Due to the volume of previous communications, Luke’s communication with the Public Guardian and Trustee (PGT) was restricted to one phone call per week. The restriction impacted his ability to bring outstanding bill payments to the attention of his case worker and this was negatively impacting his credit.

Feeling like he was being treated unfairly, Luke called our office.

We investigated whether the PGT followed a reasonable process in implementing the restriction, including how it communicated the restriction to Luke.

The PGT’s policy outlines procedures for implementing communication restriction plans. In the letter the PGT provided to Luke about the communication restriction, we noted it did not include any information about a timeline for review or how Luke could appeal the decision to impose the restriction. We also noted that fairness and transparency would be improved by including more information explaining the reasons why the restrictions were implemented. We recommended providing Luke with a brief but factual description of the behaviour that resulted in the restrictions.

The PGT acknowledged that the letter to Luke did not include the information specified in the policy and agreed to review the policy as well as our suggestions to include reasons for how and why the decision was made with staff. In Luke’s case, after reviewing their file, the PGT decided to lift Luke’s restrictions. The PGT also confirmed that Luke’s outstanding bills had been paid and arranged for timely payment of bills going forward.