Service improvements

Cheshire East 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 - 3 of 3 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 (25 002 457)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 13-Aug-2025

    Summary

    We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint the Council failed to consider his complaint under the statutory children’s complaints procedure. This is because the Council agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    Remind relevant staff of the types of complaints that should be considered under the statutory procedure (section 2.2 of the statutory guidance 'Getting the best from complaints' details this)

  • Cheshire East Council (24 017 188)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 08-Jul-2025

    Summary

    The Council was not at fault for the way it responded to Mrs X’s reports of a safeguarding risk to her children. It took short-term action to reduce the risk and then carried out an assessment to put long-term support in place for Mrs X’s family. The Council failed to follow its complaint procedure, causing Mrs X uncertainty and frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise and take steps to ensure it follows its complaint procedure in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council failed to follow its complaint procedure. The Council has agreed to review why this happened and take steps to ensure staff follow the procedure in future.

  • Cheshire East Council (24 016 531)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 10-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council’s children’s services department did not effectively communicate with her when her child was placed into voluntary care arranged by the Council. We found fault because the Council failed to consider her complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. This caused Miss X avoidable distress and frustration. To remedy the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to consider Miss X’s concerns through the statutory procedure and apologise for failing to do this originally. It has also agreed to make a payment to her and issue guidance to staff.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant complaint handling staff of the guidance linked to the children's statutory complaints procedure (The Children Act 1989) 'Getting the Best from Complaints' particularly around 'who may complain' and 'what may be complained about'. This will help to ensure Council staff are fully aware of the statutory procedure and how this differs from its corporate complaints process.The Council has agreed to share the Ombudsman's good practice guidance on the children's statutory complaints procedure (The Children Act 1989) with relevant staff. This will help to ensure staff understand when the statutory procedure should be used to handle children's services complaints, rather than the corporate complaint process.

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