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 51 - 60 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 (22 009 493)

    Category: Education Date: 20-Jul-2023

    Summary

    The complainant alleged that the Council had failed to provide suitable education when her two children were out of school for medical reasons. We find fault in the Council’s actions, causing a loss of education and avoidable, prolonged distress to the complainant and her family. The Council has agreed the recommended remedy for the injustice caused, and therefore we are closing the complaints.

    Service improvements

    Please see details on 22 009 488

  • Cornwall Council (22 009 488)

    Category: Education Date: 20-Jul-2023

    Summary

    The complainant alleged that the Council had failed to provide suitable education when her two children were out of school for medical reasons. We find fault in the Council’s actions, causing a loss of education and avoidable, prolonged distress to the complainant and her family. The Council has agreed the recommended remedy for the injustice caused, and therefore we are closing the complaints.

    Service improvements

    Within three months, the Council will:amend its policy on children out of school to make clear that the Council is responsible for ensuring or overseeing assessments as to why a pupil is out of school, and also responsible for overseeing or arranging alternative provision.the revised policy should set out what officers should do when a pupil is out of school, but the Council considers the school is suitable, and it is reasonable for the pupil to attend.the revised policy should mkae it clear that the Council is responsible for finding an alternative school (if the current school is considered unsuitable) and for providing alternative education in the interim.the revised policy should set out a clear timetable for deciding whether and when its duty to provide alternative educaion is triggered.the revised policy should make it clear that alternative educaion should be fulltime, unless the pupil's medcal needs prevent this, and the education provided should be in accordance with the pupil's age and aptitude.

  • Cornwall Council (22 008 489)

    Category: Education Date: 03-May-2023

    Summary

    Mrs Y complained the Council failed to make proper provision for her son’s Z’s education and special educational needs. We have found fault by the Council in failing to: make all the special education needs provision and support in Z’s EHC Plan; make alternative provision for Z when he was no longer able to attend school; complete the review within the required timescales; and communicate properly with Mrs Y. These faults have caused injustice. The Council has agreed to remedy this by apologising to Mrs Y and Z, making payments to reflect the impact on Z of the missed education and full SEN support, and Mrs Y’s worry and distress, time and trouble and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    the Council should review its procedures for: monitoring SEN provision has been properly put in place when a child’s first EHC Plan is issued and responding to concerns about provision;the Council should review its procedures for deciding whether it is required to make alternative provision where it knows a child is no longer able to attend school and making the alterative provision promptlythe Council should review its procedures for ensuring annual reviews are completed within the required time scales and its SEN officers are aware of these timescales and their importance.

  • Cornwall Council (22 007 941)

    Category: Planning Date: 23-May-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council disregarded her objections about the disruption a nearby development would cause and did not consider the planning application properly. She also says the Council missed opportunities to mitigate the impact of construction noise. We have not found the Council at fault for how it considered the planning application. We have found the Council at fault for how it carried out its noise nuisance investigation. We have made recommendations to remedy the injustice this caused. We have found the Council at fault for not opening a planning enforcement investigation sooner, but this did not cause Ms X an injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind officers conducting planning enforcement and noise nuisance investigations of the principles set out in the Ombudsman's Principles of Good Administrative Practice.

  • Cornwall Council (22 008 999)

    Category: Education Date: 30-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council failed to provide the agreed transport for Child Y, and failed to backdate the transport payments. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council for poor record keeping, delaying making the agreed payments for transport support, and for failing to provide the agreed transport. The Council has agreed to pay a financial remedy, implement the agreed transport and carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind staff the importance of good record keeping and ensure that minutes are taken at every transport panel.The Council has agreed to review how it ensures that any payments for transport are made in a timely manner.The Council will review how it ensures those with disabilities can access the information about alternative forms of transport payments.

  • Cornwall Council (22 007 577)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 11-Jan-2023

    Summary

    The complainant, Mrs X, complained about the quality of home care, the Council’s commissioned care provider, Penhellis Community Care Ltd (Roche), provided to her late husband, Mr X. We find the Council was at fault. This caused distress to Mrs and Mr X. To address the injustice caused by fault, the Council has agreed to apologise, make symbolic payments and remind staff of relevant guidance.

