💁‍♀️ On the Institutional Failure to Recognise Disability Harm: A Case Study in Bureaucratic Callousness

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ON THE INSTITUTIONALISED FAILURE TO RECOGNISE DISABILITY HARM: A CASE STUDY IN SOCIAL WORK INEPTITUDE

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17 January 2025

A Formal Reflection on Correspondence with Ms. Kristen House

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The Context

It is with both gravity and weary inevitability that I place before the public record the following lamentable exchange — a demonstration, if any further were needed, of the systemic incapacity within certain child safeguarding authorities to comprehend, prevent, or take responsibility for the very harm they so loudly profess to oppose.

The correspondence, originating from Ms. Kristan House of Westminster City Council, responds to my desperate and explicit warnings regarding the medical and existential danger posed to me by persistent harassment.

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The Exchange

Sent: 14 January 2025
From: Polly Chromatic (pollychromatic@me.com)
Subject: You Will Cause My Death with All Your Harassment of Me

"You're probably going to cause my death as you continue to exacerbate my asthma with hostile behaviour and disrespecting my boundaries ... if the judge threatens me again, I'm going to make a police report against her.
When you cause my death, all the evidence is here."

Link to Evidence Provided:
https://youtu.be/b_CL0cfe06w?si=O2eumSiUzvxmNayx

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Response: 15 January 2025
From: Kirsty Hornal (khornal@westminster.gov.uk)
Subject: RE: You Will Cause My Death with All Your Harassment of Me

_"Hi,
I am afraid that link is not working, are you able to resend?

What happened with the judge? I am guessing you have been in court over the past few days as you are speaking about threats from the judge. What was the outcome?

I also note other emails about panic attacks? I really hope you are ok and that you feel you can reach out to Dr. Reid about these issues.

Thank you Noelle

Kristen"_

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❖ ANALYSIS: ON THE FAILURE TO RECOGNISE CRY OF DISTRESS

It is difficult to overstate the extraordinary inadequacy of this response.

In the face of a direct declaration that ongoing harassment is contributing to my respiratory deterioration and placing my life at risk — accompanied by clear evidence — Ms. Hornal's chosen approach is threefold:
— Dismiss the urgent evidence by complaining the link is "not working";
— Gossip idly about court outcomes;
— Refer me back, with breathtaking negligence, to a general practitioner.

No acceptance of responsibility.
No urgent safeguarding response.
No reasonable adjustment.
No procedural reflection.

One might almost admire the unwavering mediocrity — were it not so dangerously unfit for purpose.

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❖ ON THE LEGAL BREACHES INVOLVED

The conduct documented herein constitutes:
— A violation of Section 20 of the Equality Act 2010 (failure to provide reasonable adjustments);
— A violation of Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (failure to have due regard to disability-related harm);
— An interference with Article 8 rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 (right to private and family life and to physical and psychological integrity).

It also, quite plainly, constitutes a catastrophic ethical failure on the part of a registered social work practitioner.

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Yours, with grave concern and unwavering procedural fidelity,
Polly Chromatic
M.A., Human Development (Social Justice)
pollychromatic@me.com

Supporting Documentation:
Google Drive Archive Link

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🦚 Formal Complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman – Concerning Prolonged Negligence, Discrimination, and Dereliction of Duty by Westminster and RBKC Authorities

Filed under the documentation of systemic abdication, legislative breach, and the institutional choreography of studied indifference.

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10 March 2025
To:
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) Complaints Team
PO Box 4771, Coventry, CV4 0EH

Subject: Formal Complaint – Prolonged Negligence, Discrimination, and Dereliction of Duty by Westminster and RBKC Authorities

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📜 Dear Sir or Madam,

I write to submit a formal complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO) concerning the sustained, systemic failure of statutory duty by:

• Westminster City Council; and

• The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC).

This complaint is not born of isolated missteps,

but the cumulative consequence of institutionalised inertia, legislative breach, and administrative evasion.

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📚 1. Summary of Local Authority Failings – A Catalogue of Institutional Shrugs

The failures herein described are not abstract.
They have materially impacted:

• My health;

• My finances;

• My safety;

• And my basic dignity.

Specifically:

• Social Services (Westminster and RBKC) engaged in discriminatory interventions, wilfully disregarding my documented disabilities, and failing to meet their legal obligations to provide reasonable adjustments.

• RBKC Environmental Health neglected to act upon explicit reports of toxic sewer gas exposure in my former residence, endangering myself and my children.

• Westminster City Council demonstrated a pattern of inaction, leaving qualifying conditions under the Equality Act 2010 unaddressed.

This was not isolated error.
It was governance by strategic neglect.

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📜 2. Legal Breaches – Decorated in Policy, Deficient in Practice

The conduct of these local authorities constitutes direct breaches of:

• The Local Government Act 1974 – Mandating the fair and timely handling of public complaints;

• The Equality Act 2010 (Section 20) – Requiring public bodies to implement reasonable adjustments for disabled individuals;

• The Housing Act 2004 – Obliging councils to address serious hazards impacting health and wellbeing.

