Bucks Council forced to pay compensation to autistic woman

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has criticised the local authority for failing to appropriately plan for her transition from children to adult care services and to support her to stay with her foster family until she was 25 on a staying put arrangement it had previously agreed.

An investigation by the Ombudsman has led to Buckighamshire Council being forced to pay out £1,000 in compensation.

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A complaint was raised by Miss X that between 2017 and June of this year, the council had not put robust planning in place to ensure her transition from children’s services to adult services was smooth, well managed and met her needs.

Miss X has autism spectrum disorder, learning disabilities, physical disabilities and medical issues including a condition that will get progressively worse.

In 2017 Miss X was 16 and she lived with her foster parents. When Miss X was a young child, the Council obtained a care order for her and placed her with foster carers Mr and Mrs T. Mr and Mrs T lived in a different Council area.

The Council had parental responsibility for Miss X and, as the placing authority it was responsible for meeting her assessed needs.

Miss X had an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan for her educational needs which Council Q maintained and funded. 

In November the Council decided Miss X could not access the staying put provision because it would stop her accessing adult social care services provided by Council Q. It said Mr and Mrs T could become shared lives carers for Miss X. It decided it would refer Miss X to Council Q’s transition team.

The aim of the ‘staying put’ guidance is to ensure young people can stay with their foster carers, even after they turn 18.

The Council’s staying put policy says arrangements will usually continue until the young person is 21. If there are ‘compelling individual circumstances’ it has the discretion to agree further arrangements until the young person is 25.

Following this case, the LGO found there was fault in the way the Council considered a staying put arrangement for Miss X. 

In April 2020 the Council wrote to Miss X, by this time she was 19. It told her that she had moved from children’s to adult social care and it was responsible for funding her care.

Bucks council said that it could not offer her direct payments. It said a staying put arrangement was not suitable for her needs. Mrs T contacted the Council and said that she could not afford for Miss X to continue living with her without some form of financial payment.

Due to the distress and frustration this caused Miss X, the council was ordered to pay £1,000 in compensation to recognise the impact of the faults since November 2018.

The council has also been forced to reconsider Miss X’s request to remain with her foster parents on a staying put arrangement until she is 25 and remains in education, in line with the guidance and its own policy. 

Anita Cranmer, Buckinghamshire Council’s cabinet member for education and children’s services said: “We acknowledge the faults identified within the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman decision for Miss X and we are sorry for the distress caused to Miss X and her family.

"Buckinghamshire Council has made a payment to Miss X in line with the Ombudsman’s decision, and has apologised to Miss X and her family for the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused to them by the faults identified during the investigation.

"We are taking action to address the other recommendations made by the Ombudsman  within the agreed timescale. Our Social Care teams have learned from Miss X’s experiences, and are currently reviewing their processes to avoid this situation happening again to other young people.”