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 31 - 40 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 (22 013 847)

    Category: Housing Date: 07-Jun-2023

    Summary

    The Council delayed assessing Miss B’s housing application and then delayed reviewing its housing priority decision. The delays resulted in Miss B being given a later award date. The Council has agreed to apologise for the delays, backdate Miss B’s award date and take action to prevent similar failings in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to investigate the reasons for its delay in carrying out a mobility assessment and take action to prevent such delays in future.The Council has previously provided action plans to show the action it is taking to reduce delays in processing housing applications and review requests. The Council has agreed to provide an updated action plan, state how long it is currently taking to process housing applications and reviews and provide a report to show how the time it is taking has changed over the last year. If delays have not significantly reduced, it will explain the reason for this.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 013 282)

    Category: Housing Date: 11-Sep-2023

    Summary

    The Council failed to take a homelessness application from Miss B when she was threatened with homelessness. As a result, she was not provided with suitable temporary accommodation and was not able to join the Council’s housing register. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Miss B and establish if she has missed out on any properties as a result of the fault. If she has missed out on a property, the Council will offer Miss B the next available suitable property. The Council has also agreed to make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to investigate why the Council’s records show that officers believed a ‘not homeless decision’ had been made, but a decision letter was not sent to the complainant. It will then take action to ensure this does not happen again.The Council has agreed to discuss this case with the officers involved to ensure they are aware of the failings identified and to prevent similar failings in future.The Council has agreed to remind officers dealing with approaches from people requiring housing assistance that they must consider whether there is reason to believe they may be homeless or threatened with homelessness, and where there is, they must make enquiries to see whether they owe them any duty under Part 7 of the Housing Act.The Council has agreed to remind officers dealing with approaches from people requiring housing assistance that they must consider whether there is reason to believe they may be homeless, eligible for assistance and have a priority need, and where there is, they must secure interim accommodation.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 011 865)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 11-Apr-2023

    Summary

    The complainant (Mr X) said the Council failed to deal effectively with his reports of the anti-social behaviour (ASB) taking place in the alleyway next to his house. We found fault with the Council for not providing Mr X information on the Community Trigger process and for not making this information available in the Council’s leaflets about ASB. This fault caused Mr X injustice. The Council agreed to apologise, provide Mr X with the information on its Community Trigger process and amend its leaflets.

    Service improvements

    The Council will amend the Council’s leaflets ‘Anti-socialBehaviour: Help and advice for residents in Birmingham’ and ‘What you can do tostop antisocial behaviour’ by including in them information on the CommunityTrigger process and contact details for making an application. The Council shouldprovide us with evidence this has happened.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 011 528)

    Category: Housing Date: 01-May-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complained about how the Council managed her homelessness application and temporary accommodation during 2022. The Council was at fault. It failed to carry out a suitability assessment when it provided her with temporary accommodation which was unaffordable. It meant Miss X remained in unsuitable temporary accommodation for 9 months. It also failed to provide her with a housing officer and a personalised housing plan. The Council agreed to apologise to Miss X and provide her with a payment to acknowledge the time spent in unsuitable accommodation and the distress and uncertainty that caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind housing officers to carry out affordability assessments before placin people in temporary accommodation. The Council's letter offering should set out its reasons for considering the accommodation is suitable, including its reasons for deciding it is affordable. It should remind housing officers this is the Council’s responsibility and not the responsibility of housing providers.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 009 469)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 12-Jun-2023

    Summary

    Mr B complained about the Council’s statutory complaint investigation into contact between siblings. He complained the Council did not answer his complaint, the financial remedy was low, and it did not action the stage 2 and 3 recommendations. Mr B said this delayed contact between siblings and caused distress. We found fault with the Council for delay progressing the stage 2 recommendations and for delay in its complaint investigation. The Council will resolve the outstanding issues with sibling contact and make service improvements to prevent this happening again in future.

