Service improvements

Cheshire East Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2027

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 21 - 30 of 33 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • Cheshire East Council (22 013 706)

    Category: Education Date: 12-Oct-2023

    Summary

    Mrs Y complained the Council failed to deliver all Miss Z’s special educational needs provision in her Education Health and Care Plan. We have found fault by the Council in failing to issue Miss Z’s plan within the statutory timescale and the delay and failure in delivering parts of her special educational needs provision from September 2022 to July 2023. This fault has caused injustice. The Council has agreed to remedy this by apologising to Mrs Y and Miss Z, making payments to recognise the impact of the missed provision on Miss Z, and to reflect Mrs Y’s distress, time and trouble and reporting to us on the position regarding the missing provision. It has also agreed to make a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    Share learning from this decision with staff to ensure they are aware of the importance of issuing an EHC Plan within the required timescale following a SEND Tribunal order, and arranging the provision to start from the date the plan is issued.

  • Cheshire East Council (22 013 136)

    Category: Education Date: 23-May-2023

    Summary

    The Council gave flawed advice that a transition review to name a post-16 placement would be completed earlier than usual due to the complainant’s anxiety. This raised expectations and caused disappointment and distress when the advice was reversed. The Council will apologise, pay £150 to acknowledge the distress caused, and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share learning from this complaint with staff to ensure that when early reviews are held these are accompanied by clear timescales about next steps including when the Education, Health and Care plan will be updated with any new placement.

  • 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 (22 000 018)

    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 (21 014 481)

    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 (21 012 628)

    Category: Education Date: 29-Mar-2022

    Summary

    The Council failed to provide the IT equipment and software listed in Ms X’s child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This has negatively affected her son’s education. The Council has agreed to apologise, provide the items needed and make a symbolic financial payment to Ms X. It has also agreed to put in place appropriate training for staff to prevent this happening in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind staff, through appropriate training, of the Council's non-delegable duty to secure the Special Educational Needs provision set out in Section F of a child's Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan).

  • Cheshire East Council (20 014 516)

    Category: Education Date: 17-Dec-2021

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council failed to ensure her daughter, B, received certain special educational provision set out in her Education, Health and Care Plan. She complains the Council failed to complete the annual review of the Plan within the statutory timescales. The Ombudsman has decided to uphold Mrs X’s complaint. Because of this fault, Mrs X was caused distress and uncertainty, and B missed out on certain provision. To remedy the injustice, the Council has agreed to apologise, make Mrs X and B a payment, and take action to prevent similar failings in the future.

    Service improvements

    the Council has also agreed to make the following service improvement: remind relevant staff members about the specific statutory timeframes for completing the annual review process, including when the Council intends to amend an EHC Plan ;the Council has also agreed to make the following service improvement: develop a procedure to ensure that, where it appears a child or young person is not receiving the provision set out in their EHC Plan, robust action is taken without delay.the Council has also agreed to make the following service improvement: review its complaints handling process to ensure clear information is given to staff on assessing injustice when fault is found and awarding appropriate remedies for this. The Council should consider including a reference to the Ombudsman’s published guidance on remedies in the guidance.the Council has also agreed to make the following service improvement: share this decision with relevant staff.

  • Cheshire East Council (20 013 619)

    Category: Education Date: 08-Feb-2022

    Summary

    Ms X complained about fault and delay in the way the Council provided support for her child’s special educational needs and care needs. We cannot say that on the balance of probabilities her child missed out on education, but the fault did cause uncertainty and distress as to whether the outcome might have been different, which is in itself an injustice. Recommendations for an apology, financial payment and service improvements are made.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure it considers with parents what advice to get for an Educational, Heath and Care needs assessment and in particular consider any requests for advice made by parents.The Council will ensure advice given about Educational, Health and Care needs assessments, elective home education and Education otherwise than at School accurately reflects law and statutory guidance.The Council will ensure when a parent withdraws a decision to home educate that they are appropriately signposted to officers responsible for school admissions or education otherwise than at school.

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings