A South London council has been forced to pay £550 to a mum it wrongly suggested was racist after she asked for a different social worker for her disabled son.

Lewisham Council has agreed to write a letter of apology to the woman.

A report by the local authority implied without evidence that the reasons she wanted a change of social worker were racist. 

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman – a body that investigates complaints about local authorities – ordered the council to say sorry to the mum and acknowledge it had no proof to justify the comments. 

Lewisham must also apologise to the woman – known as Mrs X – for blaming her in internal communications for not encouraging her son to leave the house. 

The Ombudsman report says: “A Council report suggested, without evidence, that Mrs X’s reasons for wanting a change in social worker were racist.

“The Council has agreed to write a letter of apology acknowledging that it holds no evidence to justify the comments above.”

It continues: “The Council has agreed that within one month of my final decision it will write to Mrs X to apologise for recording negative assertions about her (including allegations of perceived racism and failure to encourage her son to leave the house) without evidence.”

Mrs X’s row with Lewisham began after the local authority delayed a Child and Family Assessment [CFA] – an evaluation used to determine the level of support an individual needs. 

She said the hold-up in the assessment meant she was unable to appeal when the council withdrew 10 hours of respite care from her son, known as B.

The family faced a further six-month delay in receiving an SEN personal budget from the council – extra money that is provided to meet a child’s support needs. 

Mrs X said the hold-up in the funds caused one of her son’s placements to break down.

Lewisham Council investigated 15 of Mrs X’s complaints but it took two and a half years for the grievances to reach the final stages of investigation. 

The local authority initially offered Mrs X £150 for its delays in providing the support assessment and dealing with her complaints. The Ombudsman said this payment was insufficient. 

It ordered Lewisham to pay an additional £50 to the woman for poor complaints handling, an extra £100 for the delay in providing the CFA assessment and £200 for the hold-up in the personal budget.

An additional £200 must be paid by the council to Mrs X for additional faults uncovered in the Ombudsman investigation. 

Lewisham Council said: “The Council has accepted the findings and recommendations of the LGSCO [Local Government and Social Care Ombdusman], which recognised the remedies already offered and improvements made by the Council following its own internal investigation between 2018 and 2020.

“The Council has made a further detailed apology to the complainant following the LGSCO decision, and financial remedy has been issued. We are naturally sorry for the distress caused to this family.”

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