At every juncture:

Obligation was shelved; policy became performance; and duty was displaced onto the vulnerable.

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📚 3. Consequences of Negligence – Damage Dressed in Delay

As a direct and foreseeable result of these failures, I have suffered:

• Severe, avoidable health deterioration due to prolonged environmental exposure;

• Intrusive, medically harmful social work interventions, ignoring established medical requirements for communication adaptations;

• Financial hardship, after being forced to relocate from unsafe housing without compensation, assistance, or acknowledgment.

When protection became inconvenient, the burden was simply transferred — to me and my children.

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📜 4. Actions Requested of the LGO – A Modest Proposal for Redress and Reform

Accordingly, I respectfully request that the Ombudsman:

1. Initiate a full investigation into systemic failures by RBKC and Westminster City Council across Social Services and Environmental Health.

2. Mandate corrective action, including the review of safeguarding and housing procedures for disabled service users.

3. Require the implementation of disability awareness training across all relevant departments, to counteract persistent breaches of the Equality Act 2010.

4. Recommend redress, including financial compensation, where hardship and harm have been demonstrably caused by council negligence.

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📬 5. Next Steps – Timeframes and Intentions

I request:

• A written acknowledgment of receipt;

• A timeline detailing how this complaint will be processed,

• Within 28 days.

Should a satisfactory resolution not be achieved,
I reserve the right to pursue formal legal action for:

• Breaches of the Equality Act 2010;

• Local authority negligence;

• Failure to uphold statutory duties under housing and social care legislation.

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Kindly confirm receipt and advise which supporting documentation is required to advance this complaint.

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📜 Yours,

With due formality and an ever-expanding archive of receipts,
Polly

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🦚 Formal Complaint – A Catalogue of Failures by RBKC Social Services in Relation to Support, Conduct, and Compliance

Filed under the documented decline of statutory integrity and the professionalisation of procedural evasion.

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11 March 2025
To:
The Complaints Team
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea – Social Services
Subject: Formal Complaint – A Catalogue of Failures by RBKC Social Services in Relation to Support, Conduct, and Compliance

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🧾 Dear Complaints Team,

It is with a sense of cultivated restraint — and only the faintest tremor of disbelief — that I submit this formal complaint concerning the conduct, management, and decisions undertaken by RBKC Social Services in relation to my case.

The sheer breadth of incompetence on display warrants not only investigation, but perhaps a departmental review of the word “service” itself.

These concerns, while extensive, are not exaggerated.
Taken individually, they may appear regrettable.
Taken together, they comprise a systemic portrait of dysfunction, legislative disregard, and institutional malaise, dressed, as ever, in the polite tones of public service.

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📚 I. Nature of the Complaint: A Grand Tour of Maladministration

Category	Description
1. Absence of Meaningful Support	Despite well-documented requests, I have received no appropriate support. The inaction is so consistent, it reads as internal policy.
2. Procedural Improvisation Masquerading as Practice	Timelines ignored. Duties skirted. Responses, when they arrive, come with all the urgency of a holiday postcard from a disinterested relative.
3. Opacity as Standard Operating Procedure	Decisions vanish into bureaucratic fog. Information is withheld, requests misfiled, and clarity discouraged at every turn.
4. Discrimination and Harassment, Cloaked in Institutional Nicety	As a disabled woman of colour, I have faced dismissiveness, microaggressions, and procedural hostility — all in violation of the Equality Act 2010 and basic ethics.
5. Coercion Posed as Guidance	I have been pressured under the guise of support, with actions that endangered autonomy and my family’s wellbeing.
6. Dereliction of Statutory Duty	Both through action and omission, RBKC has failed to meet its legal obligations, resulting in prolonged distress and unnecessary hardship.

This is not isolated error.
It is structured neglect.

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🩻 II. Requested Actions: Bare Minimums in Velvet Gloves

I respectfully request:

1. A full internal review of my case, including a documented timeline and named accountability;

2. A point-by-point written response, addressing each element of this complaint;

3. A commitment to improve communication standards, especially for disabled and minoritised service users;

4. The immediate release of all case records, internal communications, and decision-making documentsconcerning my family.

Not luxuries. Just the law, dusted off and applied.

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📜 III. Escalation Pathways (Should Familiar Silence Resume)

Should your office fail to respond with the seriousness this complaint merits, I will escalate promptly to:

• The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman;

• The Equality and Human Rights Commission, where appropriate;

• Legal proceedings under anti-discrimination law.

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✉️ A Note on Communication

Please provide:

• A formal acknowledgement of this complaint;

• A clear response timeline;

• All correspondence via email, which is both medically necessary and — as demonstrated — the only reliably recorded channel.

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📜 Yours,

In grim bureaucratic déjà vu,
Polly

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