Service improvements

East Sussex County 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 21 - 30 of 48 cases with service improvements

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

  • East Sussex County Council (22 011 175)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Apr-2023

    Summary

    Miss B complained that the Council in deciding her son’s application for school transport, failed to follow the guidance and its own policy or consider the individual circumstances of the case. We have found fault. The Council has agreed to pay Miss B £200 and has improved its procedures for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to issue guidance toall staff involved with deciding transport applications:to ensure that when a child hasan EHCP naming one school in Section I, the Council should treat it as thenearest suitable school for that child’s needs, without any furtherconsideration of the other options; andto ensure theyconsider all information provided about the child before reaching a view on themost appropriate transport and not be guided solely by the type of schoolplacement named on an EHCP.

  • East Sussex County Council (22 005 731)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 12-Jul-2023

    Summary

    The Council is at fault for failing to properly assess and put in preventative measures to support a person in need with fluctuating capacity. To remedy the complaint the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr D and Ms C and make a symbolic payment for the distress caused by the Council’s failures. It will work with Mr D to assess and plan future services, review procedures, remind staff about the importance of considering preventive measures and review processes when a person’s circumstances change.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff and if necessary, provide training about how to assess capacity where there is fluctuating capacity, in particular cases where there is substance misuse;Review policies and procedures so they address assessing and supporting people with fluctuating capacity;Remind staff about taking prompt action in response to safeguarding concerns and to follow action plans and include them as part of the care management process if they arise out of safeguarding;Remind staff and review procedures about the need for personalised housing plans and when individuals should receive them.

  • East Sussex County Council (22 004 441)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Jun-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council failed to provide provision as specified in her daughter, Y’s, EHCP. We have concluded our investigation having made a finding of fault by the Council. The Council were at fault for failing to secure the provision as per Y’s EHCP and this caused an injustice to Y and Miss X. The Council has agreed to our recommendations.

    Service improvements

    Explain what it will to do to ensure, where it commissions other organizations to make provision, sufficient processes are in place to reduce the risk of provision not being delivered.

  • East Sussex County Council (22 004 206)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 19-Jun-2023

    Summary

    There was fault in the care that was provided to Mr C and there was poor communication relating to the safeguarding enquiries into the care. Both councils have agreed to apologise, to pay a financial remedy and to remind staff of the importance of involving the person at the centre of a safeguarding enquiry in the enquiry.

    Service improvements

    Remind relevant staff of the importance of keeping the adult who is the subject of a safeguarding enquiry at the centre of the enquiry

  • East Sussex County Council (22 002 273)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 19-Apr-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to carry out a proper safeguarding enquiry about neglect she suffered while living in a supported living unit arranged by the Council. We have found the Council to be at fault. The safeguarding enquiry was inadequate, and the Council failed to properly remedy the significant distress and uncertainty suffered by Miss X and her father, Mr Y. The Council has agreed with our recommendations to remedy this injustice.

    Service improvements

    Provide the Ombudsman with a short report setting out the service improvements that have now taken place as a result of the investigation report completed in February 2022. This should include action taken to increase the supply of supported living placements in the Council’s area.Reflect on the issues raised in this decision statement and identify any additional areas of service improvement. The Council should prepare a short report setting out what the Council intends to do to ensure similar problems do not reoccur. This should include action taken in respect of the concerns raised by the Agency about Home B. This report should be sent to the Ombudsman.

  • East Sussex County Council (22 004 427)

    Category: Other Categories Date: 03-Jan-2023

    Summary

    The failure to provide a recording of a coroner’s inquest as required by Government service standards is fault. There is no evidence documents used at the inquest were not copied to Ms X. A suitable remedy for the distress caused by the lack of a recording is agreed.

    Service improvements

    Review the inquest recording system to ensure it is fit for purpose and that suitable storage and back up systems are in place.

  • East Sussex County Council (22 004 391)

    Category: Education Date: 08-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Ms R complains on behalf of Miss P’s family about the transport offered by the Council for Miss P’s post-16 education. The Council did not consider relevant information about Miss P’s stepfather’s work commitments before deciding he should provide transport. The Appeal Panel’s decision is flawed because the Panel did not follow the Council’s published appeals process.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its transport appeals process and correspondence, and the published information describing it, to ensure they clearly explain the process followed and the opportunities to comment before a decision is final.

  • East Sussex County Council (22 004 080)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 06-Sep-2022

    Summary

    The Council should have recognised far sooner that it should support Mr X with managing his finances. It should also have responded more quickly to his complaint. The Council has now agreed to waive the debt which accrued most recently and has apologised to Mr X. It will also make a payment to Mr X in recognition that its failure to respond promptly to the complaint caused additional distress to Mr X and his family.

    Service improvements

    Council will provide the Ombudsman with details of how it will expedite complaint responses.

  • East Sussex County Council (22 000 730)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Dec-2022

    Summary

    Mr D complained the Council failed to secure education for his daughter, who has special educational needs, for nine months after they moved into its area. We have found fault, as the Council failed to secure (or make sufficient efforts to secure), temporary education while it assessed her needs. This led to a significant loss of service to Mr D’s daughter. We set out at the end of this statement action agreed by the Council to remedy this injustice and learn wider lessons from this complaint.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to provide a briefing for its staff who work in providing education for pupils with special educational needs to cover three matters. First, the triaging of cases where pupils move into the area from those parts of the United Kingdom outside England. Second, to set out our expectation that when Government guidance places a requirement on the Council to act (for example with use of words like must or shall) that it should be able to demonstrate it has done all that might be reasonably expected to fulfil that expectation. Third, to cover circumstances when it is appropriate to refer to its unreasonable customer behaviour policy, taking account of commentary in the decision statement on this point.The Council agreed to review its current policy to support pupils with special educational needs who are not enrolledin school through its Individual Pupil Support service. This was to address our concern the present arrangements wereunlikely to provide for a full-time education or equivalent for such pupils andso fall short of the legal requirement the Council has when providingalternative provision. In particular, the Council agreed to review how it canbe more flexible about reviewing an initial commitment to only offer three hours of one-to-one provision if a child engages with that. It should not have anypolicy that it only reviews that offer after six weeks.

  • East Sussex County Council (21 019 099)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 20-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about delays with the Council in completing a DRE assessment and reviewing her appeal of the DRE assessment. Mrs X also complained the Council has failed to fully acknowledge the expenses she incurs because of her disability. We found fault with the Council for the delays and the avoidable distress, frustration and inconvenience this caused Mrs X. We also found fault with the Council failing to fully assess all Mrs X’s requested DREs. The Council agreed to ensure it has backdates Mrs X’s approved DREs correctly, complete a review of an outstanding DRE and pay Mrs X £300 for the avoidable distress, inconvenience and frustration caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to complete a review into its financial assessment processes and provide evidence of the implementation of the outcome of this review within its service to the Ombudsman.

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