The Disability Support Committee in Jönköping Municipality is criticised for failing to submit written notification of a decision to end a measure pursuant to the Act concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments

Date of decision: 2024-11-27 Decision case number: 7354-2023 Decision maker: Ombudsman

Summary of the decision: AA was granted special service in the form of daily activities pursuant to the Act (SFS 1993:387) concerning Support and Service for Persons with Certain Functional Impairments, which was implemented as a placement at a café. In their decision, the Parliamentary Ombudsman considers whether the committee should have applied the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (SFS 2017:900) when ending the measure at the café. The Parliamentary Ombudsman notes that the measure had real effects on AA and that the committee’s decision to end it therefore constituted an official decision. This implies that the committee’s handling of the matter was a matter of processing at an administrative authority, hence within the scope of the Administrative Procedure Act.

AA was only informed that the placement had ended orally. According to the Parliamentary Ombudsman, it is not clear that AA ended the placement in consultation with social services. In the assessment of the Parliamentary Ombudsman, written notification of the decision would therefore have been clearer and reduced the risk of misunderstanding between AA and the committee.

Moreover, AA requested a written decision or documentation of the decision on several occasions, justifying why he could not remain at the café. AA also stated that he made the request in order to have the decision reviewed by the administrative court. Among other things, Section 33 of the Administrative Procedure Act states that notification of a decision shall always be given in writing if a party so requests. The Parliamentary Ombudsman states that AA should undoubtedly have received such a notification when he first requested it. It is also a serious matter that, by not complying with his request, the committee denied AA the opportunity of judicial proceedings.