Service improvements

Essex County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

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 13 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 (23 011 983)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Mar-2024

    Summary

    There was a sixteen week delay in the Council issuing an amended final EHC Plan after an annual review meeting. There was also a failure to resolve the complaint at local level. This caused injustice. The Council will apologise, make a symbolic payment and consider service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review whether staffing changes have improved service delivery times, including regarding the handling of complaints and compliance with EHC Plan annual review timescales.

  • Essex County Council (23 010 114)

    Category: Education Date: 13-Mar-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to amend her son, Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan in line with the statutory guidance, to provide a personal budget and to provide appropriate education for him between April 2022 and December 2023. The Council delayed issuing an amended EHC Plan and failed to provide the provision in Y’s plan from April 2022 to November 2023. The Council agreed to apologise to Mrs X, reimburse her for the provision she paid for and pay her £6,500 to recognise the injustice caused to her and the provision Y missed.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind staff completing annual reviews that final amended Education, Health and Care Plans must be issued within 12 weeks of the annual review meeting.The Council will provide relevant staff with written guidance on the Council’s non-delegable responsibilities under Section 42 Children and Families Act, and what action staff should take when they become aware a child or young person is not receiving the provision in their Education, Health and Care Plan.

  • Essex County Council (23 007 358)

    Category: Education Date: 22-Jan-2024

    Summary

    There was excessive delay in completing an annual review and responding to complaints. There was also fault in the way the Council handled a request for education direct payments. This caused a loss of special educational provision and unnecessary distress, time and trouble. The Council will apologise, make symbolic payments and consider how to improve the timeliness of its service. The complaint is upheld.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review why there was such excessive delay in the handling of this complaint and the EHC plan review process and consider if this part of a wider systemic problem. It will advise the Ombudsman what actions it intends to take to improve timeliness of annual reviews and complaint handling.

  • Essex County Council (23 007 066)

    Category: Education Date: 20-Mar-2024

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council. There was delay of one year in completing the Education, Health and Care Plan needs assessment process. There was also delay in arranging alternative education provision once the Council became aware that a child was not in school. An apology, payment and service improvements remedy the injustice caused from loss of suitable education.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its processes to ensure it issues final EHC Plans within statutory timescales.The Council will review its processes to ensure that it consults appropriately with schools without delay.The Council will reviews its processes to ensure that where its SEND team become aware of a child who is not attending school, whether or not they have an EHC Plan, a decision on alternative provision is made without delay.

  • Essex County Council (23 004 613)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Sep-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about delay and poor communications while the Council carried out an education, care and health needs assessment for her daughter. We upheld the complaint, finding delay. This caused injustice to Mrs X because of the resultant uncertainty created. The Council accepts these findings. At the end of this statement, we set out the action it has agreed to take to remedy Mrs X’s injustice and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    As a result of this complaint, the Council recognised that it needed better communications with parents when education, health and care plans were subject to delay. It agreed that it would consider policy options for how it could improve these, including providing parents with regular updates (say at four or six weeks) when assessments were delayed waiting for education psychology advice or once the 16 week limit had passed for saying if it would issue an education, care and health plan.

  • Essex County Council (23 004 198)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Nov-2023

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council in ensuring the implementation of provision set out in an education, health and care plan. The Council was also entitled to refuse the complainant’s request for a personal budget, but it was at fault because it did not inform her she had the right to request a review of this decision. The Council has agreed to apologise for this, invite her to request a review now, and remind staff of this requirement.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to circulate guidance to all relevant staff, to remind them a decision to refuse a personal budget request carries a formal right of review, and the statutory guidance requires them to inform a requestor of this right, when writing to inform them of the Council’s decision.

  • Essex County Council (23 001 990)

    Category: Education Date: 21-Sep-2023

    Summary

    The Council took too long to issue the final Education Health and Care (EHC) plan for Miss B’s son. Its communication with her was not always clear. It is not clear that the Council took account of its anticipatory duty to meet Miss B’s need for reasonable adjustments and it is likely that this contributed to the delay. This caused Miss B distress and frustration, and meant her son missed out on the provision he was entitled to. The Council has agreed to remedy this.

    Service improvements

    Share with staff the Ombudsman’s focus report ‘Equal Access: Getting it right for people with disabilities’, and remind them of the Council’s anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments.Share this decision with the relevant staff.

  • Essex County Council (23 001 123)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Aug-2023

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for the time taken to amend and issue an Education, Health and Care plan following an annual review. This caused injustice as the child did not know what support they were due to get until just before they moved into post-16 education. To remedy the injustice caused, the Council agreed to apologise, make a payment for the distress caused and produce an action plan showing how it will meet statutory timescales for annual reviews.

    Service improvements

    Look at what went wrong in this case and why there were significant delays and produce an action plan to demonstrate how the Council will meet statutory timescales for annual reviews.

  • Essex County Council (23 000 503)

    Category: Education Date: 30-Jul-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council delayed assessing her child, Y, for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan). We found the Council was at fault. It delayed conducting an assessment with an Educational Psychologist which as a result, has not decided whether to issue Y an EHC Plan. The Council is currently making service improvements to prevent a recurrence of fault. However, the Council has agreed to make Mrs X a symbolic payment to acknowledge the distress, frustration and uncertainty the matter has caused her. It will also make a further payment to Mrs X to acknowledge further delay once it has made a decision or issued a final EHC Plan to Y.

    Service improvements

    The Council is making service improvements to respond to the increased demand of Education Health and Care Plan assessments and a shortage of Educational Psychologists.

  • Essex County Council (23 000 061)

    Category: Education Date: 21-Dec-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained about how the Council dealt with his child’s, Y, Education Health and Care Plan. Mr X also complained about the Council’s poor communication with him and how it dealt with his complaint. There were faults by the Council which caused injustice to Y and Mr X. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    Provide the Ombudsman with further update on the outcome of the SEND Co ordination and Oversight Groups consideration of the issues and actions it proposes to take to address its complaint handling and communication difficulties.Provide the Ombudsman with a further update on the Council's progress as set out in its action plan on how it will meet statutory timescales for EHC Plan annual review process and issuing final EHC Plans.

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