A young woman with a life-limiting illness was let down by Croydon Council’s social services, an independent body has ruled.

The council has since paid out a total of £11,000 and apologised for the mistakes it made.

Last week the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman published a report that found the council was at fault in the case of an 18-year-old, referred to only as Miss Y.

The mistakes occurred around the same period that Croydon Council’s children’s services department was rated inadequate by Ofsted.

It was placed in special measures in September 2017 and has been subject to a series of monitoring visits to track progress. The final one took place in October where inspectors found that after a slow start the department has been ‘sustained and continuing’ progress.

Miss Y has a life-limiting illness, learning difficulties and other health conditions including severe epilepsy. She lives at home and is cared for by carers named only as Mr and Mrs X.

The problems started in 2017 when the council had not prepared for Miss Y to transition to adulthood.

An education health care plan (EHCP) is a legal document that outlines the special educational needs of a young person. Guidance says for young people who have an EHCP, preparation for adulthood should start in Year 9.

In June 2017, the council carried out a child needs assessment but the young woman turned 18 before it was completed.

In the case of Miss Y, the council should have considered her transition before she turned 18 and issued an amended EHCP, but it failed to do this.

The ombudsman ruled that Croydon Council did not consider when would be the right time for Miss Y to transition from children to adult services.

The report said: “A more significant issue is, the council failed to complete the support planning for Miss Y and provide a care package to meet her needs following [a social worker’s] assessment.

“The Council also failed to provide an adequate support plan for Miss Y for the summer holidays in 2018. This is a fault.”

It was also at fault for not carrying out carers’ assessments for Mr and Mrs X. These were only completed when the council was contacted by the Ombudsman.

And the Ombudsman found that Mr and Mrs X suffered a “significant injustice” when Miss Y’s care package remained at 13 hours-a-week from November 2017 until January 2019.

She received a significantly increased care package at this point, but for more than a year Mr and Mrs X did not have enough support to care for her. They also did not receive enough respite.

In May 2018 it was reported to the council that Miss Y’s direct payments for carers had not been paid for two months.

While the council did pay the direct debit again on May 18, 2018 it had already caused Mrs X to be fined by HMRC.

It said that the stoppage was due to its children’s and adult’s direct payments not being aligned.

What has Croydon Council done since?

The report from the Ombudsman advised that Croydon Council should issue an apology which acknowledges the fact that failure to issue a final EHCP caused the family distress and uncertainty.

It has since apologised and paid Miss Y £,1000 and Mr and Mrs X £10,000 for the distress caused.

A council spokesperson said: “In this case we did not meet the high standards of service that we would want to offer all of our young people and their families. We have apologised, and very much regret the distress and inconvenience this has caused.

“We have changed the way we work with young people with an EHCP plan and their families, to ensure we plan effectively for their transition from childhood to adulthood, and that teams in social care are working effectively with partners in health and education.”