Service improvements

Cheshire East Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023

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 - 9 of 9 cases with service improvements

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

  • Cheshire East Council (22 005 333)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained that the Council failed to provide his daughter, D, with an education during a period when she was unable to attend school. He said this caused an injustice as it affected D’s wellbeing and she missed out on an education. We find the Council at fault. We have made a recommendation of payment to acknowledge that fault and remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council should have reviewed its policies and procedures for situations where it is informed a child is missing education. It should ensure that it has systems in place to take decisive action when it becomes aware a child is missing education. It should provide evidence of this review to the Ombudsman.

  • Cheshire East Council (22 003 623)

    Category: Education Date: 19-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about delays and poor communication after she asked the Council for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan for her child Y. The Council was at fault for delay in issuing the EHC Plan, and for poor communication. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and pay her £300 to acknowledge the frustration caused. It has already recruited more staff to improve its communication. It has also agreed to review how it communicates the timescales involved to parents and carers to help manage expectations.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review the letter it sends to parents and carers advising them it will carry out an Education Health and Care assessment to ensure the letter clearly sets out the expected timescales for the Education Health and Care process, to help manage parents’ expectations around communication.

  • Cheshire East Council (22 000 530)

    Category: Education Date: 08-Feb-2023

    Summary

    We uphold Mrs X’s complaint about the Council refusing her summer born child (Y) a delayed reception start. We find fault with its decision-making process and delay. The Council has agreed to reconvene a new Panel and ensure it is instructed to make the decision in line with the School Admissions Code and non-statutory Guidance and review its processes to improve decision communications. It will also apologise to Mrs X and pay her £150 for her avoidable frustration and inconvenience.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its internal processes to address communication delays and ensure Panel outcome letters clearly set out evidence of decision-making with clear reasons given in feedback to parents.

  • Cheshire East Council (22 000 320)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 07-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the way a care provider, commissioned by the Council, ended its contract to provide care for her son. There was fault in the care providers actions, for which the Council is responsible. This caused Ms X considerable distress. The Council should apologise, make a symbolic payment to Mrs X to recognise the injustice caused, and take appropriate action to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide guidance to the care provider, Sage Care (Crewe), aboutthe need to be open about concerns and take reasonable steps to resolve them before ending a care contract. It will also ensure the care provider reminds staff of the need to follow its own processes, including its complaints process.

  • Cheshire East Council (22 000 018)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained that the Council failed to comply with outcomes agreed in mediation within statutory timeframes. She also complained that the Council delayed issuing her son’s Education, Health and Care plan. Miss X said this caused unnecessary distress, stress, frustration, and had an impact on her and her son. We find the Council at fault, and the fault caused Miss X injustice. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to reflect the injustice caused, and make an improvement to its service to prevent a recurrence.

    Service improvements

    the Council will remind relevant staff of the timescales for actions in mediation agreements to be completed, as set out in the Regulations.

  • Cheshire East Council (21 019 021)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 06-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Ms C complains about the failure of the Council to carry out adaptations properly. The Council is at fault for failing to provide a schedule of works, delayed in starting work and an officer making an unannounced visit. The Council has made a concerted effort to find the cause of an ongoing bad odour, I cannot say on balance, its contractors caused the problem. To remedy the faults identified the Council has agreed to apologise to Ms C and her mother and pay £500 for their time, trouble, and avoidable distress.

    Service improvements

    To ensure there is now a handover of adaptation cases so managers are aware of priority cases.People receiving bathroom adaptations will receive a program of works detailing the date, nature of work and people who will attend the home.Introduce a process so officers can discuss issues which may occur from restricted access to the bathroom and if necessary, liaise with occupational therapy and social care staff to ensure the needs are met.Issue a reminder to staff in the Housing Standards and Adaptations Team to prearrange appointments when wanting to visit homes.

  • Cheshire East Council (21 014 481)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to her child (Y) who has special educational needs and an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). The Council was at fault. It did not take action sooner to arrange alternative provision for Y when they were unable to attend school and it did not review the matter. The Council was also at fault for delaying issuing the final EHC Plan before Y moved to post-16 education. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and Y and give them a symbolic payment for the frustration and uncertainty the matter caused them. The Council will also make service improvements to prevent a recurrence of faults.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed it will review with staff the Ombudsman's focus report, Out of school, out of sight and discuss with them the importance of reviewing alternative provision plans made for children out of school.

  • Cheshire East Council (21 004 831)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 14-Dec-2022

    Summary

    Mr B complained about the actions of the Council in responding to his complaint about children’s services. We found some fault including a failure to appoint an advocate to assist Mr B with his complaint, failing to implement agreed reasonable adjustments for him and a failure to provide a personal remedy to Mr B and C to recognise the impact of the fault on them as part of the complaints process. The Council has agreed to pay £550 to Mr B, including £250 for the benefit of his daughter C, and to improve its procedures for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to: • work with Mr B’s advocate to consider what steps it could take to improve its response to disabled (particularly neurodivergent) parents interacting withboth children’s services and the complaints process; and • review its guidance for complaints staff in when and how to appoint advocates for complainants.

  • Cheshire East Council (21 000 034)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 14-Jun-2022

    Summary

    Ms B complained on behalf of Mr & Mrs C about the care they received from Four Seasons (No 9) Ltd when it operated a care home they were both resident at; in Mrs C’s case with that care provided on behalf of the Council. We uphold the complaints, finding no evidence the Care Provider considered Mr or Mrs C’s need for contact with each other (or between Mr C and his wider family), after they moved to rooms on different floors of the care home. The Care Provider also failed to sufficiently communicate a decline in Mr C’s health before he died. There were also some failings in its management of Mrs C’s diet and nutrition. These failings have caused distress. The Council and Care Provider accept these findings. At the end of this statement, we set out the action they have agreed to take to remedy that injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed that further to this complaint it would amend its contract with care providers to request they provide quarterly complaints monitoring reports. This is so the Council has more awareness of complaints being made by users of services that it funds and so that it can better monitor complaint outcomes.

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