A WORCESTERSHIRE child with significant and complex needs had to live in an unsuitable home for far longer than necessary the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
The child and their family had been living in a home that did not meet their needs. Bromsgrove District Council accepted the family was therefore homeless and a property was found that could be adapted.
However, a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s investigation has found work to adapt the property took longer than it should have done to complete.
The home also needed significant further alterations because those that were done did not meet the child’s needs. Because of this, the child had to spend six weeks in respite care away from their family while the extra changes were made.
At the time the events took place, Bromsgrove District Council was the housing authority and a Worcestershire County Council-owned company called Worcestershire Children First delivered services for children in Worcestershire.
The catalogue of issues with the work, which was funded by the district and county councils, and the NHS, included a bedroom that was too small to accommodate access all the way around the child’s hospital bed, limited space for equipment and a failure to consider the child would need a bigger bed as they grew.
And garden adaptations meant the child could only access a small patio, which was too small for their wheelchair to turn on as the rest of the garden was only accessible by steps.
Amerdeep Somal, from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “The councils focused too much on achieving adaptations that would fit within permitted development rights, rather than on providing a home that was suitable for the child’s needs. Because of this the child and their family spent far too long living in a place that was fundamentally not good enough.
“The councils did not include the mother in key discussions, and did not ensure she fully understood what was happening, and it’s certainly possible that the councils have now spent significantly more on changing the property following the initial works than they would have done had they got it right in the first place.”
The district council has agreed to pay the mother £2,000 and will be reviewing its procedures to ensure it communicates effectively with applicants.
Worcestershire county council has agreed to pay £4,000 and will now produce a policy to require its occupational therapists to involve an applicant as early as possible in the adaptations.
In addition, both councils will share refunding the cost the mother paid for her private occupational therapy and architect reports, and will also pay £500 each to acknowledge the direct impact on the child of their failings.
A joint statement from Bromsgrove District Council and Worcestershire County Council said: “We have wholeheartedly apologised for our failure to ensure that the new home proposed for their family was properly adapted to meet their needs.
“We recognise that there were missed opportunities to address the concerns more promptly, and we understand the negative impact this had on their family while the issues were being resolved.
“We are committed to learning from this experience and will implement policy changes across both councils to improve communication between applicants and those involved in the housing adaptation process.”
