Service improvements

Essex County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023

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 - 24 of 24 cases with service improvements

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

  • Essex County Council (21 005 643)

    Category: Education Date: 25-May-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the Council’s handling of her daughter, Y’s, Education Health and Care plan, and its failure to ensure Y received a suitable education. The Council was at fault for a significant delay in finalising Y’s plan, a delay in consulting the family’s preferred school, and a failure to check whether the education Y was receiving at home whilst a suitable school was identified was suitable. I have recommended it pay Mrs X £1,800 to remedy the costs of educating Y at home for a longer period due to the delays and to recognise the educational opportunities Y missed out on. It should make changes to its processes to prevent recurrence of the faults.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its processes to ensure it issues Education Health and Care plans within statutory timescales and within relevant Tribunal time limits, consults appropriately with schools and is open with parents about consultations.The Council will review its processes to ensure that where its Special Educational Needs team becomes aware of a child with special needs is out of school it will share that information with relevant teams within the Council so they can consider whether further action is needed to support the child to attend school, take formal action for non-attendance or check that education provided at home is suitable, as needed.

  • Essex County Council (21 005 470)

    Category: Education Date: 13-Jun-2022

    Summary

    Mrs B says the Council failed to put in place alternative education provision for her son despite agreeing his placement was no longer appropriate for him. There were some delays by the Council ensuring the school put in place alternative provision and some communication issues with Mrs B. An apology to Mrs B and her son and payment to Mrs B is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will send a memo to officers dealing with children not attending school to remind them it remains the Council’s responsibility for ensuring education provision is in place if a school fails to make alternative provision even if the child remains on the school’s roll.

  • Essex County Council (21 004 607)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Apr-2022

    Summary

    Mr and Mrs F complain the Council has failed to provide suitable alternative education to their son (Child X) who could not attend his primary school due to his special educational needs. Further, they say the Council has not reviewed Child X’s Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) so that he could effectively transition to secondary school. We found the Council failed to provide alternative education for Child X while he was unable to attend primary school. The Council also failed to amend Child X’s EHCP in good time so that he could attend secondary school. The Council’s proposed transition arrangements for Child X were not appropriate for him and it has not provided suitable alternative education to him for this period also. These failings have caused Child X and both Mr and Mrs F serious loss, harm and distress. The Council has agreed to my recommendations to remedy this.

    Service improvements

    At a senior level, the Council will undertake a detailed review ofthis case. The review exercise will focus on why the complainant's child was not providedsuitable alternative education when he was unable to attend his mainstreamprimary school. Moreover, the Council will review why an EHCP review was notundertaken to inform what provision child needed to make a transition tosecondary school viable. The purpose of the review is to adopt measures toinform service improvements for each area of fault identified in thisstatement. The Council will then provide training to all staff involved in EHCParrangements relating to the Code, specifically when an annual review of anEHCP should be commenced and finalised and issued.

  • Essex County Council (21 000 724)

    Category: Education Date: 23-Jun-2022

    Summary

    Mr G complains the Council has failed to provide his daughter (Child X) with physiotherapy provision, as required by her Education and Health Care Plan. We found the Council has fallen significantly short of providing the provision Child X is entitled to receive by law. Further, the evidence shows a fundamental lack of management and oversight by the Council in relation to securing Child X’s education provision. We consider the failings identified have caused both Child X and Mr G a serious injustice. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to remedy this.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its complaint handling to ensure it offers a substantive consideration of concerns raised in its formal stage one and two responses. Further, the Council will undertake a detailed review of complainant's case. The review will focus on monitoring EHCP provision where this is provided by an external contractor on behalf of the Council. The purpose of the review is to identify improvements with respect to demonstrating good administrative practice and maintaining quality oversight over delivering EHCP provision.

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