Council told to apologise for care hours change

Perth and Kinross Council has been ordered to apologise to a person for cutting the amount of hours they were being cared for without a clear set of reasons.

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) has also instructed staff to review the individual’s care package after upholding a complaint made on their behalf by a family member.

The body’s decision report on the case, which referred to the person receiving care and the complainer only as A and C respectively, concluded there was“a lack of rationale”behind the decision.

The report said:“C was unhappy with the way the council’s social work service conducted a review of A’s care package. The outcome of the council’s review was that the weekly number of hours for an element of A’s support was reduced. We took independent advice from a social worker. We found that there was a lack of rationale within the assessment and care review documentation for the reduction in A’s support. In view of this, we concluded that the review of A’s care package was not conducted reasonably. We upheld this aspect of the complaint.”

The ombudsman did not, however, uphold a related complaint about the way the council investigated the matter and communicated with the person’s family member.

The decision report said:“C also raised concerns about the way the council investigated and responded to their complaint. We did not identify any failings in the council’s complaint handling. We did not uphold this aspect of the complaint.”

The ombudsman said PKC ought to apologise to both A and C, review whether the two-to-one care allowance within A’s current care package adequately meets their social needs, inform C of the outcome of the review ad provide a“clear rationale”for the decision.

The PA approached PKC for comment on the case.