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Southend-on-Sea Borough Council (04A10159)

Adult care services                      Maladministration causing injustice

01 September 2005

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council agreed to pay £35,000 compensation to a family, on the recommendation of the Local Government Ombudsman, due to the severe impact on their lives of inappropriate placements for a young adult with Down’s Syndrome. The two years of failed care included eight months in a secure psychiatric unit even though he did not have any mental health needs.

Mr and Mrs Smith’s 22-year-old son, James Smith (their real names are not used for legal reasons)  had Down’s Syndrome, autistic traits and very little verbal communication. He left residential college in 2003. Mr and Mrs Smith complained that, despite the council spending months before that carrying out a thorough assessment of their son and preparing a care plan, it failed to arrange a residential placement for him that met his assessed needs. As a result of an unsuitable placement, his behaviour deteriorated dramatically and he became a danger to himself and to others.

Although his behaviour was not caused by mental health problems, the Council moved James Smith to a secure psychiatric unit, without his parents’ consent, where he was detained for eight months. While the council argued with the NHS over responsibility for his provision, James Smith was left without access to day care or suitable activities, and became so distressed that he had to be sedated with drugs.

James Smith’s parents, who adopted him as a baby, are a retired couple with their own health problems. The report states that they felt it necessary to complain to the Ombudsman “not only for (James’s) sake, who cannot read, write or speak, but also for the other folk ‘in the system’ who have no-one to speak out on their behalf.”

Following the intervention of a new Director of Social Services, James Smith has moved to an appropriate placement, where he is now thriving.

The Ombudsman said: “One wonders what might have happened to James Smith had he not had two devoted parents pursuing the Council on his behalf. Individual members of staff have done their best to find the right placement for James Smith, only to be thwarted.”

The Ombudsman concluded that the Council failed in its duties to the young adult and his parents, and the whole family suffered terribly as a result over a period of two years. He found maladministration causing injustice and recommended that the Council should:

  • pay Mr and Mrs Smith compensation of £10,000;
  • pay Mr and Mrs Smith compensation of £25,000 to be administered by them for their son’s benefit; and
  • review its procedures for placements in the independent sector, to ensure cost consideration does not lead to decisions that fail to meet assessed needs.

Date Published: 20/04/09