Criticism of the Social Welfare Committee in Borgholm Municipality for failing to implement the intervention personal assistance to the extent the individual was entitled

Summary of the decision: An individual had been granted assistance allowance and submitted a request for the municipality to arrange personal assistance. Referring to work environment and recruitment problems, the municipality chose to partly implement the intervention through short-stay accommodation.

According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, assistance rendered in short-term accommodation does not constitute the personalised support that the intervention personal assistance is intended to provide, nor can the staff performing the intervention for the individual be considered to be personal assistants in the meaning of the Act (1993:387) concerning Support and Services for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments. In the opinion of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, the municipality did not implement the intervention personal assistance while the individual was in short-stay accommodation. This implies that the individual did not receive personal assistance to the extent they were entitled, for which the municipality is deserving of criticism.