Wokingham Borough Council has been fined £3,000 for its treatment of a woman suffering with severe mental health problems.
An investigation by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) found the authority to have left the woman who couldn’t complete daily activities or access work and public services, without support for more than a year.
Referred to as Mrs X, the woman first contacted the council in August 2022 asking for an assessment of her social care needs, saying she had neurodivergences, mental and physical health issues.
Councils have the legal responsibility to provide a care and support plan for those needing care, which should consider their needs, what they want to achieve and what they can do by themselves. These are usually completed within four to six weeks. Once this plan is in place, a council will provide the support necessary.
Mrs X said she struggled with daily tasks including shopping, making meals, maintaining her home, and meeting family and friends.
WBC contacted her weeks later and confirmed its mental health team would complete the assessment by October.
In February 2023, Mrs X contacted the council claiming to have not heard anything about the assessment.
A mental health officer then promised to arrange support for finances, debt, and housing, before Mrs X was admitted to hospital after suffering from a mental health crisis. She then contacted the council again to ask for progress on the plan upon her discharge, in March 2023. An officer called her and told her that the assessment had been completed but that they had forgotten to process it.
Eventually, an assessment was complete – eight months after Mrs X’s original request – in May. It detailed how she was unable to manage her day-to-day living, access work or education, and use public services.
By November 2023, the council had her care provisions in place, more than a year past her original application.
The watchdog said that the delay had a ‘detrimental impact on her mental health’, and Mrs X lost out on five months of care when her needs had already been identified.
Because the mental health unit is a commissioned service by the council, there was a lack of communication, the report found.
Case recording was deemed ‘poor’ by the LGO for lacking sufficient detail and having ‘significant gaps’ and some information missing, which contributed to the delays.
WBC agreed to pay Mrs X a total of £3,000 for the avoidable frustration, uncertainty, and distress caused. The authority also said it would make improvements to ensure that similar failures do not take place in the future.
