Service improvements

Brighton & Hove 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 - 10 of 12 cases with service improvements

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

  • Brighton & Hove City Council (25 004 438)

    Category: Education Date: 23-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to provide alternative provision when her child, Y, was unable to attend school. We find the Council at fault for failing to consider whether Y required alternative provision. This caused distress and frustration for Y and Ms X, and meant Y missed education. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and make service improvements to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure it has a process in place which considers the full scope of the Council's section 19 duty to provide access to suitable, full-time education for children who are unable to attend school because of exclusion, illness or otherwise. The Council should ensure its process is not restricted to considering only medical needs.The Council will ensure its relevant staff are aware of the Council's section 19 duty to provide access to suitable, full-time education, and the correct process to follow when the Council becomes aware a child is not accessing education.

  • Brighton & Hove City Council (25 001 967)

    Category: Education Date: 21-Jan-2026

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council in failing to consider alternative education when a child was unable to attend school on health grounds, and delay in securing special educational provision in an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. This caused loss of education and distress. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic financial payment and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review policies and procedures when children are unable to attend school to make sure the council retains sufficient oversight and control ,particularly of any outsourced arrangements.The Council will ensure it makes clear decisions, in writing, with reasons, about how it makes decisions about SEN assessments and provision.The Council will ensure staff and policies are clear about when personal budgets and direct payments apply, provide clear information to families, and offer rights of review where appropriate.

  • Brighton & Hove City Council (25 001 278)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Dec-2025

    Summary

    We found fault on Mrs Y’s complaint against the Council about it failing to ensure her daughter, who has an Education, Health and Care plan, received provision and suitable full-time education when she was not at school. There were periods when provision was not in place. The Council agreed to send a written apology for the injustice the failures caused, pay £900 for lost provision, and review why delays and failures happened so they cannot be repeated.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review why there was a delay in setting up provision in early 2024and act to ensure this failure cannot be repeated on future cases.The Council agreed to review why there was a failure to ensure provision was made in July2024 and act to ensure this failure cannot be repeated on future cases.The Council agreed to review why there was a failure to ensure provision was made in February 2025 and act to ensure this failure cannot be repeated on future cases.

  • Brighton & Hove City Council (24 017 916)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 02-Oct-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council wrongly issued her with a Fixed Penalty Notice regarding commercial waste when she does not run a business. Ms X says this has cost her financially, through payment of the penalty and loss of income. She said this also caused her distress. There was fault in the way the Council did not explain its position, did not allow Ms X to explain her position and the complaint handling was poor. This frustrated Ms X and she was put to time and trouble to complain. The Council agreed to refund the penalty notice as it offered, make a financial payment, provide guidance to its staff and review its policy.

    Service improvements

    •Remind relevant staff of the importance of effective complaint handling, following the process and adhering to timescales.•Review and amend its environmental policy as it offered. This should include setting up a clear criteria, clearer templates and letters, allowing challenge and considering the wording in the policy regarding the impact of actions.

  • Brighton & Hove City Council (24 017 530)

    Category: Housing Date: 19-Oct-2025

    Summary

    Ms Y complained the Council failed to complete work to repair significant damp issues at her property. We find the Council at fault for a delay in completing the necessary work to repair Ms Y’s property. This has caused Ms Y distress, frustration and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and complete service improvements to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue guidance to its complaints team on how to correctly signpost housing complaints to the correct Ombudsman.The Council will ensure it has a process in place to monitor when there are delays in planned repair works being completed. The process should ensure the Council can follow up on any delays and ensure necessary works are completed within a reasonable timeframe.

  • Brighton & Hove City Council (24 017 256)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Jun-2025

    Summary

    The Council was at fault in how it decided to refuse Miss X’s appeal to admit her child, W, to her preferred school. This caused Miss X uncertainty and frustration. To remedy her injustice, the Council will apologise, pay her £100 and hold a new appeal hearing. It should also remind school admission appeal clerks they must keep suitable records of appeal panel’s decision-making.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind the school admission panel clerks it employs that they must evidence the panel's decision-making in full, including the three-stage test at stage one and all the relevant factors the panel took into consideration at stage two.

  • Brighton & Hove City Council (24 015 366)

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

    Summary

    Mr Y complained the Council failed to source a suitable nursing home for his mother, Mrs X, which meant he had to pay third-party top ups when Mrs X moved to a nursing home. There was fault by the Council for its failure to provide Mrs X with at least an option of one available, and affordable respite nursing care home. This caused distress and uncertainty to Mr Y. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    Give clear information and train relevant staff about the importance of making at least one formal offer of a care placement which is available and affordable within service users agreed personal budgets.Remind relevant staff to formally notify service users and/or their families and representatives of care home placement offers, and the Council should record on its system the date and details of the offers made.

  • Brighton & Hove City Council (24 013 238)

    Category: Education Date: 12-Oct-2025

    Summary

    Dr Y complained about the Council’s handling of S’s Education, Health and Care needs assessment between January 2023 and October 2023. The Council is at fault for delays in adequately assessing its section 19 duties and failing to ensure S received all the provision set out in his plan from October 2023. This caused Dr Y avoidable uncertainty and frustration as well as loss of provision for S. The Council has agreed to apologise to Dr Y, make a payment to recognise the injustice and act to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue a reminder to staff about the importance of appropriate assessment of educational needs for an individual child when deciding if the Council needs to act under its section 19 duties to provide alternative education where a child is out of school.

  • Brighton & Hove City Council (24 011 749)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Jun-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to secure provision set out in Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan once they moved into its area. The Council is at fault for not securing Y’s provision, causing a loss of education. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to recognise the loss of education and put provision in place and act to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind staff in its Special Educational Needs and Disability team of the need to follow the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations during the transferring in process, where it has adopted the Education, Health and Care Plan of a child or young person who has moved into the Council's area from another Council's area.

  • Brighton & Hove City Council (24 009 151)

    Category: Housing Date: 28-Apr-2025

    Summary

    Miss B complained that the Council had failed to ensure disrepair in her temporary accommodation was rectified, find her suitable alternative accommodation or give her the correct priority on the housing register. We found fault in the Council’s actions which caused Miss B to live in unsuitable conditions for a year longer than she should have done. We have asked the Council to apologise to Miss B, pay her £1300, inspect her property now and improve its case recording for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind housing staff of the importance of keeping detailed and accurate records regarding complaints of disrepair in temporary accommodation, including details of the disrepair, notes of any site visits to confirm the situation and all liaison with the landlord and tenant.

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