Service improvements

Bristol 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 - 8 of 8 cases with service improvements

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

  • Bristol City Council (21 010 585)

    Category: Planning Date: 24-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council was taking too long to investigate complaints about unlawful houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) in its area. We found fault because there was unreasonable delay in enforcement investigations. The Council has agreed to a remedy, to resolve the injustice caused by the fault we found.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to monitor and review its plan to deal with its backlog of enforcement cases, to ensure it is adequately resourced.The Council agreed to report our findings and its progress in reducing the backlog of cases to the Council’s Growth and Regeneration Committee. The Committee may, at its discretion, decide whether it needs to continue to check progress in reducing the case backlog.

  • Bristol City Council (21 007 446)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Ms B complained about delays in the Education, Health and Care (EHC) process. She complained the Council failed to issue her son, C’s, final EHC plan within the statutory timeframe. We found fault with the Council. The Council agreed actions to remedy the injustice to Ms B.

    Service improvements

    • Update the Ombudsman with the Council’s progress in relation to reducing the number of live EHC assessment case that are over the 20-week statutory timescale.• Send a copy of the final decision to the relevant scrutiny committee so there is democratic oversight of the extent of the problems affecting children and families waiting for EHC assessments in Bristol.• Develop and implement a mechanism to assist it record when it has chased outstanding information from professionals for EHC assessments

  • Bristol City Council (21 004 999)

    Category: Other Categories Date: 03-Feb-2022

    Summary

    The Ombudsman found fault by the Council on Mrs Q’s complaint of it failing to act against a neighbouring allotment tenant after upholding her complaint and failing to respond to her correspondence. It failed to keep proper records, could not show it did what it said it would do, delayed responding to her formal complaint, and delayed making her a payment. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to take steps to ensure case management of allotment cases have proper records of site visits, contact with tenants, photographs taken, and formal notices served.The Council agreed to identify the reasons why it failed to take action set out in its stage 2 response and take steps to ensure this failure cannot be repeated in future.The Council agreed to identify the reasons why it delayed dealing with the complainant's formal complaint and take steps to ensure this failure is not repeated in the future.The Council agreed to identify the reasons why the £250 payment to the complainant was delayed by 3 months and ensure this failure is not repeated on future cases.

  • Bristol City Council (21 002 533)

    Category: Housing Date: 06-Dec-2021

    Summary

    The Council’s failure to provide proper assistance when Mr X approached as homeless in 2018 was fault. As a result, Mr X slept in his van for 21 months. The Council should apologise, pay Mr X £8,100, and take action to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that an application to the housing register can also be a homeless application. It will identify a suitable mechanism for staff to notify the appropriate team when this happens.The Council has agreed to ensure customer service and other public-facing staff are able properly to identify and deal with cases of homelessness or risk of homelessness. It will provide training as needed.

  • Bristol City Council (21 001 783)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 04-Jan-2022

    Summary

    The Ombudsman found fault by the Council on Mr H’s complaint of it failing to take enforcement action against dwellers of 2 caravans parked on the road near his home. There was a failure to keep records of visits and of officer assessments when deciding the encampment was ‘Low Impact’ under its policy. The Council also failed to communicate with Mr H since April 2021 when a manager retired. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review its current practice of officer visit and assessment decisions to ensure proper records are made and retainedThe Council agreed to review why there was no communication with the complainant when the manager left to avoid any repetition of this failure in the future.

  • Bristol City Council (21 001 155)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 30-Nov-2021

    Summary

    Mrs P complains the Council did not offer suitable support to her during a foster care placement. She also says the Council treated her unfairly and was responsible for sharing inaccurate information with her foster care agency. We found the Council failed to provide suitable support to Mrs P during the foster placement. The Council failed to share information and concerns with Mrs P and provide her with the means to support the young person staying with her and to make decisions in the young person’s best interests. Also, the Council failed to properly record key incidents about the foster placement with Mrs P and was responsible for reporting inaccurate information to her agency. These faults caused Mrs P to feel excluded and not part of the parental team responsible for the young person. We have therefore recommended a number of remedies.

    Service improvements

    The Council undertake a review process of the complainant's case. This review should focus oneach individual element of fault identified in this statement. The purpose ofthe review is to consider and implement service improvements for service usersin the future. The Council should provide evidence to the Ombudsman it hasundertaken the review, as well as what service improvements it has identifiedand implemented.

  • Bristol City Council (21 000 033)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 17-Dec-2021

    Summary

    Mr A complains the Council failed to act when he raised concerns over his neighbours fly tipping. This caused a continuing build up of waste around his house. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council for delaying acting without clear rationale. The Council has agreed to pay Mr A a financial remedy and consider service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to consider how it monitors continuing reports of inappropriate waste disposal, and whether it should be applying the community trigger to reports similarto those made by complainants.If the Council finds that it should be applying the community trigger to such reports, the Council has agreed to provide further training and guidance to staff handling such issues.

  • Bristol City Council (20 012 222)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 28-Jul-2021

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the way the Council dealt with her request for a Disabled Facilities Grant. We find the Council was at fault for delay in arranging the Occupational Therapy assessment. There were also faults in its communication with Ms X. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X for frustration caused. It is already writing an action plan to address Disabled Facilities Grant wait times.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff to record decision making and contacts on case records.

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