Service improvements

Essex County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025

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 1 - 10 of 24 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • Essex County Council (24 013 546)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 07-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s delay repairing the footpath outside her home and about the Council’s handling of her complaint. While its approach to the footpath repair was not fault, we find the Council at fault for failing to make reasonable adjustments when responding to Miss X’s complaint. This caused her avoidable difficulty understanding the response. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to using this complaint as a case study, issue a briefing note to remind staff of its duty to provide reasonable adjustments.

  • Essex County Council (24 008 605)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Dr P complained about the Council’s failure to provide Speech and Language Therapy as set out in her child’s Education, Health and Support (EHC) Plan and related matters. We found the Council to be at fault. It did not provide enough therapy and took too long to advise Dr P of its intention to amend the EHC Plan. This caused Dr P distress and uncertainty. To remedy this injustice and the impact of the missed provision, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Dr P and take action to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its procedures to ensure actions required after an annual review are carried out within the legal timeframe.

  • Essex County Council (24 007 940)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Mar-2025

    Summary

    The Council failed to make sure that Mrs B’s son received his full provision as set out in his Education Health and Care Plan. There was fault by the Council because it failed to review and amend the Plan in accordance with government guidance. The lack of support meant that her son failed his college exams and lost his apprenticeship. The Council has improved how it handles transitions for post-16 students, with a new dedicated team. It should also apologise to Mrs B and her son, and make a payment to recognise the impact on them both.

    Service improvements

    Share this decision with relevant staff responsible for maintaining EHC Plans,particularly around transition to different phases of education.Share this decision with relevant staff responsible for dealing with complaints about provision not made under an EHC Plan and remind them that the Council remains responsible for provision under a Plan.

  • Essex County Council (24 004 237)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 30-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council failed to resolve drainage and disrepair issues on the road and pavement outside his house and this caused him distress. There was fault by the Council which caused avoidable distress, time, and trouble to Mr X. The Council agreed to apologise and pay a financial remedy. It will also share a copy of our final decision and issue reminders to relevant staff.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to share a copy of our final decision with relevant staff. It should remind them about the importance of:properly considering the Council’s range of powers to resolve highway issues, and fully recording these considerations; fully recording risk assessment and prioritisation for highway defects in line with the Council’s policies; andproperly responding to people who report highway issues and complaints to ensure the Council’s position is clear.

  • Essex County Council (24 001 924)

    Category: Education Date: 08-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X says the Council has failed to issue her son, Y’s final Education, Health and Care Plan in line with the statutory timescales. Mrs X also says the Council failed to liaise with her preferred school and gave incorrect information about being unable to contact the school. Mrs X says this case her and her family distress. We have found fault in the actions of the Council for delaying in issuing the Education, Health and Care Plan and delaying in contacting Mrs X’s preferred school. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X, pay her a financial payment and complete service improvements.

    Service improvements

    In writing, share this decision with relevant team colleagues to ensure appropriate learning from the investigation.

  • Essex County Council (24 001 603)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Sep-2024

    Summary

    The Council was at fault because it failed to ensure Y received speech and language therapy in line with his Education, Health and Care Plan. This caused a loss of special educational provision, avoidable distress and time and trouble complaining. The Council will apologise and make payments of £100 and £200.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share this statement with staff responsible for drafting complaint responses so they are aware of our expectations when complaint handlers are responding to complaints about commissioned services.

  • Essex County Council (23 020 908)

    Category: Education Date: 30-Jun-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complains on behalf of her son, Y. Mrs X says the Council failed to provide a finalised Education Health Care Plan after an annual review and failed to provide a completed Educational Health Care Plan for phased transfer. Mrs X says the matter has caused her distress and uncertainty. We have found fault in the actions of the Council for failing to issue a final Education Health Care Plan within the correct timescales. The Council has agreed to issue the plan, pay Mrs X a financial remedy and issue an apology.

    Service improvements

    Provide, if already in existence, or produce a plan detailing what action the Council is taking to address the delays in issuing Education Health and Care Plans and take this plan to the relevant scrutiny committee or panel for this issue.

  • Essex County Council (23 020 617)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 22-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to take timely action in response to her reports about items on grass highway verges causing obstruction. We found fault by the Council but consider the agreed action of an apology, symbolic payment and further contact with Mrs X provides a suitable remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue a reminder to relevant officers that reports of highways obstructions should receive a timely response with any necessary explanation about the Council’s priorities and that complaints should be dealt with in accordance with the Council’s complaints procedure.

  • Essex County Council (23 019 313)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 08-Aug-2024

    Summary

    The complainant (Mr X) complained about the Council’s failure to take effective action to unblock the ditch next to his property and about the Council’s inadequate communication. We found fault with the Council. This fault caused injustice to Mr X in the form of ongoing uncertainty about the Council’s intentions toward the issue he reported. The Council agreed to apologise, send Mr X a plan of action and make a symbolic payment to recognise Mr X’s time and trouble.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind the front-line staff from the Environmental Health Team of the need to keep service users informed of the progress of their cases even when the Council’s legal team is involved, as much as it is possible without compromising the legal process;The Council will remind the front-line staff from the complaint team of the need to adhere to the timescales of the Council’s corporate complaint policy.

  • Essex County Council (23 019 010)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Mrs F complained about the Council’s handling of her son’s education since late 2021. We found the Council at fault for failing to provide all the provision set out in his Education, Health, and Care Plan since January 2024. The Council should apologise and make payment to acknowledge the injustice its faults caused Mrs F and her son. We could not investigate Mrs F’s concerns about her son’s education and her needs assessment requests from before December 2023 as the Council’s decisions carried appeal rights to the SEND Tribunal.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind its SEND staff of the its duty to provide all the special educational needs provision set out in a child, or young persons, Education, Health, and Care plan without delay and ensure the provision identified meets assessed individual needs.The Council will review how it commissions speech and language therapist referrals to ensure assessments are completed without delay following a Tribunal Order or its agreement to do so.

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings