The family of a Minster woman with a rare chromosome disorder has won a two-year fight for care she is entitled to.

Jo Brownlie is believed to be one of 100 people in the world to suffer from a particular form of Ring 22 syndrome, which causes learning disabilities.

A report by the Local Government Ombudsman found Kent County Council (KCC) failed to provide for the care it had determined the 20-year-old needed.

The council has agreed to pay £4,240 compensation and an additional £250 to mum, Dorothy Brownlie for her work.

The Bellflower Avenue, Minster, resident said: “It has been an absolute nightmare. We have had a massive file of letters and emails back and forth.

“Basically they just kept saying, ‘no you can’t take it back,’ and the funding was getting reduced and reduced and reduced. Before long, she was getting nothing at one point.”

The 47-year-old foster carer took the matter to the local government ombudsman in December 2010.

The report found KCC should have assessed Miss Brownlie’s needs when she was 17 and a half, but did not until four months after her 18th birthday.

It also criticised that a plan for her requirements, which include socialising, developing independence, keeping motivated and learning new skills, was not produced for another four months.

When the plan was made, it did not cater for some of the needs she was eligible for. When her mother questioned it, KCC said it would not give more than £70 a week due to budget pressures.

Other criticisms included poor and confusing communication with the family, not offering Mrs Brownlie a carer’s assessment, not offering direct payments so care could be arranged on her own, and not letting Jo go to non-KCC residential care homes for respite care.

Mrs Brownlie, who used to care for disabled adults at the Crawford Centre in Sheerness, added: “To be fair to [KCC] they did put their hands up and admit they made mistakes.”

Miss Brownlie, who was nominated for a Swale Young Achievers Award in 2008, now attends the John Graham centre, a working farm for adults with learning disabilities, in Canterbury.

This case was one of two reviewed by the Ombudsman in relation to KCC.

A statement from the authority said: “In both cases, the criticisms focused on the council’s process behind the care that was provided and did not suggest poor quality care.

“However, the council recognises that in both cases, it got things wrong. The changes that were needed in response to both cases have been made in the months following both incidents, which happened in 2010 and 2011.”

Graham Gibbens, KCC cabinet member for adult social care and public health, said: “It is important that we take responsibility for the things we got wrong in each case. We have apologised wholeheartedly in both cases and have taken lessons from both cases.

“In both situations, members of staff were working within the guidance that was issued at the time. However, while this might offer some kind of explanation, it is no excuse and we are constantly striving to improve the way we work in adult social care.”