Jul 2025
Summary
Mrs X complained that Lincolnshire County Council failed to manage the transition of her disabled daughter, Ms G, from children’s to adult services at the end of her education. She said the Council did not meet Ms G’s agreed needs for day centre provision and transport, and failed to communicate properly with her. As a result, Ms G missed out on care for three months and Mrs X suffered distress, pain, and expense from having to transport her daughter herself. The Ombudsman found fault in the Council’s decision-making and communication.
What happened
Ms G is a young woman with disabilities who lived at home with her parents. She had an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan until July 2024, when she finished college and turned 25. Her mother liaised with the Council for continued adult social care support.
In March 2024, a care and support planning meeting agreed that Ms G’s eligible needs would be met by attending Centre 1, an adult day service over 20 miles away, with one-to-one support and transport. Transport was recorded as necessary to prevent carer breakdown, since both parents had health problems limiting their ability to drive.
Initially, in April 2024, the Council confirmed verbally and in writing that Ms G would receive five days at Centre 1 with transport, later reduced to three days at the parents’ request.
In May 2024, Ms G began introductory attendance at Centre 1 while still at college. In July 2024, the Council issued written confirmation of funding for both three days’ provision and transport by direct payment.
This was later admitted to be an error, as it had been authorised without checking local alternatives.
The Council then told Mrs X the personal budget did not include transport. By August, the Council told Mrs X that it was consulting local providers, including Centre 2, a council-run service, to see if needs could be met closer to home. It suspended approval pending consultations with Centre 2.
The Council subsequently refused transport assistance, asserting Centre 2 could meet needs, despite no confirmation at that time. Centre 2 only stated it had capacity to meet Ms G’s needs in October.
In the meantime, Mrs X continued driving her daughter one day per week to Centre 1, experiencing pain, fatigue, and expense from July to October. Ms G missed two days of agreed support per week.
Eventually, later in October, following complaints and an MP’s involvement, the Council reconsidered and funded three days at Centre 1 with transport, acknowledging prior errors and agreeing to conduct a carers’ assessment for Mrs and Mr X.
What was found
The Ombudsman found that Lincolnshire County Council was at fault for errors in care package decisions and communications, failing to follow proper statutory process under the Care Act 2014.
It confirmed funding for three days and transport without proper authorisation checks and it withdrew transport funding in July 2024 without evidence that a local alternative could meet Ms G’s needs, noting that Centre 2 could not confirm it could meet the needs until October, having previously said that it could not. So, at the time it decided not to provide transport, the Council did not know if Ms G’s needs could be met at Centre 2.
Further, the Council’s poor communication created confusion and distress, leading Mrs X reasonably to expect that the original care and transport package would be delivered.
Ms G therefore missed out on two days of provision per week for three months and Mrs X experienced avoidable pain, fatigue and costs from transporting Ms G herself. Mismanagement led to deprivation of agreed support and required transport for three months, causing significant distress and harm to the daughter and mother.
The Council was ordered to apologise to both Mrs X and Ms G and make £500 symbolic payments each to both affected individuals for missed provision and distress, and to remind staff of authorisation procedures, that care packages must be properly authorised before being confirmed to families.
Points to note for councils, professionals, people using services and their carers, advocacy groups and members of the public
When a child turns 18 they are legally an adult and responsibility for meeting their needs potentially moves from the council’s children services to its adult services, reflecting provisions in the Children Act 1989 and Care Act 2014. Transition assessments should begin when the council can be confident about the young person’s needs for care and support will likely look like when they are 18. This young woman had made the transition to adult services in 2021.
Transport needs directly aligning with a person’s ability to access social care services must be treated as integral to the care and support assessment and support plan, not as an optional extra. Omission or delay in including transport, especially when identified as necessary to avoid carer breakdown, risks breach of duties under sections 1, 18, and 19. Councils should not rely on blanket solutions or local preferences for provision where that would undermine meeting assessed needs or impact significantly on wellbeing.
Families should be provided with written assessments and care plans promptly and any change to agreed support should be formally recorded with reasons. The making of an error does not affect the fact that a Care Act care plan was provided, on which the family should have been able to rely, unless or until it was reviewed, and replaced properly with another plan. We cannot explain the Ombudsman’s failure to identify the absence of a review and revision exercise compliantly with s27 of the Care Act, before the transport arrangement was withdrawn or the three days a week placement was rendered not capable of being made use of, for want of transport.
Professionals and advocacy groups should encourage service users and carers to insist on early, person-centred planning, clear explanations of entitlements, and assertive follow-up if needs are not met. Councils must ensure frontline staff have the training and resources to put these principles into practice and maintain a lawful, responsive adult social care service.
Please use the following link if you want to read the original Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Lincolnshire County Council (24 011 703) report.
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