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 11 - 20 of 22 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 (24 021 378)

    Category: Education Date: 07-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide her child, Y with provision as outlined in their Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. She also complained about annual review delays. The Council failed to ensure Y received Speech and Language Therapy provision from September 2023 to June 2025 and has not issued an amended Plan following an annual review in 2023. As a result, Y has lost out on Speech and Language Therapy for over one and a half years. The Council agreed to make payments to acknowledge the impact on Y’s education and the distress and uncertainty caused to Mrs X. It also agreed to issue Y’s amended EHC Plan without further delay and carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its commissioning arrangements for Speech and Language Therapists to ensure it has sufficient therapists to deliver Speech and Language therapy provision outlined in Education Health and Care Plans. If this is already part of the Council’s Special Education Needs and Disability improvement plan it should provide us with an update on its progress.

  • Essex County Council (24 020 580)

    Category: Education Date: 12-Oct-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the Council’s failure to deliver therapies included in her daughter’s (Y) Education Health and Care Plan, to agree a Personal budget for Y and to review Y’s plan. Mrs X also complained about the way the Council carried out Y’s Education Health and Care needs assessment. We found fault with the Council. This fault caused injustice to Y and Mrs X. The Council has offered a suitable financial remedy. The Council has also agreed to ensure Y receives therapies in the new school year and improve its Personal budget process.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its Personal budget process to make it compliant with its policy.The Council will ensure that when refusing a Personal budget request for a child with an EHC Plan it sends its response in writing giving the reasons and advising of the right to ask for a review.The Council will remind all the SEND front-line staff of the Council’s duties in relation to Personal budgets for children with EHC Plan. For this purpose the Council might use our Focus report “Parent Power: personal budgets in EHC plans”.

  • Essex County Council (24 019 303)

    Category: Education Date: 23-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council has not dealt properly with school transport for her son, causing distress and financial loss. The Council is at fault because it did not initially respond to Mrs X’s complaints and did not properly consider whether transport for Y was suitable. Mrs X suffered distress and financial loss. The Council should apologise, pay Mrs X £150 for time and trouble, backdate Y’s travel allowance, pay Mrs X £250 for avoidable distress, review Y’s transport provision and review its policy.

    Service improvements

    Review its home to school transport policy to ensure it reflects the statutory guidance in relation to sufficiency of travel allowances.

  • Essex County Council (24 018 461)

    Category: Education Date: 12-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to complete an Education, Health and Care needs assessment for her child, Y, within the statutory time limits. She said this caused Y to miss out on a suitable education. We found the Council at fault for not completing the assessment within the statutory timescales and for not providing a suitable education for Y. This fault caused injustice to Mrs X and Y. The Council has agreed to make a payment to recognise Y’s loss of education and the distress to them and Mrs X. The Council has also agreed to make changes to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue a staff briefing to all front line staff who may come into contact with schools or parents to make them aware of the Council’s Section 19 responsibilities and understand they must make the relevant Council teams aware if a child of compulsory school age is not attending school full-time.The Council will review templates used by its SEND information, advice and support services to ensure they are accurate and introduce a regular process of checking the accuracy of information provided by this service.

  • 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 (24 016 518)

    Category: Education Date: 30-Jun-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to arrange suitable education for her daughter, Miss Y, for the 2024/25 school year. The Council failed to secure the education from Miss Y’s Education Health and Care Plan after the college she was supposed to attend did not admit her. It also failed to review Miss Y’s plan when it should have done and communicated with Ms X poorly. This caused Miss Y to miss around a year of education and also caused Miss Y and Ms X avoidable distress. The Council agreed to apologise, and pay them a financial remedy. It also agreed to issue reminders to its staff.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to remind its special educational needs staff that the Council is responsible for securing all the provision in a child or young person’s Education Health and Care Plan and should intervene if there is evidence to show support is not being provided.The Council agreed to remind relevant staff of the importance of recording correct information about people and that they should take care to ensure the information they record is accurate.

  • 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 (24 014 730)

    Category: Education Date: 27-May-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained about school transport provided to her daughter (Y) and the Council’s complaint handling. We found fault in the way the taxi company provided school transport for Y on behalf of the Council. We also found fault in the way the Council responded to Miss X’s complaints. The Council has agreed to apologise, make payments to recognise Miss X’s distress and extra time and trouble spent complaining and discuss the issues raised in Miss X’s complaint with the taxi company. It has also agreed to provide details of the measures taken to ensure improvements in the school transport service provided by the taxi company and to review its complaint handling.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide a summary of the measures it has taken as part of the performance improvement plan for the taxi company.The Council will review its complaint handling process when the complaint is about an organisation or private company delivering services on the Council’s behalf to ensure the third party’s response forms part of the Council’s complaint process. The Council will also ensure when responding to these complaints it addresses the issues raised and offers suitable remedies including service improvements.

  • Essex County Council (24 012 120)

    Category: Education Date: 14-May-2025

    Summary

    Dr X complains that the Council failed to ensure her child, Y, received the provision in his Education, Health and Care Plan. We found the Council at fault as the school delayed in putting in place some of the provision in section F of Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This made it harder for Y to settle into his school and disadvantaged him. The delay also caused distress to Dr X. The Council will remedy this injustice as recommended.

    Service improvements

    Share the learning from this complaint with the school which is that the provision set out in section F should be made from the date of a pupil’s final Education, Health and Care Plan or from the date they start at the school (if later).

  • Essex County Council (24 010 899)

    Category: Education Date: 11-May-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the delay in her son’s (Y) Education Health and Care needs assessment and the Council’s failure to communicate with her. We found fault with the Council. This fault caused injustice to Y and Miss X as there has been uncertainty about the educational support Y needs. Miss X was distressed by the lack of communication from the Council. The Council agreed to apologise, make symbolic payments for the delay and distress and introduce a system of regular communication for the parents and young people waiting for the assessments.

    Service improvements

    The Council will introduce a system of regular updates for parents and young people waiting for EHC needs assessments. The Council will decide on their frequency and content. The Council will provide the evidence that this has happened.

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