Fine for Luton council after fly infestation at blind man's home

A plague of flies caused distress for a blind Luton resident because the borough council failed to deal properly with his social care, according to a local government watchdog.

The local authority took no action over the fly infestation at his property, and has agreed to pay him £500, after he complained.

“LBC has said it will apologise, refund him any excess payments and support him to employ another personal assistant,” said a local government and social care ombudsman report.

“The council fully upheld his complaint and confirmed there’s a waiting list for reviewing support to other service users.

“The complainant said he paid care contributions without receiving a service, that the council didn’t take action about the fly infestation, and his calls weren’t responded to in February 2023.

“He said he lost out financially, was left isolated, suffered psychiatric problems and hadn’t received care and support. He also missed family events and hospital appointments, causing him pain and distress for longer than necessary.”

His personal assistant was paid by direct payments from the council and client contributions from himself. When the assistant left in May 2021, he continued paying his contributions to the council until May 2023, but received no care support from May 2021.

“He completed assessments with the council in February 2022 and a year later, in which the absence of carer support was acknowledged,” explained the report.

“LBC responded in March 2023, fully upholding his complaint. There were delays in adult social care providing the support to find a new personal assistant.

“The council acknowledged It would be clear from the assessment that without support of an assistant it would be difficult to maintain a habitable home, complete household and shopping tasks, and attend medical appointments.

“LBC said it would ensure the complainant was reimbursed for any overpaid charges and apologised because he was unable to attend hospital appointments.

“It also regretted not raising his concerns in February 2023 as a formal complaint and that this caused him further distress.

“He’s now received help from LBC’s sensory services team and has been supported to employ another assistant, but I don’t consider the remedy offered by the council to be satisfactory,” added the ombudsman.

“An apology is insufficient for the avoidable distress resulting from the delay in assessing and meeting his identified needs.

“To remedy the outstanding injustice from the fault I’ve identified, within four weeks LBC has agreed to apologise to him and confirm he’s been refunded of all his excess contributions paid.

“It will pay him £500 for his avoidable distress caused by the delay in assessing and meeting those identified needs, and provide a report to the ombudsman showing the progress made in reducing the waiting list.

“This includes what criteria has been used to prioritise dealing with this list, the number of people and how long they have been on it, and the extent of any progress made to reduce its length.”