Parents claim Lancashire County Council has "lied to and let down" severely disabled daughter over accommodation

Chelsea Pettitt, 22, was born at 24 weeks, and lives with total cerebral palsy, meaning she struggles with mobility and speech.

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Since taking up a residential placement at the National Star College in Cheltenham, her parents Alison and Barbara Pettitt from Leyland say she has flourised, but despite their best efforts, she could be left living in a care home when her course finishes in July.

They claim that LCC’s promised supported living arrangements have failed to materialise, and they are struggling to speak to anyone about the situation.

Chelsea's story

After leaving Sir Tom Finney Community High School aged 19, Chelsea landed a place at the prestigious National Star College, where she has taken life studies and has been elected as Student Union president.

"We're really incredibly proud of her", said Alison.

"She is absolutely full of life and has achieved so much - more than we really thought possible. She is an iconic figure, a role model for other disabled students.

"There's never a day she doesn't want to get out of bed, and she takes every day by storm."

Her college place has been funded by LCC, which has conducted regular reviews with Chelsea throughout her life.

Knowing that provisions would have to be made for accommodation upon the course finishing, Alison and Barbara began discussions with LCC over supported living in an adapted building in January 2022, and say they were told several times that her package of needs would be put out to procurement.

Alison said: "It will take three months, they kept saying. We were happy with that, and expected action stations."

But a year later, they say LCC "dropped a bombshell" that instead, she would likely have to go into a care home for 12-18 months while a purpose-built site was created.

"They said that they'd put it out and nobody was interested,", said Alison. "We were gob-smacked and devastated."

She added: "They said they'll have to build something brand new and it would take 12-18 months, during which time she'd have to go into a residental care home. She was told to treat it ‘like a holiday’.

"A holiday from what? From the life she's ready to lead? How patronising."

She added: "It's very clear she doesn't want to come home, why would she?

"Her independence has been hard-won. Every little thing is an achievement. And a residential care home isn't what she needs. Why show her this life and then snatch it away?"

Alison and Barbara also question how thorough the procurement process has been.

They say they have tried emailing and calling LCC 15 times in the past week to discuss the issue, but have not been able to get through, or have not had an email response and are now feeling desperate.

Chelsea said she had been upset by the uncertainty.

She said: "We should be standing up for ourselves and not sitting back. "The council could find themselves in our position one day."

Lancashire County Council has been asked for a comment.