A council which withdrew
one-to-one support for a man with learning difficulties has apologised
to his mother and paid him £500 for the distress caused.
Gwynedd Council was told
to take the remedial action after being found guilty of
maladministration by the Public Services Ombudsman.
He had been receiving nine hours of one-to-one support each week, but in January, 2015, the authority said the service would end, even though the client had not been reassessed.
A social worker said that the council had been “over-servicing” and that the man did not meet eligibility for one-to-one support.
Instead he was offered group sessions on alternate Saturday mornings, but the family’s GP expressed concern about the impact on him and called for the one-to-one support to be reinstated.
In response to the Ombudsman, the council accepted there had been shortcomings in the process and that alternative support should have been put in place before the one-to-one support was stopped.
As a result, greater consultation now takes place with service users and their families when changes were proposed, the council said.
Appalling behaviour from Gwynedd council social services - again.
Gwynedd social services were told last year that withdrawing support without re-assessing needs is illegal so why continue ?
Who will be paying the fine ?
The social worker who failed to protect the vulnerable man in his duty of care ?
The manager who ok'd the illegal action ?
Or will the money be paid by out of the MILLIONS in the bank held as Cyngor Gwynedd's usable reserves ?
No - it will be the ratepayer - again.
http://www.bala-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=114470&headline=Council%20apologises%20after%20mum%E2%80%99s%20complaint§ionIs=news&searchyear=2017
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