Service improvements

Essex County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026

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 - 6 of 6 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 (25 007 175)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 29-Mar-2026

    Summary

    Miss B complained the Council did not consider all evidence in reaching its safeguarding outcome. There was fault by the Council. It failed to communicate with Miss B about its consideration of the information she raised with it and explain why this did not change the safeguarding outcome. Miss B suffered distress and frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss B, make a symbolic payment and issue a staff briefing.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff that when further information is presented to the Council after a safeguarding outcome is reached, that it should communicate with the family whether it has changed the outcome and why. This will provide assurance in future cases that all available evidence has been considered and prevent avoidable distress.

  • Essex County Council (24 023 221)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 15-Dec-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to provide full information regarding Mrs Y’s care home fees or to explain that Mrs Y would be responsible for the cost of 1 to 1 care in addition to the standard care home charges. We found the Council’s failure properly explain how much Mrs Y would be charged for her care, or for what period of time is fault. The Council’s failure to identify a suitable nursing home for Mrs Y is also fault. These faults meant Miss X received an unexpected substantial bill for Mrs Y’s care which caused Mrs Y’s family shock and distress. The Council will apologise and make a symbolic payment to Mrs Y’s family.

    Service improvements

    • Remind relevant staff of the importance of providing as much information as possible about charging for adult social care and the costs of the package of care at the time they arrange the care. And to ensure they make a full record of the advice and information given.

  • Essex County Council (24 022 753)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 15-Dec-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained on behalf of her late mother, Mrs Y, about the Council’s handling of care charges while Mrs Y was in residential care. Miss X complains the Council failed to provide information about care charges in a timely manner and invoiced Mrs Y for increased care charges without prior discussion. Miss X says the Council’s actions caused significant avoidable distress. We found fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to provide an apology and a financial remedy and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    Provide evidence of the steps taken by the Council to ensure it keeps families informed about changes in care home chargesProvide evidence of the steps taken by the Council to ensure it checks with care home managers about their expected ratesRemind staff to keep proper and appropriate records regarding the negotiation and agreement of care charges

  • Essex County Council (24 018 068)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 27-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Mr B complained about how a Care Provider, Brooks Care and Nursing Services Ltd (commissioned by the Council) administered medication to his wife. We upheld the complaint, finding the Care Provider at fault for not giving medicine correctly, not sharing records with Mr B, poor customer service and not being candid with Mr B or the Council about its failings. We also found the Council at fault for carrying out an inadequate adult safeguarding investigation. These faults caused injustice as distress to Mr B and caused potential risk to his wife. The Council has accepted these findings and agreed a series of actions to remedy their injustice and improve its service to help prevent a repeat.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed that it would seek assurance from the Care Provider at the centre of this complaint, that it had a complaint procedure in place consistent with its contract expectations. That it would look to ensure the Care Provider signposted those dissatisfied with its service to that procedure.The Council agreed to remind its social work staff to signpost users of services dissatisfied with a commissioned care provider to complaint procedures if they cannot resolve an issue to their satisfaction. They should not suggest the user looks to use a different care provider as an alternative to pursuing a complaint.The Council agreed to remind social work staff undertaking adult safeguarding enquiries that their investigations must properly explore and reflect the concerns giving rise to those enquiries. They should also reach evidence based conclusions. This was after this investigation highlighted a series of flaws with the Council's investigation of a care provider, where it failed to make robust enquiries, nor properly examine information it held showing irregularities in medication administration and record keeping.

  • Essex County Council (24 015 623)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 08-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council failed to support her late father, Mr Y, properly after he left hospital in July 2024. Both the council and the care provider were at fault for failing to recognise the need for an urgent review of Mr Y’s needs. This caused avoidable distress to Mrs X and delayed funding for Mr Y’s care home placement. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to Mrs X. It will also reassess the charges for Mr Y’s care and take action to improve working practices.

    Service improvements

    The Council identifies the action it needs to take to ensure:a) its officers recognise the need to urgently review care needs;b) care providers, already providing Council commissioned care for an individual, do not enter into private arrangements to provide care for that individual which should be funded by the Council under the Care Act.

  • Essex County Council (24 003 413)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 27-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council wrongly billed the estate of her relative (Mrs Q) for her residential care when she was eligible for funding under section 117 aftercare. We found fault by the Council because it did not complete a detailed section 117 assessment or aftercare plan when Mrs Q was discharged from hospital. However we consider if it had done so it would, on the balance of probabilities, have found Mrs Q did not have section 117 aftercare needs requiring residential care. The Council agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to Mrs X in recognition of the uncertainty caused to her by the identified fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will identify the reasons why a section 117 aftercare plan was not completed in this case. It will explain what action it will take to prevent a recurrence of this fault.

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