Service improvements

Kent 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 21 - 30 of 30 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 (23 014 261)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 29-Jul-2024

    Summary

    Mrs B complains the Council did not tell her she would need to inform it if she started receiving a personal independence payment when a Council social worker helped her make an application. The Council accepts it knew about the award and should not have backdated charges. The Council has offered a satisfactory remedy which involves an apology, cancelling the backdated charges, payment to Mrs B and reminder to officers.

    Service improvements

    The Council will send a reminder to staff in adult social care. That will cover the need to recognise what constitutes a financial change of circumstances for those who are receiving a chargeable service and the need to tell the service user a financial change in circumstances may result in a change to their assessed charge.The Council agreed to send a reminder to its adult social care teams to ensure information is shared with the financial assessment team to prevent any unnecessary debt.The Council agreed to send a reminder to those dealing with complaints about the importance of considering all the concerns and offering a resolution at an early stage.

  • Kent County Council (23 013 508)

    Category: Education Date: 01-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mrs D complained how the Council handled her home to school transport appeal. She says the Council delayed dealing with her appeal. She also says the panel failed to properly consider the unsuitability of the pickup and drop off times from the transport arrangements. We find fault as the panel failed to consider what Mrs D originally wanted to appeal about. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to relevant officers and panel members who deal with home to school transport appeals to ensure they are aware parents can appeal about the suitability of the collection and drop off times from any proposed travel arrangements.

  • Kent County Council (23 013 257)

    Category: Education Date: 30-Jul-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council delayed in reviewing and amending her child D’s Education, Health, and Care Plan, and failed to respond to her complaint about this. There was fault by the Council which caused D to miss some support for their special educational needs. The fault also caused avoidable distress, time, and trouble for Mrs X. The Council agreed to apologise and pay a financial remedy. It will also identify any changes needed to its complaint handling process so it does not fail to respond to complaints in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review what happened in this case to establish why it failed to respond to the complaint. It will identify any changes needed to its complaint handling process to prevent similar issues in future.

  • Kent County Council (23 013 236)

    Category: Education Date: 30-Jul-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council failed in its duties to provide suitable education and Special Educational Needs support to her child, P. There was fault by the Council which caused P to miss education and SEN support. It also caused avoidable distress for P, and avoidable distress, time, and trouble for Mrs X. The Council agreed to apologise, pay a financial remedy, and properly consider Mrs X’s request for a Personal Budget for P’s Education, Health, and Care Plan. The Council will also review relevant processes, and issue reminders to staff in its Special Educational Needs Service and Children’s Complaints Team.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to issue a reminder to all staff in its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities service that where it decides to issue an Education, Health, and Care (EHC) Plan following an EHC needs assessment, the family has the right to request a Personal Budget, and the Council must properly consider and respond to this request. With this staff reminder, it will also share a copy of the Ombudsman’s November 2023 Focus Report, ‘Parent Power: personal budgets in EHC Plans’.The Council agreed to review the process it follows after it issues a final Education, Health, and Care (EHC) Plan, to ensure it meets its duty to immediately secure the special educational needs provision in the Plan. It will:specifically consider its practice where a child is out of school or not engaging with education. It will ensure it properly considers to what extent it can deliver the EHC Plan and makes a record of this consideration; anddecide whether it needs to make any administrative changes to its processes, or deliver training to staff, to ensure this is not missed in future.The Council agreed to issue a reminder to staff in its Children’s Complaints Team, about the importance of responding to all issues raised in a complaint, so complainants do not need to escalate their concerns to get a response.

  • Kent County Council (23 012 748)

    Category: Education Date: 02-May-2024

    Summary

    There was continued fault and delay by the Council in completing a statutory reassessment and a failure to secure provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan. There was administrative fault in the way the advice for reassessment was handled. There was also non-compliance with previous Ombudsman agreed recommendations. This caused distress, time, trouble and lost educational provision. The council will apologise, make a financial payment and carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its staff guidance and processes so EHC assessments and reassessments are completed on time and the Regulations and Code are followed when seeking advice, to include discussing the range of advice with parents and including their representations in documentation sent to professionals.The Council will review its staff guidance and processes to ensure it monitors and reviews the level of education provided to children educated otherwise than at school and to ensure all provision and therapies are in place.The Council will remind staff of the importance of complying with Ombudsman recommendations to avoid repeat complaints.

  • Kent County Council (23 012 170)

    Category: Education Date: 14-Apr-2024

    Summary

    the Council failed to issue a decision following three annual reviews for an EHC plan. That leaves Mr B with uncertainty about whether the Council would have arranged a new school placement for his son and included therapy in the EHC plan. The Council also delayed responding to a complaint. An apology, payment to Mr B, agreement to issue an EHC plan and putting in place a procedure to manage reviews is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will set up a process to manage annual reviews for EHC plans to ensure they are followed up on once a review has been completed.

  • Kent County Council (23 010 994)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 18-Apr-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council has not provided her mother, Mrs Y, with the care set out in her care plan. Miss X says the Council failed to adjust the care plan or the charges made once they pointed out Mrs Y was receiving less than her specified hours. I have found the Council at fault for failing to reduce Mrs Y’s care package in June 2022. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs Y and Miss X, backdates the charges, makes a symbolic payment and service improvements to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will consider how it can improve communication between the finance team and adult social care team,with a view to prevent a similar situation arising again.The Council will produce guidance for staff about managing debt for vulnerable adults.

  • Kent County Council (23 010 806)

    Category: Education Date: 08-May-2024

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council. The Council delayed issuing an amended Education, Health and Care Plan after an annual review. This meant the parents appeal rights were delayed. The Council also did not monitor the progress of a funded reintegration plan into school. An apology, payment and revised procedure remedy the injustice of loss of education.

    Service improvements

    Review its procedures and provide guidance to its staff to ensure decisions made to maintain, amend or cease Education, Health and Care Plan’s following reviews are issued within the statutory timescales.

  • Kent County Council (23 008 993)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Jul-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council failed to provide special educational needs provision for her child D in line with their Education, Health, and Care Plan. There was fault by the Council which caused D to miss provision and caused financial loss to Mrs X because she paid for some provision herself. The Council’s fault also caused avoidable distress for D, and avoidable distress, time, and trouble for Mrs X. The Council agreed to apologise, pay a financial remedy, and review relevant processes.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review the process it follows after it issues a final Education, Health, and Care (EHC) Plan, to ensure it meets its duty to immediately secure the special educational needs provision in the Plan. It will:specifically consider its practice for securing the Plan where a child is Educated Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS); anddecide whether it needs to make any administrative changes to its processes, or deliver training to staff, to ensure this is not missed in future.

  • Kent County Council (23 005 792)

    Category: Education Date: 21-Jul-2024

    Summary

    Ms M’s son, B, has been out of school for two years without any education because of delays by the Council amending his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. He should have a special school place. The impact on Ms M and her family has been very significant. We have recommended a symbolic financial payment and urge the Council to secure suitable education for B without further delay.

    Service improvements

    The Council will explain how it will ensure the Placement Panel supports the Council to make sound and timely decisions about schools for children with special educational needs in the future.The Council will present a copy of my final decision to the next meeting of the Council’s Children's, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee and also the SEND Sub-Committee.

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