Service improvements

Birmingham City Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026

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 - 6 of 6 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 (25 002 191)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 28-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s decision-making regarding Mr Y’s care plan. He complained the Council should increase the provision for Mr Y. He says this increased Mr Y’s isolation. He complained the Council did not provide transport for Mr Y to attend a day centre. He says this caused him unnecessary stress. We find no fault with the Council’s decision-making regarding the amount of provision in Mr Y’s care plan. We do find fault with the Council’s decision-making regarding transport for Mr Y. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X, make a fresh decision and take service improvement action.

    Service improvements

    The Council will complete an action plan to establish whether its failure to offer acarer’s assessment to Mr X highlights a wider issue, and if so to tell us howit will improve how officers offer carer’s assessment to eligible people.

  • Birmingham City Council (25 000 375)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 07-Nov-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the Council’s delay in sending information about her father’s contribution to his care fees. She also complained about the Council’s delay in completing a new care assessment for her father after she raised concerns about the care he was receiving. We find the Council was at fault for its delays in completing the financial assessment and for its failure to send the financial assessment to Mrs X’s email address. It was also at fault for its delay in assigning a social worker to complete a new care assessment. These faults have caused Mrs X distress and upset. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X, make a payment to her, agree a payment plan for the outstanding care fees and a implement a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they complete financial assessments within a reasonable timescale and without undue delay. Staff should also ensure they send the financial assessment to the individual/their representative via their preferred method of communication.

  • Birmingham City Council (24 021 047)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 03-Dec-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained about how the Council handled his mother’s, Ms Y, residential placements’ care fees and its poor communication with him. There were some faults with how the Council dealt with Ms Y’s residential care fees, its poor communication with Mr X and delays with its complaint handling. This caused injustice to Mr X and Ms Y. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    •remind the Council’s commissioned residential care homes not to demand payments from residents and/or their families in the absence of the Council arranged placement and care fees payment•train staff about the importance of adhering to the Council’s complaint procedure timescales.•review the Council’s systems and practice to ensure it completes financial assessments and ensure it allocates social workers to service users in a timely manner.

  • Birmingham City Council (24 018 891)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 16-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about a failure to inform her and her family about care contributions and about short calls. We upheld the complaint because Mr Y’s care and support plan did not include his care contribution within his personal budget. The information the Council provided about charging before care started was too general. This caused avoidable distress. The Council accepted care calls were short which was fault causing Mr Y avoidable distress which cannot be remedied as he has died. Mrs Y also likely had to step in and provide some care. The Council will apologise, make symbolic payments for Mrs Y, offer a debt repayment plan and will complete contract monitoring to reduce the risk of recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will complete contract monitoring checks to ensure a local adult care provider is adhering to call durations in council-commissioned care packages. This can be by a sample of care packages for the previous three months.

  • Birmingham City Council (24 016 538)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 09-Feb-2026

    Summary

    Mr Y complains about the Council’s poor handling of his child’s transition from Children’s Services to Adult Social Care. Mr Y also complains about the Council’s handling of his complaint. The Council has now upheld all aspects of Mr Y’s complaint and there is no further fault for us to find. Our investigation has therefore focussed on the Council’s remedy. We find the remedy already provided to be proportionate and ask the Council to send evidence that the agreed outcomes have been completed.

    Service improvements

    The Council has already identified and implemented appropriate service improvements as a result of this complaint, and we do not propose any further recommendations. However, two service improvements remain outstanding. Those are:The appointment of an ‘Independent Investigating Officer’ to complete a review and completion and adoption of a new joint working protocol regarding complaints involving more than one service area.To ensure the injustice caused by the fault is fully addressed, the Council has agreed to provide evidence that these two actions have been completed.

  • Birmingham City Council (24 002 649)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 15-Jun-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained about delays in the Council completing adaptations to his home following an Occupational Therapy assessment in January 2023. Mr X said this caused him significant distress and he suffered physically. There was fault in the way the Council delayed completing the work to Mr X’s home, did not communicate with Mr X and its poor complaint handling. This frustrated and distressed Mr X, he has lived in an unsuitable home since January 2024, and he was put to time and trouble to complain. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a financial payment and issue guidance to its staff.

    Service improvements

    • Remind relevant staff of the importance of effective complaint handling.• Remind relevant staff of the importance of fully considering the needs of the wider family when completing OT assessments for DFG applications.• Provide guidance to staff about the Council’s responsibilities when completing DFG applications and works, referencing the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) Delivery: Guidance for local authorities in England.

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