Service improvements

West Northamptonshire Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023

Find out more about service improvements

When we find fault, we can recommend improvements to systems and processes where they haven’t worked properly, so that others do not suffer from these same problems in future. Common examples are policy changes; procedural reviews; and staff training. Service improvements from decisions are published for 5 years and those from reports are published for 10 years.

Showing 1 - 10 of 15 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for West Northamptonshire Council as a CSV file.

  • West Northamptonshire Council (22 010 358)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 20-Feb-2023

    Summary

    Miss B complained that the Council failed to allocate council tax payments to her account correctly, failed to discover the error for five months despite providing evidence and failed to offer any payment in recognition of the injustice she was caused. We found fault with the Council’s actions. It has agreed to pay Miss B £250 and improve its procedures for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed within three months to review the operation of its complaints procedure to ensure responses are providedwithin the required timescales and that officers responding to complaints haveundergone basic training in complaint-handling.

  • West Northamptonshire Council (22 008 906)

    Category: Housing Date: 22-Mar-2023

    Summary

    We found fault on Mr J’s complaint about the Council failing to respond properly to correspondence and his complaint. An email complaint and some later correspondence were not responded to by the Council. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to remind officers of the need to respond and process complaints properly and to respond to correspondence.

  • West Northamptonshire Council (22 007 789)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 30-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s social care involvement with her family and its poor communication and record keeping. This was investigated under the statutory complaints procedure. We considered the findings were fair with appropriate recommendations. But we found fault as there was significant delay by the Council in the process, with an incorrect approach to timescales. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to remedy the injustice and to take action to prevent recurrence of fault identified.

    Service improvements

    The Council will amend any policy or protocol document to ensure it correctly states when Stage Two timescales start within the statutory complaints procedures; when it is requested. This change should be sent to all staff involved in this procedure.

  • West Northamptonshire Council (22 004 125)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 02-Mar-2023

    Summary

    We found fault with the care provided to Mrs H by the Trust and West Northants Council when she started to display challenging behaviour due to dementia. We also found fault with the actions of the Approved Mental Health Practitioner service acting on behalf of North Northants Council as it did not properly involve Mr H in the Mental Health Act Assessment process even though he was Mrs H’s nearest relative. These organisations will apologise to Mr and Mrs H and pay them a financial remedy. They will also take action to prevent similar problems occurring in future.

    Service improvements

    Within three months of our final decision, the Council will write to the Ombudsmen to explain what action it will take to ensure the care home has a robust protocol in place for the administration of medications. This should include a process for receiving, storing, administering and recording medications. It should also include a process for recording specialist advice.

  • West Northamptonshire Council (22 003 130)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 23-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mrs D complained the Council failed to properly consider Miss X’s disability related expenditure for her care cost contributions since Autumn 2020 and caused delays in responding to her requests. The Council agreed some expenditure should have been included, and it caused delays in responding to Mrs D’s requests. It agreed to apologise to Miss X and Mrs D, credit Miss X’s account with the reduced contribution amount to September 2020 and make payment to Mrs D to acknowledge the distress this caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind its Financial Assessment and Adult Social Care Teams of the process and eligibility criteria for disability related expenditure to ensure correct and proper decisions are made from the outset when it receives requests or concerns about care charge contributions.The Council will remind its Adult Social Care staff to respond to requests and reviews for disability related expenditure in a timely manner, and to keep service users, or their representative, informed if there are delays in reviewing its decisions.

  • West Northamptonshire Council (22 001 773)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Sep-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council has failed to provide her son, Y, with suitable education while he was unable to attend school and he has missed education. Mrs X also complained the communication with the Council was difficult. Mrs X says she suffered distress and has had to give up working to care for Y, putting financial pressure on the family. The Council did not provide a suitable education for Y, communication was difficult and Mrs X has been put to time and trouble to complain.

    Service improvements

    •Ensure staff are aware of the Councils statutory obligation and those of the school as detailed in the Education Act 1996 to ensure a child receives a suitable education if they are unable to attend school.•Update its website and local offer to ensure information about HOE support to children of primary school age is clear.•Review its policies and procedures to ensure the Council retains oversight and responsibility for its duties to children unable to attend school.

  • West Northamptonshire Council (22 001 038)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 23-Aug-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council fixed the amount of Special Guardianship allowance she received for her two grandchildren, and did not include yearly or age related increases, which is against statutory guidance. The Council is currently remedying the matter with plans to implement a new policy. But there is wider injustice to others due to this fault, and the Council has agreed with our recommendations to provide Mrs X with an apology and to backdate payments to other Special Guardians similarly affected by this issue.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault for it's Special Guardianship Allowance policy which went against statutory guidance, case law and our previous focus reports. The Council will update its policy to ensure it is compliant.The Council will identify all Special Guardians affected by it's non-compliant Allowance policy, and apply it's revised policy to backdate payments to them accordingly from 1 April 2021.

  • West Northamptonshire Council (22 000 307)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 16-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council made an erroneous decision about deprivation of assets when she transferred hers, and her husband’s property, to her son. Mrs X says this has caused her husband to incur higher care costs. We found the Council had not considered the full factors in its deprivation of assets decision. We also found fault with the delays in the Council considering the full relevant factors and the distress and inconvenience this caused. The Council agreed to our recommendation to complete a review of its decision, apologise to Mrs X and apply a credit of £500 to her husband’s care charges to address this fault.

    Service improvements

    Provide training to its staff about the importance of considering motivation and the full factors and evidence surrounding motivation, when making a decision about deprivation of assets and detailing the Council's thinking about this consideration.

  • West Northamptonshire Council (21 017 938)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 22-Aug-2022

    Summary

    The statutory complaints process found the Council’s assessment of Miss X and her child was inaccurate. The Council had not suitably remedied the injustice this caused. It has agreed to pay Miss X and her child £350 and take action to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that in considering the findings and recommendations of statutory children’s complaints investigations, the Council should consider whether a personal remedy is appropriate with reference to the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies.

  • West Northamptonshire Council (21 016 519)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 08-Dec-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complains about the Council’s financial assessment leading to her son, Mr Y, being charged the maximum contribution for his care costs. The Council has accepted it was at fault in the way it completed Mr Y’s financial assessment and has already taken steps to rectify this. The Council has now also agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mrs X as it took too long to respond to her complaint. The Council will also complete the further training for staff on Disability-Related Expenditure and issue a reminder on the importance of responding to complaints within published timescales.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to ensure the expert training to all DRE approvers has been completed.The Council has agreed to issue a reminder to all relevant staff about the importance of responding to complaints within the 20 working day timescale or providing updates to complainants where are response is going to take longer.

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