Local Government Ombudsman finds Hounslow failed in its duty of care to a vulnerable man

Hounslow House, Hounslow Council’s offices

The Council took two years to assess the needs of a man who needed care support, and when it finally did make an assessment it failed to follow up on it properly

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found that Hounslow Council failed in its duty of care towards a man who needed care and support.

The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and complete a care and support plan with him. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

The Ombudsman found the Council had failed to properly record a referral for a social care needs assessment, delayed carrying out a needs assessment, failed to prepare a care and support plan and failed to review whether the support offered was meeting Mr B’s eligible needs.

‘These failings caused Mr B frustration and distress and left him with uncertainty about whether alternative support could have been identified to meet his assessed needs’.

Failure to keep accurate records

The Ombudsman found the Council had failed to carry out a care needs assessment until August 2025, despite repeated requests since 2023.

The Council did not address this issue in its response to his complaint and said they had no record of receiving or considering the referral from his support worker in October 2023.

‘On balance, I consider it likely that a referral was made’, said the Ombudsman.

‘Councils should keep adequate records of referrals they receive and the action taken in response to them. I am not satisfied that the Council did so in this case’.

Delay in making a care needs assessment

Mr B made a further request for a care needs assessment in October 2024, and his Community Psychiatric Nurse made a further referral in March 2025.

‘The Council triaged the referral in May 2025 and decided to carry out a needs assessment.

‘Once the Council had decided to carry out an assessment, there was avoidable delay before it completed the assessment in August 2025. This was fault. The Council has acknowledged this delay and apologised for it.

Failure to prepare a care and support plan

Following a care needs assessment, councils are required to prepare a care and support plan setting out the person’s eligible needs, how those needs will be met, the support available and the personal budget available to meet those needs. The Ombudsman found the Council did not prepare a care and support plan for Mr B.

The Council should have followed up with him to check whether his needs were being met. They put him in touch with another service, Thames Reach, with whom he decided not to engage, but the Council’s social worker did not contact Mr B once the Thames Reach support worker had been allocated, despite offering to do so.

‘She clearly recognised that he may need support to engage with the service, but then did not provide it. This was fault.

‘The Council should have spoken to Mr B about why the proposed arrangements had not been successful and considered whether there were alternative ways of meeting his eligible needs.

‘The Council also should have explored with Mr B why he considered the assessed contribution was unaffordable and whether his circumstances justified a request for all or part of the charge to be waived, particularly considering it was aware that Mr B needed support with budgeting.

‘The Council’s failure to prepare a care and support plan, and to review its effectiveness, has left Mr B with uncertainty about whether further support could have been identified and whether his assessed needs could have been met in a way that was acceptable and affordable to him.

‘He has also been left without the benefit of annual reviews to check the support plan was working’.

Ombudsman tells the Council it needs to review its processes and remind staff of their legal duties

As a result of the Ombudsman’s investigation the Council has now promised to carry out a review of Mr B’s needs and complete a care and support plan, ‘ensuring his views about the suitability of available support and his concerns about affordability are considered’.

It has said it will carry out a full financial assessment of Mr B’s income and expenses to ascertain how much Mr B can reasonably afford to contribute to the cost of any care arranged.

‘If the Council concludes that Mr B cannot afford to contribute, it should consider whether to waive all or part of the charge, in accordance with its charging policy’.

The Ombudsman’s report concludes the Council needs to review its processes and remind staff that care and support plans should be completed as required by the Care Act 2014.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has also criticised Hounslow Council for the way they dealt with an elderly woman who needed support with care.

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Council response

We asked the Council to give us their response to this finding and a Council spokesperson told us:

“We have apologised to the resident, paid them £200 in compensation, and arranged for an Independent Social Worker and advocate to carry out a new assessment.

“The Council has also reviewed its processes, ensuring all ongoing referrals are logged and supported by a new online portal that tracks each case and improves response times. The current system of generating a care and support plan when a client declines, is also under review.”