Service improvements

Cornwall Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2018 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 11 - 20 of 71 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 (24 011 434)

    Category: Education Date: 09-Apr-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained that since 2021, the Council has not updated her child Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan or provided Y with an education. We find the Council at fault, resulting in a loss of education for Y. This has impacted Y’s mental health and caused Mrs X avoidable distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mrs X, and issue a final amended Education, Health and Care Plan.

    Service improvements

    The Council has told the Ombudsman about the actions it is taking to address delays within its SEND team. However, considering the significant concerns raised in this case including delays with EHC Plans, lack of alternative provision, and not considering a request for a specialist school, the Council should share this decision with its relevant scrutiny committee or panel.

  • Cornwall Council (24 009 634)

    Category: Education Date: 08-May-2025

    Summary

    We have found fault with the Council for failing to consider its duties under Section 19 of the Education Act. It did not arrange alternative provision for Miss X’s son when he was unable to attend school. He missed out on nearly a year of education and special educational need provision. The Council agreed to remedy this injustice.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff of the need to make a Section 19 decision regardless of whether the child is on roll at a school.

  • Cornwall Council (24 009 366)

    Category: Education Date: 14-Apr-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide alternative education for her child Y when they were unable to attend school between September 2023 and August 2024. Mrs X also complained the Council delayed in completing an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment and issuing an EHC Plan for Y. The Council failed to consider if it should provide Y alternative provision and delayed issuing an EHC Plan for Y for 35 weeks which resulted in Y missing out on some special educational provision for two academic terms. The Council will make a payment to Mrs X to recognise the injustice caused by the faults and act to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide written guidance to relevant staff members on when and how it should consider its section 19 duty to children who are not attending school. The guidance will include the importance of identifying those children through information provided on Education, Health and Care need assessment requests and communicating this to the relevant office or education welfare officers.The Council will review the capacity in its Education, Health and Care (EHC) team to identify the action it needs to take to ensure: EHC needs assessment and EHC Plan writing is conducted in line with the timescales set out in statutory guidance;it communicates with parents, children and young people at appropriate intervals during the process; andcomplaints are responded to without undue delay.The Council will create a specific, measurable and timebound action plan to complete any actions it has identified.

  • Cornwall Council (24 005 201)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Apr-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the Council’s delays in issuing her son’s Education, Care and Health Plan in time for phase transfer and following an annual review in March 2024. She also complained about lack of suitable education between September 2024 and December 2024 when the Council failed to find a secondary school place and delay in the Council’s response to her complaint. We found the Council was at fault for lack of accurate record keeping, delay in issuing Plans and responding to Ms X’s complaint. The Council agreed to pay Ms X for the avoidable distress and uncertainty and issue reminders to staff.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to share this decision with relevant staff to ensure that the Council keeps relevant contemporaneous notes about any decision it makes about its section 19 duty and remind relevant staff of the importance of issuing EHC Plans within the statutory timeframes, whether this is in time for phase transfer or following an annual review.

  • Cornwall Council (24 004 917)

    Category: Education Date: 08-May-2025

    Summary

    Ms C complained the Council has failed to provide alternative provision for her son, who we will refer to as D, and secure the provision set out in his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. There was fault by the Council. It did not arrange alternative provision for D when it was aware he was not receiving regular full-time education, and it did not regularly review this. The Council was also at fault for not ensuring the provision outlined in D's EHC Plan was in place, and for delays in responding to Ms C’s complaints. Because of the fault, Ms C suffered frustration and financial loss, and the delays in the complaint procedure meant she continued to chase the Council for updates. D suffered a loss of education and provision. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms C and D, make symbolic payments, consider reimbursement of the costs of the provisions put in place by Ms C, and issue staff briefings.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue a staff briefing to ensure all relevant staff are aware of the Council’s statutory obligation to ensure a child receives a suitable education if they cannot attend school. This will help to ensure children do not miss education provision while they are unable to attend school.The Council will share our focus report Out of school, out of sight? with relevant staff to emphasise the Council’s section 19 responsibilities and identify wider points of learning. This will help to ensure the Council understands its section 19 responsibilities when a child is unable to attend school.The Council will issue a staff briefing to remind relevant staff to respond to complaints in line with the Council’s procedure and keep complainants updated where deadlines cannot be met. This will help to ensure complaints are responded to in a timely manner and complainants are kept appropriately informed about what is happening.

