Service improvements

Birmingham City 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 31 - 40 of 44 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • Birmingham City Council (21 013 522)

    Category: Housing Date: 26-Sep-2022

    Summary

    The Council delayed carrying out a review of Miss B’s housing priority, and delayed dealing with her complaints. It also failed to properly deal with her request for her homelessness application to be referred to another council. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Miss B and to take action to prevent similar failings.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide a report to show whether it has reduced delays in responding to complaints following the introduction of a new system to record and track complaints. If delays have not reduced, it will provide a plan with details of the action it will take to address this.The Council has agreed to remind its homelessness case officers of the importance of proper record keeping.The Council has agreed to remind its complaints officers that they should respond to all aspects of a complaint.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 013 496)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 21-Sep-2022

    Summary

    Ms X complained about how the Council responded to her report of concerns about a local child. The Council was at fault for failing to take appropriate action in response to Ms X’s information. This caused Ms X avoidable distress. It has apologised to Ms X which is appropriate to remedy the injustice caused to her. It has taken some action to improve its service following Ms X’s complaint but in order to prevent a recurrence of the fault or injustice being caused to others, it will now make further service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will act to improve the quality of its childrens services call handling by:restarting monthly quality monitoring of calls;amending the call handling quality monitoring framework to include additional questions about anonymous calls; andamending the team meeting agenda framework to add discussion about instances of social workers refusing to take anonymous calls as a standing item.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 013 125)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 14-Jun-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to respond to his representations against four Penalty Charge Notices (PCNs) for entering a Clean Air Zone. The Council failed to both consider and respond to Mr X’s representations which was not in line with relevant regulations. To remedy the frustration and uncertainty this caused Mr X, the Council agreed to cancel the PCNs and refund Mr X the £240.00 fees he paid.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to provide us with an explanation of the interim measures it has taken to ensure it considers representations against paid Penalty Charge Notices while it fixes a software issue which currently prevents this.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 012 624)

    Category: Housing Date: 18-Aug-2022

    Summary

    The Council delayed assessing Mr B’s application for housing, failed to send correspondence to Mr B by post and delayed responding to his complaints. The Council is also not providing Mr B with adequate assistance to apply for properties. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mr B, provide proper assistance to Mr B and take action to prevent similar failings in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its procedures for dealing with housing applications from applicants who are unable to use the internet and do not have access to email. Where the Council is aware that the applicant is unable to access the internet, it will ensure all correspondence is sent by post, and that applicants are not unreasonably disadvantaged because they cannot use the online bidding system.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 012 352)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 07-Jul-2022

    Summary

    Mr D complained the Council transferred Ms E to a care home without a hospital discharge plan and without consultation with the family. We find the Council was at fault for not sharing copies of Ms E’s care plan and assessments with her family. It also delayed sending charging information to the family. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they share care plans with service users and their relatives without unnecessary delay.The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they make a reasonable effort to involve a service user’s family in a review of their care and support needs.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 011 871)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 23-Jun-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council unfairly charged her for driving in a Clean Air Zone and did not consider her representations against the charge. We find the Council at fault for how it responded to Mrs X’s representations. We recommend the Council apologise to Mrs X, cancel and refund her penalty charge notice (PCN), and provide evidence of action taken to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will implement a new process to ensure cases are re-opened upon submission of representations within 28 days following payment of a penalty charge notice.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 011 093)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 28-Jun-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to deal with his neighbour’s high hedge. The Council was at fault for avoidable delay and poor communication. The Council will apologise to Mr X and pay him £100 for the frustration and additional time and trouble caused. The Council will reconsider whether further action is needed to address the high hedge and review its processes.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its process in dealing with high hedge complaints to ensure it is clear what action should be taken and the issues that should be considered, particularly where there is non-compliance with a remedial order and a decision is needed about whether enforcement action is needed. It will provide staff training or guidance to ensure all relevant staff are aware of the process and any changes made to it as a result of the review.The Council will consider developing an information sheet so complainants know what to expect and the factors the Council will consider in dealing with high hedge complaints.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 010 088)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 07-Apr-2022

    Summary

    Mr and Mrs C complained the Council refused their application for a dropped kerb. They said this caused them inconvenience because there was limited road parking. The Council was at fault for assessing their application against a draft, unpublished policy and this caused them injustice. To remedy this injustice, the Council will reconsider their application based on the policy in place at the time.

    Service improvements

    Until the Council approves and publishes a new policy for dropped kerbs, it should make all decisions in line with the dropped kerb policy currently approved and on its website.The Council will advertise on their public domain for six months the following: “Birmingham City Council is inviting all rejected grass verged footway crossing applications (dated between 01 January 2021 to 14 March 2022) to request reconsideration of their application under the criteria advertised at the time. It will also advise those who had a grass verged footway crossing application rejected, to request a refund of their application fee.”

  • Birmingham City Council (21 009 899)

    Category: Housing Date: 23-Jun-2022

    Summary

    The Council failed to offer Mrs B suitable temporary accommodation after it accepted it owed her the main housing duty. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mrs B, offer suitable temporary accommodation, and take action to prevent similar failings in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to develop procedures for offering temporary accommodation where it has accepted the main housing duty because the applicant is living in unsuitable accommodation. It should ensure these applicants are aware that the Council has an immediate duty to provide suitable temporary accommodation.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 009 110)

    Category: Housing Date: 26-Oct-2022

    Summary

    The Council placed Miss B and her daughter in unsuitable accommodation when they were homeless. The Council failed to carry out a review of the suitability of the accommodation and failed to make proper efforts to move them to alternative accommodation. As a result, they remained living in unsuitable accommodation for over two years and nine months. The Council also delayed considering Miss B’s medical evidence and so she was not given sufficient priority on its housing register. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Miss B and to take action to prevent similar failings.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide an action plan, including timescales, to show how it intends to ensure homeless families do not remain in accommodation with shared facilities for more than six weeks. It will also provide evidence to show the number of families who have been in such accommodation for more than six weeks, and the average length of time homeless families have to stay before self-contained accommodation is provided.The Council has agreed to ensure that when officers review housing priority decisions, they list all the evidence they have considered in reaching their decision.The Council has agreed to review and audit current processes to ensure that when it carries out an assessment of a housing applicant’s case, it applies the correct award date, in accordance with its policy.The Council has agreed to take action to ensure its officers provide application decisions in writing, in accordance with its procedures. In particular, it will ensure officers write to the applicant with the Council’s housing priority decision after considering an exceptional needs form.

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings