A man with learning difficulties was filmed eating out of a bin after being neglected by care home staff, an investigation has found.
Workers were also caught sleeping on the job and ignoring the vulnerable 23-year-old after his concerned mum placed a camera in his room. The ITV News investigation said the man, Connor, lives with bipolar disorder and autism caused by a rare genetic condition.
He was living in a residential home in Coventry run by Lifeways, the UK’s largest provider of supported living for adults with learning difficulties, caring for around 4,000 people.
Although it is a private company, it makes the majority of its money from taxpayer-funded care contracts with local councils. Last year’s revenue was £295million. The company charges the local council £4,700-a-week for Connor’s one-to-one, 24-hour care.
But Connor’s mum, Lindsay, claims she became concerned after he went missing from the home and was found almost a mile away. She told ITV News Investigations Editor Daniel Hewitt: “We could tell something was off. He would abscond saying he didn’t want to go back. He’s put on a lot of weight, he’s almost 20 stone now and he probably went in at around 13-14 stone.”
Within days of placing the camera in his room, she caught him eating out of a bin for almost an hour, without a carer in sight. Even though he is not meant to be left unsupervised, the camera also catches staff repeatedly asleep on the job. Connor is filmed waking them up saying “wakey wakey”.
Lindsay said: “I felt sick to my stomach. He is one-to-one care for a reason. That’s my child; the staff should be there looking after him.
“They’d mock him and they’d vape next to him. Shouting in his face, every day was neglect, every shift was neglect. That was Connor’s normality, but we just didn’t know it.
“He can’t help having to live there and I don’t want him to have to live there, but he has to. I actually thought I could die happy, I know that sounds silly, but I knew he’d be ok, but now I just think if anything happened to me, what’s going to happen to him?”
ITV News also spoke to Steven, an adult with Downs Syndrome from North London, who spent eight years living in a Lifeways home. His dad, John, removed him from the home after becoming alarmed by his decline and lack of care.
John said: “He was putting on enormous amounts of weight, getting fatter and fatter, unhappy. He was staying in bed, he wasn’t getting up, the whole flat was just filthy dirty, rotting food, hands that hadn’t been washed, there was a lack of soap for him to wash.”
On a visit to the home in 2019 John saw that his son’s foot had turned black – but left untreated. He said: “I was absolutely shocked, I called the hospital staff and they were shocked as well. I really was horrified because it looked like he could lose a foot. At Lifeways nobody thought to remark on it. That’s the biggest worry for a parent from the time your child is born, like Steven. What will happen when I’m not here to do it?”
Since 2016, Lifeways has received £1.5billion of public money. In 2024 Care Quality Commission reports found 63% of their services were inadequate or required improvement. ITV News also spoke to several former managers or staff at Lifeways, who alleged there was a lack of basic training and unsafe staffing levels.
One said: “They don’t care about their safety or their wellbeing, as long as that money comes in.” She said if the money coming in had reached the staff they would have been able to give people “a much better quality of life”.
“The people that we support and some of the staff are really, really good people, and I hate the fact that I left because I fell I can’t protect them like I used to.”
A spokesman for Lifeways said: “Regrettably, we cannot talk about the individual people we support and have supported, other than to say that we are truly sorry when anyone feels we have let them down. We have apologised to the people and the families concerned.
“Lifeways came under new ownership and leadership in 2023, with stronger governance and investment in front-line pay, plus over £10m in training, buildings and systems that improved quality: 85% of Lifeways’ Group’s regulated services are rated Good or compliant and our support has won awards in 2024.
“We support 4,000 people and employ 10,000 across the UK. Unacceptable behaviour is, thankfully, extremely rare and we have zero-tolerance of it. We are sorry when it happens, because it causes pain for people we support and their families, but we have strong checks in place to expose such behaviour and we tackle it swiftly and strongly.
“Our systems give us certainty that we deliver the right number of support hours, that our staff are appropriately trained, and alert us quickly to safeguarding incidents. We conduct legal checks on staff before they join and deliver thorough induction, including all required training.
“Our systems and processes work very well but all providers place some reliance upon whistleblowing. We encourage team members and families to report, and this reassuringly increases reported safeguarding concerns. Under-reporting is the enemy of safety.
“We are proud that the vast majority of our 10,000 colleagues – in fact all care workers – live the right values. Care is a vocation. At this time, we need to attract more good people to come and work in social care, inspired by positive stories. We must not let the actions of a few tarnish a sector that does so much good.”
The full ITV News investigation will air on ITV News at 18:30 on ITV1 and is available on ITVX.
