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 - 4 of 4 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 (22 007 789)

    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 (22 001 038)

    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 (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 (21 010 500)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 14-Jun-2022

    Summary

    Mrs A complained on behalf of Mrs X that the Council did not keep her informed of the actions it took following an investigation into Mrs X’s complaint about Children’s Services. Mrs A says the Council did not provide Mrs X with an update as agreed and says the Council’s actions have caused Mrs X avoidable distress. We found fault by the Council in this matter. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X, carry out a review of its processes and make a payment to Mrs X to recognise the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff that where complaints are considered via the children’s statutory complaints process, parents are notified of their ability to request a stage three hearing where appropriate.Carry out a review of the referral process between the MASH and the DCT to examine ways to improve the existing process, in line with the agreed recommendations of the stage two report. The review process should be clearly documented with records kept of decisions and the rationale behind them. It should also include examining ways to improve communication with parents;Inform parents via its decision letters where appropriate, that the threshold criteria for the DCT is available onlineNotify parents via its decision letters where appropriate, that they can challenge unsuccessful referral requests via the complaints procedure

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