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Children and family services Maladministration causing injustice
19 July 2005
‘Mr and Mrs Sage’ (not their real names for legal reasons) complained that the Council failed to plan appropriate care for their disabled son. They said that, as a result, carers appointed by the Council were taken by surprise when he became violent and that services were needlessly withdrawn as a consequence. They were also concerned that the Council made unfounded allegations that their daughter was at risk of violence and abuse from their son and that the Council itself failed to investigate their complaints properly.
The Ombudsman did find some maladministration leading to injustice but was not prepared to criticise the Council or its staff for failing to avoid the assault or for the subsequent withdrawal of services. Whilst the Ombudsman accepted that there was some misinformation around the issue of possible risk to the daughter, she also felt that it was not unreasonable that doubts arose in the minds of those involved at the time.
The Council agreed to pay £500 compensation and to review its procedures. The Ombudsman considered that to be a satisfactory resolution of the complaint and called for no further action other than to be informed of the results of its review.
Date Published: 09/09/09
are in .pdf format. To view these files you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. It can be downloaded below free of charge. Click To Download