Service improvements

Kent County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

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 - 30 of 33 cases with service improvements

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

  • Kent County Council (20 010 067)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complains about the Council’s decision not to fund all four legs of her journeys to take her child to and from school. She also complains about the way the Council calculated the distance between home and school for Personal Transport Budgets (PTB). The Council was at fault because it did not offer free arranged school transport to Mrs X’s child before she chose to use a PTB. The Council has agreed to apologise, reimburse additional travel costs and make a payment to Mrs X for her time and trouble. The Council will also amend its PTB policy to clarify the voluntary nature of the scheme and highlight this to current PTB users.

    Service improvements

    Amend Personal Transport Budget (PTB) Policy to make clear the voluntary and discretionary nature of the scheme and parents accepting this are aware it may not cover all their transport costs - highlight this disclaimer to all current users of the PTB schemeensure where council arranged transport is not viable that mileage payments will cover all four legs of the journey to and from school

  • Kent County Council (20 009 774)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 21-Jun-2021

    Summary

    Miss C complained about failures by the Council relating to the care of three of her children who are looked after children in foster care. We find the Council is at fault for failing to deal with Miss C’s complaint through the statutory children’s complaints process. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    • Using this case as an example, ensure staff dealing with complaints are aware of the circumstances when the statutory complaints process should be used for children’s social care services complaints.

  • Kent County Council (20 008 943)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Jan-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained about how the Council prepared and issued Z’s Education, Health and Care plan. The Council delayed in issuing the plan and failed to put alternative provision in place when it was aware Z was out of education. This caused Miss X avoidable frustration and meant Y was without suitable education for seven months. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Miss X and makes service improvements to prevent the fault occurring again.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind its staff they are able to seek new assessments if they feel it is necessary to write a child's Education, Health and Care plan.The Council will remind its staff they must send consultations to schools without delay.The Council will remind its staff that when they become aware a chlid may not be receiving a suitable education due to ill health, they should promptly consider if the Council should put alternative provision in place.

  • Kent County Council (20 008 289)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 06-Dec-2021

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the way the Council provided information about Mr Y’s care costs, and delays in the financial assessment. This meant Mrs X did not understand Mr Y would be charged for his respite stay and she was caused significant stress by an unexpected bill. We find the Council was at fault in the way it communicated with Mrs X, and in its failure to advise them of the cost of the care Mr Y received. We recommend the Council waive 50% of the cost of Mr Y’s respite stay and ensure it communicates properly in future. It should also take action to ensure it completes financial assessments before arranging care services where possible.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to ensure people are advised of the cost of care as soon as possible and complete financial assessments before a person receives care where possibleThe Council has agreed to provide training and/or refresher training to ensure staff are aware of the need to offer reasonable adjustments and how to do this

  • Kent County Council (20 006 985)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 21-Jun-2021

    Summary

    the complainant, Mr X, complained the Council failed to properly assess his mental health needs within the time set by the Council’s guidance or properly consider his complaint. The Council accepted some fault and apologised. We found the Council at fault and recommended an apology, payment of £200 and sharing the decision with staff to improve services.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault for failing to discuss a suicide note and meet its own deadlines for interviewing the person needing help. The Council has agreed to share our decision with staff to remind them of the need to cover all aspects of need to encourage vulnerable people to use their services.

  • Kent County Council (20 006 718)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Jun-2021

    Summary

    the Council delayed completing a review of an education, health and care plan, delayed issuing the final plan and failed to properly consider what education to put in place at home for Mr C’s son. An apology, payment to Mr C and his son, discussion about education plans going forward and a reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will send a memo to officers dealing with education, health and care plans to remind them of the need to ensure reviews take place promptly after 12 months and of the timescales required for issuing final plans;The Council will send a memo to officers dealing with provision of education to children out of school to ensure they are aware of the need to work with parents and, where relevant, to put in place a clear plan to increase education over time and to assess the provision in place.

  • Kent County Council (20 005 372)

    Category: Education Date: 02-Jul-2021

    Summary

    Mrs B complained about the Council’s failure to provide suitable education for her child, C, when they were unable to attend school because of anxiety and about delay in reviewing C’s education, health and care plan (EHCP). The Ombudsman found the Council was at fault in failing to make alternative provision when C was unable to attend school. It was also at fault in that it delayed in reviewing the EHCP and in responding to Mrs B’s complaint. The Council has agreed to issue an up-to-date EHCP, put in place alternative provision for C, apologise and make a payment in recognition of C’s lost education and SEN provision and the distress and frustration caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has also agreed to have in place a policy for children missing education for medical reasons. The policy should take account of current guidance and legislation.The Council will also provide training to relevant Council staff on the statutory duty to provide suitable education when a child is absent from school due to illness, exclusion or otherwise and the need to consider the individual circumstances of the case and all the evidence available.The Council will carry out an audit of children of compulsory school age who are on roll but have not attended school for more than 15 school days and where alternative provision is not being supplied, to ensure there is an assessment of their educational needs and how these are being met.

  • Kent County Council (20 004 611)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 07-Jun-2021

    Summary

    Mrs B and Mr C complained about the Council’s actions during a child protection investigation. We have found there was fault because the Council did not obtain Mr C’s permission and misled Mrs B when it took the child from her care. This caused significant distress to both Mrs B and Mr C. To remedy this injustice, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment to Mrs B and Mr C and review what happened to ensure a similar situation does not reoccur.

    Service improvements

    Reflect on the issues raised in this decision statement and identify any areas of service improvement, particularly about removal of children without a court order in place. The Council should prepare a short report setting out what the Council intends to do to ensure a similar situation does not reoccur. This report should be sent to the Ombudsman.

  • Kent County Council (20 003 413)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Nov-2021

    Summary

    The Ombudsman has already decided that the Council should have held an annual review of the complainant’s Education, Health and Care Plan in October 2018. This complaint considers the complainant’s concern that, because of this failure, he has lost out on his academic choices and on the required special educational needs provision specified in his Education, Health and Care Plan. We uphold some aspects of the complaint. The Council has agreed the recommended remedy and therefore we are closing the complaint.

    Service improvements

    To avoid future difficulties, the Council will: devise a working protocol about how schools and the Council's medical educational hubs should work together when a pupil is dual registered and who has SEN/medical needs preventing attendance at the mainstream school. Particular attention should be paid to Years 10 and 11 (GCSE years).

  • Kent County Council (20 003 321)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Aug-2021

    Summary

    the Council delayed reviewing Mr C’s daughter’s education, health and care plan, failed to carry out proper transition planning and failed to carry out a social care assessment. An agreement to carry out a social care assessment, apology to Mr C and his daughter and payment to both parties is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will send a memo to officers dealing with education, health and care plans to remind them of the need to ensure reviews take place promptly after 12 months, of the timescales for completing transition planning for those transferring to a new place of education and of the timescales required for issuing final plans.

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