    Service improvements

    Issue children social care staff with guidance to ensure they keep minutes for meetings and records of correspondence about children’s care planning and statutory complaints, and these are added to case files.Review its policies and procedures to ensure social workers write a handover summary for each case they hold when they leave, and these are reviewed by the supervising manager. If staff leave unexpectedly, the supervising manager should write the summary on review of the case.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 009 141)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 18-Apr-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council incorrectly issued penalty charge notices to her partner, Mr Y, for driving in a Clean Air Zone. The Council was at fault for issuing Mr Y PCNs for a vehicle not owned by him, and continued to do so for a period after Mr Y had highlighted the problem. The Council has already apologised and has agreed to pay Mr Y £100 for the inconvenience, frustration and his time and trouble.

    Service improvements

    Introduce a procedure which requires officers to keep people (who have provided evidence that the vehicle is not theirs) informed of what the Council is doing to prevent the problem of issuing incorrect Penalty Charge Notices reoccurring.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 008 129)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 20-Jun-2023

    Summary

    On behalf of Mr C, Mr R complained the Council had not considered its duties under the Equality Act to cater for deaf members of the public. Mr R also said the Council had failed to deal with his complaints in a timely fashion. We have not found the Council failed to consider its public sector equality duty. However, we have found the Council at fault for not highlighting existing accessible services, or considering whether it could make reasonable adjustments in Mr C’s case. We have also found fault with the Council’s complaint handling. We have made recommendations to remedy the injustice caused. There are parts of Mr R’s complaint we cannot investigate. We have explained why in our statement.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind officers of the Council's duty to consider what reasonable adjustments it can make for individuals who may face barriers to accessing its services.The Council has agreed to remind officers of the accessible contact options it has already put in place to remove barriers to accessing its services.The Council will ensure its video sign language service is clearly signposted for individuals who may need it.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 007 825)

    Category: Housing Date: 25-May-2023

    Summary

    The Council delayed assessing Mr B’s housing application and evidence which showed that he needed an adapted property to suit his mobility needs. The Council has agreed to offer Mr B the next suitable property he bids on. It has also agreed to make a payment to Mr B and to take action to prevent similar failings in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind staff of the importance of considering risk alert information to allow reasonable adjustments to be made.The Council has agreed to arrange training for the housing team on the Equality Act and the public sector equality duty, in order to further consolidate staff learning on equality considerations.The Council has agreed to investigate why a mobility report was not added to the housing record promptly and to take action to ensure reports are always added promptly in future.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 006 362)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 14-May-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to properly deal with his application for a dropped kerb. We found the Council was at fault because there was significant delay and poor communication throughout the process. This caused Miss X the injustice of frustration and put her to the time and trouble of complaining. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Miss X, reduce the quotation and take immediate action to progress her application. It will also take action to improve its service to customers.

    Service improvements

    The Council will reflect on the issues raised in this decision statement and identify any areas of service improvement. The Council should prepare a short report setting out what the Council intends to do to ensure similar problems do not reoccur. This report should be sent to the Ombudsman.

  • Birmingham City Council (22 005 091)

    Category: Housing Date: 12-Jul-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council delayed reviewing the suitability of an offer of accommodation and its housing priority decision. The Council has accepted there were delays completing the reviews. Because of the delays, we find Mr X likely missed out on the offer of a Council property sooner than he did. He was caused significant distress and frustration during the delay. To remedy the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X, make him several payments, including for the period he was left in accommodation that was unsuitable for his disability-related needs, and make certain service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its latest housing allocations policy and any relevant guidance to staff to make sure the process and evidence requirements for assessing banding based on the need to move due to the threat of violence or harassment are clear. This should include clear directions on when and what information should be confirmed with the Police about the potential threat and, if relevant, the circumstances when a risk assessment by the referral agency should be carried out. The Council has agreed to include information on the Home-Choice website to advise applicants that the housing assessment for exceptional need is informed by a risk assessment that is completed by the Police. The Council will circulate any updates made following the review of its Policy to relevant members of staff.The Council will circulate a reminder to relevant members of staff that all valid review requests, including those made by Council Officers by completing an exceptional need form, should be treated as such and progressed in line with its Housing Allocations Policy.

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