Client J approached Farleys Solicitors in early 2022 to explore the possibility of a claim against Surrey County Council following alleged failings during childhood.
Background
Client J had initially been brought up by her parents but taken into the care of the Local Authority when she was 7 years of age.
She was initially placed with foster carers. Instead of receiving good reparative parenting she was neglected and physically abused by the foster carers over a four-year period. She made repeated complaints about the treatment she received before eventually being removed and put into residential care. Thereafter the claimant alleged further failings on the part of the Local Authority. She suffered child sexual exploitation and contended that a reasonable and competent Local Authority would have acted to prevent this.
How Farleys Were Able to Help
Jonathan Bridge, Head of the Abuse Department at Farleys, took on the case and a letter of claim was forwarded to the Local Authority. Educational records and GP records were obtained alongside social services records which were reviewed by our specialist team.
The records were found to support the claimant’s contentions and a detailed letter of claim was forwarded to the defendant.
Without any admission of liability, the defendant initially put forward an offer of £25,000. Fortunately, in this case, the claimant had no ongoing psychiatric issues as a result of the terrible childhood experiences that she had endured. She was also able to work and the claim was therefore limited.
Further negotiations were entered into with the defendants and settlement was eventually agreed. As a result, the claimant received £35,000 in damages.
This was one of the quickest cases of this nature that Farleys have dealt with. Farleys deal with a high volume of claims involving failings by Local Authorities particularly for children in care. These claims often take many years to resolve. In this particular case the matter was successfully concluded within 9 months of initial instructions being received.
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