Staffordshire County Council (05/B/10487)

Children and family services     Maladministration causing injustice

14 December 2006

Staffordshire County Council failed to stop the bullying of a looked-after child in a residential unit, and then mishandled his complaints about it. The Ombudsman recommended the Council to apologise to the young man and pay him £3,000, as well as reinforcing to its front line residential staff the importance of following the designated complaints procedure.

‘Ed Adair’ (not his real name for legal reasons) was 19 years old. He had been a child looked after by the Council in its Hill House Residential Unit, which he considered to be his home. In 2004, after two new residents moved in, he suffered about four months of verbal and physical bullying that left him afraid and isolated. He was assaulted, abused, and his possessions were taken. A situation had been allowed to develop that posed a real risk to staff and residents. Ed Adair’s keyworker said at interview that she was afraid that there could be a death at the Unit.

Ed Adair made several complaints to the Council, but the Council did not handle them properly. The Ombudsman found that there had been significant failures in following the statutory complaints process and that it had failed to take effective action to prevent bullying within Hill House.

“Undoubtedly, the Council let him down badly,” said the Ombudsman. “Ed Adair’s experience was the stuff of nightmares, not knowing whether someone would assault him, abuse him, take his possessions or break into his room while he was asleep. For four months he lived with this anxiety and little was done to help him. The failures in dealing with his complaints and the delay meeting with him meant that the situation persisted for longer than it should have. It confirmed Ed Adair’s belief that no-one really listened and that nothing would change.”

The Ombudsman found maladministration causing injustice and the Council agreed to:

• apologise again to Ed Adair;
• pay him £3,000; and
• reinforce the importance for front-line residential staff of following the designated complaints procedure.
   

Date Published: 03/02/09