Service improvements

Bracknell Forest 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 - 4 of 4 cases with service improvements

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

  • Bracknell Forest Council (24 021 624)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 19-Dec-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the Council’s handling of her request for a parent carers assessment, the children’s statutory complaints process, and how it communicated with her. Overall, we agreed with the Council’s stage two findings. However, the remedy proposed was not adequate to acknowledge the impact its delays had on her, and it did not consider the significantly delayed complaints handling. The Council will apologise, make a symbolic payment, and carry out service improvements recommendations.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share with the Ombudsman an update on its planned training for its staff on the carers assessment policy and process.The Council will review how it can ensure the timescales in the children’s statutory complaints process are adhered to, and updates are provided to complainants when investigations are taking longer than expected. This should be within the maximum 65 days allowed for the process.

  • Bracknell Forest Council (24 016 166)

    Category: Education Date: 07-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to follow government guidance when deciding the route Y’s school transport should take. We find the Council at fault for failing to evidence its decision-making process and for providing incorrect information, creating uncertainty for Mr X. The Council should apologise, make a symbolic payment to recognise the injustice, and act to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council should remind staff who make decisions on school transport applications of the importance of clearly setting out their reasons and what they have considered, particularly when deciding not to meet specific elements of the guidance.The Council should create a process for staff to follow when making decisions on school transport to aid decision making where guidance pulls in different directions and setting out what should be prioritised. The Council should also update its policy to reflect this.

  • Bracknell Forest Council (24 010 644)

    Category: Education Date: 26-Jun-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained that her child who has an Education, Health and Care Plan has been without a special school place or suitable fulltime alternative education for two years. There was fault causing loss of education over a two-year period and an adverse impact on the parent carer who has been unable to work. The Council will apologise, continue efforts to find a school place, make a remedy payment and carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure that officers understand the difference between EOTAS and s.19 education, apply the correct legal test for EOTAS and amend EHC Plans to reflect where EOTAS is the decided ‘placement’. Pupils should be correctly recorded and tracked by the appropriate team according to whether they are s.19 or EOTAS.A Senior Officer will carry out an internal review of the case to identify why a pupil has been left without a school place for 2 years, and if lessons can be learnt to avoid recurrence of the fault.

  • Bracknell Forest Council (24 002 890)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Aug-2025

    Summary

    The Council took too long to issue an Education, Health and Care Plan for Mrs X’s daughter following an annual review in February 2024. She also complained her daughter was not provided with a suitable education during the period she was unable to attend school from November 2023. We found no fault. We found there were faults with the Council’s handling of the school phase transfer review, record keeping and failure to consult with Mrs X’s preferred school. The Council agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mrs X and S and review progress on improving its practice.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to revise its practise of not holding phase transfer reviews for children whose EHC Plan’s the Council issued in year 6.

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