East Sussex County Council
Annual statistics ?Find out more about annual statistics
-
Complaints upheld
88% Complaints upheld by East Sussex County Council
88% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 85% in similar authorities.
28 upheld decisions
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for East Sussex County Council's population, this is
5.1 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.The average for authorities of this type is
4.5 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.Statistics are based on a total of 32 investigations for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
-
Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
100% of cases were successfully implemented by East Sussex County Council
100% of cases we were satisfied the Council had successfully implemented our recommendations.
This compares to an average of 100% in similar authorities.
Statistics are based on a total of 20 compliance outcomes for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
-
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
7% Complaints with satisfactory remedy provided by East Sussex County Council
In 7% of upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
This compares to an average of 7% in similar authorities.
2 satisfactory remedy decisions
Statistics are based on a total of 28 upheld decisions for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
View all satisfactory remedy decisions
Annual letters
We write to councils each year to give a summary of the complaint statistics we record about them,
and their performance in responding to our investigations.
Reports ?Find out more about reports
In the last nine years, the Ombudsman has published the following reports against East Sussex County Council
Council asked to revise transport policy for adult learners with Special Educational Needs
East Sussex County Council has been asked to review its policy for providing home to college transport for young adults with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), after the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman criticised the way it dealt with a family’s situation.
East Sussex County Council to improve record keeping at school attendance meetings, Ombudsman says
East Sussex County Council has agreed to consider improving the records it keeps of meetings about school non-attendance following an Ombudsman investigation.
Service improvements ?Find out more about service improvements
Since April 2018, the Council has agreed to make the following improvements to its services following an Ombudsman investigation. We list up to 10 cases below – click ‘view all’ if there are more.
Case reference: 23 015 102
Category: Education
Sub Category: School admissions
- The clerk will remind the clerk about the need to make accurate and more detailed records of appeal hearings.
- The Council agreed to provide training to the panel about the consideration of evidence and reaching decisions on prejudice.
- The Council agreed to act to ensure on future appeals, the presenting officer has sufficient information to allow for detailed answering of questioning by panels.
- The Council agreed to act to ensure on future appeals, the Council as admission authority provides submission statements with fuller, relevant information.
Case reference: 23 014 977
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council has agreed to explain what action it intends to take around its commissioning arrangements for alternative provision tutors for children out of school. This is to prevent delays in securing alternative provision for children out of school going forward.
Case reference: 23 013 708
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Remind staff to adhere to the statutory timeframes as part of the Education, Health and Care Plan review process.
- Remind staff of the importance of recognising parental requests for early reviews of Education, Health and Care Plans, and of the importance of acting on those requests in a timely manner.
Case reference: 23 009 164
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council will review its processes for alternative provision to ensure they are in line with current statutory guidance in terms of timescale and the requirement for medical evidence.
- The Council will review its use of ‘off-rolling’ to ensure this is only used where the legal criteria is met.
- The Council will ensure that appropriate wording is used in EHC Plans to specify whether alternative provision is interim provision or whether it has decided a child’s needs cannot be met in any school and EOTAS is required.
Case reference: 23 010 574
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council failed to issue an amended Education, Health and Care Plan following an annual review in March 2022 and then delayed issuing a plan following a post-16 transition review. The Council has agreed to explain what action it has taken since 2022 to resolve the staffing issues in its Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) department which the Council stated caused the delays identified in this case. If staffing issues still exist, it should produce an action plan of how it intends to recruit and train staff to prevent future delays in statutory Education, Health and Care Plan processes.
- The Council should carry out training with its SEND staff and those staff who respond to complaints about the Education, Health and Care Plan process. The training should include the statutory timescales following annual reviews and reviews carried out prior to transitions.
Case reference: 23 006 935
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Domiciliary care
- The Council will ensure a local adult social care provider issues a reminder to all staff about staying the full length of time and to log in and out correctly using the electronic call monitoring system.
Case reference: 23 006 590
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will ensure it has a robust process in place to monitor when the annual review of an EHC Plan is due. Within this process it should ensure when the annual review is due the appropriate arrangements have been made for a meeting to take place.
- The Councill will ensure it has a process in place to keep detailed and contemporaneous records of special educational needs panel meetings.
Case reference: 23 005 967
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has already revised its alternative education policy (s19). But the Council will:include a timescale for deciding whether its alternative provision duty is triggered to prevent drift and delay.
- the Council will:remind its schools in its area to make prompt referrals to the Council when a pupil is not attending school.
Case reference: 23 003 041
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Safeguarding
- The Council has agreed to identify the action it is going to take to ensure staff maintain appropriate boundaries when dealing with colleagues who are acting as members of the public.
Case reference: 23 002 807
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they aware of the guidance which states • Following comments from the child’s parent or the young person, if the council decides to continue to make amendments, it must issue the amended EHC plan as soon as practicable and within eight weeks of the date it sent the EHC plan and proposed amendments to the parents. (Section 22(3) SEND Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.196)
Last updated: 4 April 2015