What to do when you have a problem with social care services?
Many people have a problem with services they receive from their local authority, either for themselves or someone they are caring for. As council budgets are increasingly under pressure, and demand for services is going up, it is no surprise that there may be a gap between what is offered and what is expected when it comes to social care services.
Monitoring Officers are responsible for investigating unlawfulness
If you have an issue with a local authority, there is an easy – and free! – way of raising your concerns. It is not much talked about, so you may well not realise that every council has a “Monitoring Officer“, whose brief is to look out for incidents of alleged unlawfulness within the council.
The duties of a Monitoring Officer were established under the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. If they become aware of any proposal, decision or omission by the local authority that has led, or is likely to lead, to a contravention of any statute – like the Care Act – or Regulations – like the Assessment Regulations – or rule of law, they have to prepare a report and arrange for each member of the authority to receive a copy. While members are considering the report, the relevant actions or proposals are automatically suspended. They have 21 days to consider the report.
MOs have to look into any matters referred to them
To keep Monitoring Officers independent, they are protected from dismissal, except through special steps. The creation of the office is intended to manage legal risk in an effective way, thus minimising the need for legal proceedings. The MO or their deputy is personally responsible for considering any matter referred to them which involves a coherent statement that the local authority is in breach of the law in something it has done or failed to do. They can’t just ignore it. If they believe that the case you have brought to their attention is not a matter of unlawfulness, they should provide you with the reasons why they have reached this conclusion. The council has to provide the Monitoring Officer with the resources necessary to do their job, including paying for legal opinion, if it is outside the expertise of the MO.
As you know, there is a Local Authority Ombudsman scheme for problems with council services, but the ombudsman will not consider your case until you have made a complaint to the council and received no satisfaction. Making a representation to the Monitoring Officer is an effective way of showing that you have tried to resolve the issue with the LA.
Information from Belinda Schwehr of Care and Health Law
This information about the role of Monitoring Officers comes from Belinda Schwehr, the leading expert in adult social care law. She has also put together a list of contact details for most MOs in the country. It is downloadable as a PDF from the page link below, about halfway down.
Although approaching a Monitoring Officer is free, it does require you to understand the law sufficiently to be able to make a case as to why you believe the authority is acting in contravention of it.
If you are in a dispute with your local authority about adult social care, the legal advice charity Cascaidr, is a good place to start to look for advice. https://www.cascaidr.org.uk/contact-us/
Mainly reblogged from Independent Living https://www.independentliving.co.uk/
This is a very helpful – thank you. I had not heard of the Monitoring Officer and I intend to follow the suggestion contained in this posting.
I am in the process of seeking Continuing Healthcare Funding for a relative. The process started in December 2018 and the decision not to approve funding was taken in August 2019.We are now appealing that decision.
This process confirmed my deepest suspicions about local authorities and professionals delivering the policies and procedures, often unlawfully.
I have come to recognise a truism, that the statutory services will state , they will provide individuals, with whatever they lawfully require. The fail to state however, as long as it matches the resources they have available.
I have had many conversations with professionals, in education, in health, in social services and a wide range of other statutory services. Professionals, in private and “off the record” will state the obvious that the service , who employs them, do not have the financial resources to provide the services, they are legally obliged to deliver. It is also a truism that no official letter sent to individuals indicated a lack of resources being the reason, why that service cannot be provided. The typical response is that you have failed to match the criteria.
It has been estimated that £10 billion has been cut from statutory services in the last ten years and yet those services and the professionals , who are fast becoming the apologists of statutory services, maintain the line that they uphold the law and there has been no reduction in services, to those that have a legal entitlement to them. This is a big lie.
It is disabled people and their allies who are leading the struggle to expose this lie and critically question thoses apologists who continue to deliver this big lie.