Autism charity escapes prosecution over care home bullying

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A charity that ran a care home where autistic people were taunted, bullied and humiliated by staff has escaped prosecution over its failings.

The National Autistic Society has agreed to pay a £4,000 fixed penalty notice instead of facing a potential prosecution over Mendip House in Somerset.

In another incident highlighted in the report, a staff member is said to have put a ribbon around a resident’s neck and ridden him “like a horse”.

A review by the Somerset Safeguarding Adults Board (SSAB) said parallels had been drawn to the case of Winterbourne View, the private hospital near Bristol where people with severe learning difficulties were abused.

Mendip House was closed down and the residents, some of whom had lived there for many years, were found new placements. Staff were disciplined and the police investigated but nobody was charged and it was left to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to decide what, if any, further action should be taken.

Stephen Chandler, director of adult services at Somerset council, expressed surprise at the size of the fine. He said: “For me it is surprisingly low given the level of failure that occurred at Mendip House and what a sum such as that means for anyone as big as NAS – £4,000 is the cost of what NAS would be paid for a week or two caring for a person with specialist needs.”

Mark Lever, chief executive of the NAS, apologised again for what happened at Mendip House. He said: “Among the mistreatment uncovered at that time, it was identified that some members of staff had made the people they supported pay for staff meals while on trips out. This was wrong and should not have been allowed to happen. We reimbursed the money in full in June 2016

If they only had to pay a fine it should have been much more.