Service improvements

Birmingham City Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

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 - 10 of 10 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 (21 008 018)

    Category: Education Date: 29-Mar-2022

    Summary

    the Council was at fault in avoidably delaying for six months in arranging an appeal at stage 2 of the transport appeals process. This fault caused Ms B injustice in the form of frustration, uncertainty and time and trouble as she had to complain to this office to have the matter resolved. The Council will take the agreed action to recognise this injustice and to avoid repeating the same faults in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide us with further details about an appeals mailbox it says it has now put in place to ensure that appeals are processed in a timely manner. It should provide details of when this was implemented and how it will ensure this mailbox is properly monitored to ensure that the faults identified in this complaint are not repeated in future.The Council will provide us with information on how may stage 1 and stage 2 transport appeals the Council has received over the last six months and how quickly these have been arranged.The Council will confirm that in future its letters to appellants following a stage 2 appeal include information about how to complain to the Ombudsman’s office and tell us how this will be achieved.

  • Birmingham City Council (21 003 535)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Feb-2022

    Summary

    Ms X complains on behalf of Y, that he was not provided with any education specified within his Education, Health and Care plan between January 2020 and April 2021. She says the Council missed an opportunity to secure a placement for him at a suitable school as it did not agree to fund it in time. Ms X also says that complaints that were made to the Council were responded to with inaccurate information. We find fault with the Council for the delay in funding the education placement for Y and for its complaint handling. The Council has suggested remedies during this investigation which are sufficient to remedy the injustice caused to Y, and to improve its services for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has also agreed to review its procedures for agreeing funding for LAC placed outside its area. .

  • Birmingham City Council (21 001 611)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Dec-2021

    Summary

    We found fault with the Council for failing to provide child C with alternative provision when they were out of school for nearly 12 months. We also found fault with the Council’s complaint handling. The Council agreed actions to remedy the injustice.

    Service improvements

    Remind relevant staff of their duties under the Children Act 1996 to provide alternative provision when a child is out of school. The Council should consider sharing a copy of our focus report ‘Out of school…. Out of mind?’ and our final decision with the reminder. Staff should include, but not be limited to: • SENDIASS. • The Council education legal intervention team. • The resolution team within the education and skills directorate.The Council should review its information sharing agreement for SENDIASS representatives attending meetings where a child is not attending school. It should ensure mechanisms are in place so relevant information is shared correctly to ensure the Council meets its statutory duties when a child is not attending school.It should also remind relevant staff of the importance of meeting timescales set out in its complaint procedure and updating complainants where there are unavoidable delays.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 012 611)

    Category: Education Date: 13-Dec-2021

    Summary

    Ms B complained about the Council’s handling of her son’s education, health, and care (EHC) plan annual review, and that it did not comply with the SEND tribunal’s orders. She also complained the Council did not respond to her complaints. Ms B said the Council’s failures negatively affected her son’s mental health. We found fault with the Council causing injustice. The Council agreed to take action to remedy this injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue guidance to staff involved in the EHC process about the statutory timescales for EHC plans.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 011 746)

    Category: Education Date: 25-Oct-2021

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council in failing to secure alternative education when a pupil was unable to attend school due to anxiety. There were also delays in the EHC process and consulting alternative schools. These faults caused unnecessary distress and uncertainty and a loss of education. Recommendations for an apology, financial payment and service improvements are made.

    Service improvements

    The Council will put the policy it told the Ombudsman it was developing in 2020 about section 19 education on its website together with details of the named officer responsible for pupils with health needs.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 010 278)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Sep-2021

    Summary

    There was no evidence of fault by the Council in ensuring a child received the special educational provision in their Education, Health and Care plan. There was however fault in failing to provide appeal rights after reviews of the Plan. The uncertainty of whether an earlier appeal may have led to additional or different education being provided is an injustice. Recommendations for an apology, financial payment and service improvements are made.

    Service improvements

    The Council's restructuring of its Special Educational Needs Team will include a review of Education, Health & Care and annual review processes to ensure annual review decisions are issued in a timely way giving families appeal rights.The Council's current special educational needs review will include a review of the sufficiency of vocational education places locally.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 007 731)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Nov-2021

    Summary

    Ms X complains about how the Council dealt with Mr Y’s Education, Health and Care plan. The Council is at fault as it failed to consider if it should hold an interim review of Mr Y’s plan following his discharge from hospital, failed to issue a final plan between early 2019 and November 2020, failed to ensure Mr Y received the provision in his plan from November 2020 and caused Mr Y to miss some home tuition. The Council’s record keeping was also poor. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice to Ms X and Mr Y by making a payment of £3000 to them plus the refund of gym fees paid by Ms X.

    Service improvements

    Review its procedures for dealing with EHC plans to ensure they are in accordance with the SEND Code. The review should include procedures to: • ensure the delays experienced by Mr Y in issuing his EHC plan do not recur • ensure officers consider if they should hold an interim review in the event of a child/young person’s change of circumstances. • ensure provision set out in section F is delivered; • improve the Council’s record keeping by ensuring it has an audit trail of how it has dealt with a child’s/young person’s EHC plan including records of the annual reviews. The Council should provide a copy of its revised procedures to the Ombudsman and explain how it will improve its practice in this area.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 006 959)

    Category: Education Date: 18-Mar-2022

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council in failing to secure provision in an Education, Health and Care plan in 2020 and again in 2021. This led to lost special educational provision, distress and unnecessary time and trouble. Recommendations for an apology, financial payment and service improvements are made.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind Special Educational Needs officers the legal duty to secure special educational provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan rests with the Council and cannot be delegated to settings.

  • Birmingham City Council (20 005 883)

    Category: Education Date: 05-Aug-2021

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the way the Council dealt with her son’s Education Health and Care Plan and his special educational needs support following a Tribunal decision. The Council failed to take reasonable steps to put the support in place during the COVID-19 lockdown, and delayed in reviewing his Plan. This meant Y lost the opportunity to receive support he needed and there was a failure to plan for his future, causing him anxiety and uncertainty. The Council has agreed a remedy, including payments and a review of procedures.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its processes for a) checking it sends new and amended Education Health and Care Plans to education settings and that provision is being delivered; and b) ensuring Annual Review are completed on time, especially at key stages in the young person's education.

  • Birmingham City Council (19 018 427)

    Category: Education Date: 02-Nov-2021

    Summary

    Miss X complained about delays in her son, Y’s, Education and Health Care plan annual review and how the Council tried to move Y to another school. The Council was at fault for failing to review Y’s plan. This caused Miss X and Y frustration and delayed attempts to transfer Y to a new school. It has agreed to apologise, make symbolic payments and review how it monitors and responds to the outcomes of annual reviews.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault for failing to review an Education and Health Care plan. It will remind the school in this case of its role and responsibilities in the annual review process, including that it is able to suggest amendments to a child's Education, Health and Care plan.The Council will review how it monitors the outcomes of annual reviews and identifies whether changes to an Education, Health and Care plan are needed. If the review identifies any actions the Council should take, it should do those within three months of the end of the review.The Council will remind staff they must not name a school in a child's draft Education, Health and Care plan.The Council will remind staff that a significant change of circumstances, including movement from a specialist to mainstream setting, or an out of date Education Health and Care (EHC) plan should prompt consideration of whether to reassess the EHC plan.

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