Service improvements

Birmingham City Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

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 11 - 20 of 46 cases with service improvements

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

  • Birmingham City Council (23 007 017)

    Category: Education Date: 07-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the outcome of a home to school transport appeal for her son, Y. We found fault because the Council failed to properly record the deliberations by the appeal panels and show how the panels arrived at their decisions to refuse Y school transport. It also failed to provide sufficient detail in its decision letters. This has caused Ms X and Y distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and hold a fresh stage 2 appeal panel. If it decides to award Y with school transport it has agreed to consider whether to make payments to Ms X and Y to recognise the injustice caused by its earlier decisions. So we have completed our investigation.

    Service improvements

    Remind all officers who carry out stage 1 appeals and stage 2 school transport appeal panels, and those who send decision letters of the requirement to consider all of the evidence presented and properly record and evidence how it reached the decision, in line with statutory guidance.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 005 066)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Jan-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to properly consider all the professional reports about her child’s, Y, health condition and educational needs. Miss X said as a result, the Council failed to provide Y, who cannot attend school due to medical reasons, with alternative provision. There were faults by the Council for its failure to properly consider Y’s case and for its failure to provide him with alternative provision. This has led to ongoing loss of education and support to Y, and it caused Miss X distress, frustration and worry. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    Ask its commissioned alternative provider(s) to inform the Council when its placement reaches full capacity. This is to ensure the Council retains sufficient oversight of its commissioned alternative provision.Review and monitor the Council’s alternative provision process. Provide the Ombudsman with an action plan to demonstrate how the Council will meet statutory timescales for providing children who are unable to attend school with alternative provision in line with section 19 of the Education Act 1996Finalise the Council’s draft policy on ‘Education for pupils unable to attend school for medical reasons’. The Council should publish the final copy of the policy on its website and send a copy to the Ombudsman.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 003 615)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 09-Jan-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council wrongly refused his footway crossing (dropped kerb) application. There was fault by the Council. It has agreed a remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind officers they should provide the correct reasons for refusal for a footway crossing when sending a decision to an applicant.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 003 569)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 15-Nov-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complains the Council delayed in authorising an increase in her son’s personal budget and, despite accepting responsibility for that delay, has still not implemented the increase. The Council has failed to take effective action since August 2022 to ensure all the son’s care needs are met. This has caused avoidable distress to Ms X and escalating stress, as more responsibility for meeting his needs has fallen on her. The Council needs to apologise, pay financial redress and take action to ensure all the son’s needs are met.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to take action to ensure officers make complete and accurate records in future.The Council has agreed to consider what action to take to make the process of recruiting a PA more streamlined and less bureaucratic.The Council has agreed to identify the action it is going to take to ensure communication between it and the support agency is improved and that the recruitment of PAs is not delayed in the way it was for Mr Y.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 003 084)

    Category: Housing Date: 29-Jan-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to award her the correct priority on its housing register. The Council was not at fault in deciding her priority. However, it failed to properly consider whether Ms X was homeless. Ms X also complained about the Council’s refusal of a discretionary housing payment. Based on information seen, there was fault in the way it considered this, and it failed to properly consider a request for reasonable adjustments when Ms X challenged its decision. The Council should apologise for the distress and uncertainty caused and take steps to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council failed to offer advice and support about securing a new tenancy when the person was at risk of violence. The Council will share the decision with staff in its allocations and discretionary housing payments teams so they can learn from what went wrong in this case and prevent a recurrence of the failure of the teams to work sufficiently closely.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 003 061)

    Category: Housing Date: 19-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Ms B complained about the Council’s actions and involvement when she rented her house to a homeless family arranged by the Council. She said the Council went back on the agreement and undertakings given when she rented the property. She considered the Council’s actions misled her as to its responsibilities to the family. She said that as a result she was not able to return to the property. She said she suffered considerable distress and disruption. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice to Ms B. The Council will apologise, make a payment to Ms B and undertake service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review the accommodation finding service literature, to ensure it details in full any incentive package, the duration of the incentives provided and how the incentive package will be confirmed. And to improve case management practices to ensure case documentation is accessible to the team and records are complete.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 001 070)

    Category: Housing Date: 11-Jan-2024

    Summary

    The Council significantly delayed carrying out a review of its decision to discharge its housing duty to Mr B. As a result of the delay, Mr B was unable to bid on social housing for over a year. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mr B and backdate his registration and award dates. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide an action plan detailing the action it is taking to reduce delays in carrying out reviews of homeless decisions.

  • Birmingham City Council (23 000 253)

    Category: Housing Date: 08-Jan-2024

    Summary

    The Council delayed assessing and reviewing Miss B’s housing application and did not always explain its housing priority decisions. The Council has agreed to apologise, backdate Miss B’s housing registration date and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind officers that where an applicant has indicated they have a housing need, and it is decided to not make a band award for that housing need, the reasons are included in the housing priority decision letter.The Council has previously provided action plans to show the action it is taking to reduce delays in processing housing applications and reviews. In August 2023, the Council also provided a report showing how long it was taking to process new housing applications and reviews, and how this had changed over the last year. The Council has agreed to provide an updated action plan and an updated report to show whether delays are reducing, and if not, it will explain the reason for this. The report will include how long it is taking to process change in circumstance forms.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 018 160)

    Category: Housing Date: 28-Nov-2023

    Summary

    The Council delayed processing Mr B’s housing application and review and wrongly closed his application twice. It also failed to properly deal with his complaints and failed to action Mr B’s request for a review of its housing priority decision. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mr B, and backdate his award date. It will also make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to investigate why an email was not added to a housing file for several weeks and why a request for a review was not processed. It will then take action to prevent such failings in future.The Council has agreed to explore whether its systems can evidence that a letter has been emailed to a housing applicant, and if it can, it will provide details to officers who may need to check such evidence.The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure that when an applicant suggests they are at risk of violence, the Council attempts to obtain evidence of this itself, or tells the applicant how to obtain the required evidence.The Council has agreed to discuss this case with the complaints officers involved to ensure it properly responds to complaints in future.The Council has previously provided action plans to show the action it is taking to reduce delays in processing housing applications and reviews. In August 2023, the Council also provided a report showing how long it was taking to process new housing applications and reviews, and how this had changed over the last year. The Council has agreed to provide an updated action plan and an updated report to show whether delays are reducing, and if not, it will explain the reason for this. The report will include how long it is taking to process change in circumstances forms.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 017 526)

    Category: Housing Date: 11-Dec-2023

    Summary

    When Miss B was living in a homeless centre, the Council failed to deal with her request to be moved to suitable accommodation and failed to properly follow its procedures for dealing with disputes between residents. It then failed to carry out a review of the suitability of the accommodation it subsequently offered to Miss B. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Miss B and to offer her suitable temporary accommodation. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind staff of the importance of properly following the Council’s procedures for dealing with disputes between residents at homeless centres. In particular, it will ensure it agrees an appropriate course of action with the residents involved.The Council has agreed to remind relevant officers to offer a review if they are contacted about the suitability of temporary accommodation.

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