    Service improvements

    The Council should issue written reminders to the care provider to ensure they are aware of: Regulation 17 which says care providers should “maintain securely” records and should have “an accurate, complete and contemporaneous record in respect of each service user, including a record of the care and treatment provided to the service user and of decisions taken in relation to the care and treatment provided”. Regulation 9 “Person Centred Care” says care providers should enable and support relevant people to make or participate in making decisions relating to the service user's care or treatment to the maximum extent possible…”. Regulation 10 says care providers must treat all service users with dignity and respect.

  • Cornwall Council (22 006 811)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 10-Mar-2023

    Summary

    There was delay in arranging Mrs X’s care and support and interpreting service which caused a loss of service and affected not only Mrs X, but also Mr X, her informal carer, by causing distress and a loss of opportunity to have a break. There was also fault in complaint handling and a failure to make reasonable adjustments. There was some fault in the consideration of Mrs X’s disability related expenses, but this did not cause a financial loss. The Council will apologise, make payments to Mr X and take action set out in this statement.

    Service improvements

    The Council needs to ensure there are sufficient staff in the complaints team to respond to customers who require telephone contact as a reasonable adjustment.

  • Cornwall Council (22 000 133)

    Category: Housing Date: 19-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complains, on behalf of her father, Mr Y, about the Council’s decision not to award Mr Y a local connection regarding his housing register application and homelessness application. Mr Y is a former member of the Armed Forces. We do not find the Council at fault in its first decision not to award Mr Y a local connection for his homelessness application. But, we find the Council failed to arrange suitable accommodation for Mr Y when it accepted a second application from him. We also find the Council failed to award Mr Y an exemption from its housing register local connection criteria (based on his time since retiring from the Armed Forces). Because of this fault, we find the Council failed to have due regard to its commitments under the Armed Forces Covenant. This fault caused Mr Y and Ms X an injustice. To remedy the injustice, the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr Y and Ms X, make them several payments and certain service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its housing allocations scheme to ensure there is clear guidance onwhen certain members of the Armed Forces community are exempt from any residency requirements under the Allocation of Housing (Qualification Criteria for Armed Forces) (England) Regulations 2012 . The Council will provide training to relevant staff in both its housing allocations team and homelessness team on handling applications where these Regulations may apply.The Council has agreed to circulate a reminder to staff about when the Council must arrange interim accommodation for a homelessness applicant following a referral to a second council at the relief duty stage.The Council has agreed to circulate a reminder to relevant staff that if a welfare award is increased following additional supporting information, the eligible band date should be the date the completed housing register application was received.The Council has agreed to ask a Senior Officer in both its housing allocations team and homelessness team to review the decision statement and share any identified learning with their team. The Council will report back on the outcome of this.

  • Cornwall Council (21 019 001)

    Category: Housing Date: 11-Oct-2022

    Summary

    We found fault by the Council on Mr J’s complaint about it failing to act on his reports about a neighbour’s behaviour. The Council failed to provide evidence in support of what it said it had done in response to his reports. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to remind officers responding to our enquiries in the future of the need to send proper supporting evidence.

  • Cornwall Council (21 015 463)

    Category: Education Date: 29-Aug-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council failed to provide her son, B, with suitable educational provision while he was unable to attend school. We find the Council at fault, which caused B to miss out on certain educational provision and Mrs X was caused stress and distress. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to apologise to B and Mrs X, make them several payments and make a number of service improvements.

    Service improvements

    the Council has also agreed to:• send a reminder to relevant staff of the need to promptly decide whether its section 19 duty has been triggered when a child is not accessing education due to health or medical reasons, including when it becomes clear the child is unable to access a reintegration programme for these reasons. Where the duty is triggered, staff should clearly record how they have assessed whether any educational provision is suitable to the child’s age, ability and aptitude and anyspecial educational needs they may have; and• share this decision with relevant staff.

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