Service improvements

Cornwall Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025

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 10 cases with service improvements

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

  • Cornwall Council (24 007 176)

    Category: Education Date: 13-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the way the Council dealt with his child Z’s education and special educational needs provision. We have found fault by the Council, causing injustice, in failing to: complete the annual review process within the statutory timescales; provide Z with a suitable education; and with its communication and complaint handling failures. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by: apologising; making payments to reflect the distress caused to Mr X and the impact of the missed education on Z; and a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure it has a proper process in place for considering its duty to provide a child whose EHE has been ended with a suitable education.The Council has agreed to share guidance about its policy and procedure in these cases with relevant officers.

  • Cornwall Council (24 003 458)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide appropriate education for her child, Y and delayed issuing him with a final Education Health and Care Plan. She also complained its communication with her was poor. We found fault by the Council on all parts of Mrs X’s complaint. As a result Y missed education he was entitled to, and he and Mrs X were caused distress, frustration and put to avoidable time and trouble. The Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mrs X and Y in recognition of the injustice caused to them.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share a copy of the decision with its education welfare and special educational needs staff to identify learning from this complaint.

  • Cornwall Council (24 000 808)

    Category: Education Date: 19-Mar-2025

    Summary

    The Council failed to consider whether it owed Mr X’s child, Z, a duty to provide alternative education when they could not attend school due to ill health. It also failed to ensure Z received all the support in their Education, Health and Care Plan and failed to do what it said it would following key meetings. The Council’s faults caused Z to miss out on a term of provision and caused Mr X significant uncertainty, frustration and time and trouble. In recognition of the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise, arrange additional provision to make up for some of the sessions Z missed, pay Mr X £2,700 and carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to instruct all Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) staff and staff dealing with alternative provision to ensure that case records and meeting notes - including annual review meetings - must record which organisation is responsible for carrying out any agreed actions, with respect to children and young people’s referrals for education and support.The Council has agreed to inform its complaint handling staff that while proactively contacting complainants to resolve complaints is welcome, this is not a replacement for providing them with a complaint response.The Council has agreed to look into what caused the delays in the Council making decisions and finalising Education Health and Care Plans in this case and outline what action it has taken to prevent recurrence of these delays in future.

  • Cornwall Council (23 021 362)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide the provision in her daughter, Miss Y’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan since May 2023 and delayed completing an annual review of the EHC Plan in June 2024. Mrs X also complained the Council delayed in responding to her complaint about the matter. The Council was at fault. The Council will apologise and make payments to Mrs X for the frustration she was caused and Miss Y for the provision she missed.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its policy for handling complaints on special educational need matters and ensure the policy requires complaint investigations to consider appropriate remedies for injustice caused by any fault it upholds.Following a review of the relevant policy the Council will remind relevant staff to consider appropriate remedies in its complaint responses for any injustices it identifies as a result of a Council fault.

  • Cornwall Council (23 019 223)

    Category: Education Date: 22-Oct-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council failed to follow the statutory time limits for dealing with her son Y’s Education, Health and Care needs assessment and issuing his Education, Health and Care Plan. We find fault with the Council for delay and have agreed a symbolic payment for lost provision for Y, and the distress and frustration caused to Mrs X.

    Service improvements

    Within three months the Council will remind relevant staff to respond to complaints in line with the Council’s procedure;Within three months the Council will provide us with its plan to improve compliance with the EHC needs assessment timescales.

  • Cornwall Council (23 013 768)

    Category: Education Date: 23-Jul-2024

    Summary

    We have found fault with the Council for not delivering suitable alternative educational provision for Mr X’s son after he was excluded from school. He missed a term of education that affected his learning and behaviour. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice.

    Service improvements

    Provide a list of alternative education providers that can be considered in the future to ensure that ‘lack of placements’ is not a reason for not delivering alternative provision.

  • Cornwall Council (23 009 624)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to put in place suitable alternative provision for her child, Z. Mrs X also complained the Council delayed completing an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment, delayed deciding whether to issue an EHC Plan, and handled her complaint poorly. We have found the Council at fault. We have made recommendations to address the injustice this caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share the findings the Ombudsman's investigation and our focus report Out of school, out of sight? with relevant officers. This is to emphasise the Council's Section 19 responsibilities and identify wider points of learning.The Council will remind relevant officers of the timescales that apply when the SEND Tribunal decides the Council must complete an Education, Health and Care needs assessment.The Council will review the processes it has in place for seeking Occupational Therapy assessments for Education, Health and Care Plans, to identify and address any avoidable delays in these procedures.

  • Cornwall Council (23 009 328)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Jun-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained that the Council delayed in completing an education, health and care needs assessment for her daughter and failed to make suitable alternative educational provision for her when she was unable to attend school. We found the Council delayed in completing the assessment. It has agreed to make a payment to Ms X in recognition of the injustice caused by this. We also found there was fault in how the Council recorded its decision that the education on offer was available and accessible. But this did not cause an injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed that it will issue a reminder to relevant staff of the need to ensure there are contemporaneous written records of the reasons for decisions on the suitability of education and whether it is reasonably available and accessible to the child.

  • Cornwall Council (22 014 215)

    Category: Education Date: 09-Jun-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to provide an education and special educational provision for her child when she deregistered them from the school roll. She also complained about delays reviewing an education, health and care plan. Ms X said this caused unnecessary distress and frustration, and her child missed out on education. We find the Council at fault, and this caused injustice. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Ms X, and improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its practice to make sure there is a written record of the Council telling parents of the consequences of deregistering their child from the school roll. The Council should get parents to sign this to prove the Council has explained this.

  • Cornwall Council (22 013 478)

    Category: Education Date: 14-Oct-2024

    Summary

    The Council significantly delayed in its complaint handling but has now taken action to improve its services. The Council was not at fault for failing to secure the provision in Mr Z’s EHC Plan but it failed to review Mr Z’s EHC Plan when it should have. This caused uncertainty to Mr Z and Ms X. In recognition of the injustice caused by the faults in this case, the Council should apologise, pay £500 and take action to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to demonstrate that it has reminded Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) staff that where a child or young person’s circumstances around their education changes, the Council must review their Education, Health and Care Plan to ensure they have an up-to-date record of their education and SEN provision.

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