  • Cornwall Council (24 004 347)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 15-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained about how the Council conducted a safeguarding investigation when he was the subject of allegations that he financially abused his mother. We upheld the complaint, finding the Council conducted an inadequate and biased investigation. This caused Mr X and his mother unnecessary distress, when the Council sought to impose limits on his contact with her. The Council accepted these findings. At the end of this statement, we set out a series of actions it agreed to take to remedy Mr X’s injustice. This included providing him with an apology, a symbolic payment, a review and correction of its records. It also agreed to make service improvements to try and prevent a repeat.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed that it would revise its current policy for safeguarding adults to include reference to the desired timescale for completing enquiries when it has decided to make enquiries. Also, that the policy would in future contain advice for its social workers and officers on informing both those who report concerns, or who are the subject of enquiries as alleged perpetrators of abuse, when it has completed its investigation. This was after this investigation found unacceptable delay in the Council beginning enquiries and that it failed to tell the complainant when it closed its investigation, meaning he believed its enquiries into allegations made about him remained ongoing.The Council also agreed that it would brief all those who conduct adult safeguarding investigations on key learning points from this investigation. That investigating social workers must consider the factual basis for any allegations made against individuals; that they should take seriously any counter-allegations and decide whether to investigate those also; that they should keep clear audit trails of communications relevant to decisions arising from the safeguarding investigation and if they record abuse substantiated, they must provide a clear rationale for such a finding. This was after this investigation found poor practice and a bias against the complainant when allegations were made about him, which it recorded as substantiated despite a lack of evidence for this finding.

  • Cornwall Council (24 009 660)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 22-Oct-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained that the Council failed to progress her children services’ complaint to stage two of the statutory Children Act 1989 complaints’ procedure. We have found fault causing injustice. The Council has now agreed to start the stage two investigation. Therefore, we have completed our investigation and are closing the complaint.

    Service improvements

    the Council will provide an update on how it is ensuring the outstanding stage two investigations are progressing.

  • Cornwall Council (24 008 706)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 19-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Ms Y complained about the Council’s refusal to provide a wheelie bin for her property. We have found fault, causing injustice, by the Council in failing to: properly consider and assess the evidence Ms Y provided; and apply a consistent policy regarding the safety of collection points. The Council has now provided Ms Y with a wheelie bin, and agreed to remedy the injustice its failures caused by making a payment to Ms Y to reflect her upset, time and trouble and service improvements.

    Service improvements

    the Council has agreed to review its procedures for assessing a property’s eligibility for a wheelie bin or other type of waste collection container and make any changes needed to ensure there are clear and transparent criteria for decisions;the Council has agreed to review its procedures for assessing a property’s eligibility for a wheelie bin or other type of waste collection container and make any changes needed to ensure there is clear guidance in place for officers making decisions, including about how to check if the criteria have been met;the Council has agreed to review its procedures for assessing a property’s eligibility for a wheelie bin or other type of waste collection container and make any changes needed to ensure it keeps proper records to support consistency in decision making.

  • 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 (24 005 023)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 25-Feb-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s actions and delays regarding flooding on his property due to blocked drainage on the road. He said communication from the Council has been poor. Mr X said this frustrated and distressed him and damaged his property. There was fault in the way the Council took too long to resolve this issue and communication from the Council was poor. This frustrated Mr X. The Council should apologise, make a financial payment and consider how often the gullies need cleaning.

    Service improvements

    Consider how often the gullies need cleaning.

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