Council failed over duty to save care home - report

Brambletye care home closed in 2023

A council should have done more to prevent the closure of a care home for people with learning disabilities, an investigation has found.

Wokingham Borough Council in Berkshire did not "properly consider its preventative duties", the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) said.

A woman who lived at the home - Brambletye in Finchampstead - for more than 16 years suffered "distress and anxiety" from the closure and problems with her relocation, the ombudsman reported.

The authority said it had made improvements and had apologised to those affected.

The care home operator decided in August 2022 to close the five-bed home because it was running at a loss, the LGO said.

The council could have given the operator money or staff to keep going, according to the report.

However, what intervention it considered is unclear, the ombudsman found.

The council did not hold formal meetings in the two months after the operator's decision, the LGO said.

Wokingham Borough Council failed to hold meetings after the closure was announced, the report said

The report said: "The council says this was because of the difficulty of getting relevant people to attend meetings. This is not in line with the [council's] protocol and is concerning."

It continued: "The council should have considered whether under its preventative duties it should have done more to prevent the closure of B and properly recorded the outcome of its decision-making."

The authority was also at fault for delaying telling residents and for failing to properly manage the woman's move to a new care home that met her needs, the LGO said.

It added: "Because of these failures Ms C [the woman concerned] will have to move again and the council’s actions have caused her and her family anxiety, distress, and frustration.

"The faults I have identified had a huge impact on Ms C and it has taken her some time to settle."

The LGO ordered the council to pay the family £2,000 for their distress.

In a statement, Wokingham Borough Council said: "We recognise that any changes to care provision can be a difficult time for the individuals and families concerned and have apologised to those impacted.

"We have listened to the feedback from families and the ombudsman and have already taken action to strengthen our procedures and improve our communications with those who may be affected by similar decisions in the future."