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 1 - 10 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 (21 012 499)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council delayed finalising her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan causing distress and financial loss. We found the Council at fault. We recommended the Council provide Miss X with an apology and payment for distress, and act to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will identify the reasons for its delay in completing an annual review of a child's Education Health and Care Plan, take action to prevent recurrence and update the Ombudsman on the actions taken.

  • Kent County Council (21 010 429)

    Category: Education Date: 25-Feb-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about delays with assessments and issuing a final Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) for her daughter. She said the delays had detrimental effect on her daughter’s progress especially in view of her age and the nature of her special educational needs. We find the Council at fault for the delay in completing the EHCP and delivering special educational provisions to Mrs X’s daughter. We also find fault in the way the Council communicated with Mrs X and how it handled the complaint. The Council accepted our recommendations.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff of its duty to deliver special educational provisions which are included in Section F of children's and young people's Education and Health Care Plans.The Council will review its processes with Health and Special Educational Needs Inclusion Fund to ensure the funding arrangements do not impact on the Education and Health Care Plans timescales and delivery of special educational provisions.

  • Kent County Council (21 006 802)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Mrs K complains about a lack of suitable education being provided to her son (Child X) who has special educational needs. Mrs K also complains the Council failed to identify a suitable school placement for Child X and has not updated his Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP). We found the Council used reasonable endeavours to find an alternative school placement for Child X. However, for some of the period Child X was out of school, the Council failed to provide him with suitable education, as required by law. For other periods, we have no jurisdiction to investigate because Mrs K could have reasonably appealed the issue of Child X’s school placement to a Tribunal. We do consider both Mrs K and Child X have suffered an injustice by reason of the Council’s failings and the Council has agreed to remedy this.

    Service improvements

    The Council will undertake a detailed review of the case to understand why this child was not provided with full-time education between September 2020 to September 2021. It should also review its practices with respect to conducting annual reviews in accordance with the provisions of the Code. The purpose of the review is to inform a number of measures to adopt to inform service improvements for the future. The Council will provide evidence of the review to the Ombudsman by the date set out above.

  • Kent County Council (21 006 721)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 01-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Mrs B says the care home commissioned by the Council neglected and abused her mother and, in investigating those concerns, the Council failed to properly consider the evidence. The Council failed to consider all parts of the referral but there is no fault affecting its decision that there was insufficient evidence of neglect in this case. A reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    Within one month of my decision the Council should send a reminder to officers dealing with safeguarding investigations to ensure that when reaching a conclusion on a referral the decision covers all aspects of the original referral.

  • Kent County Council (21 005 950)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 27-Jan-2022

    Summary

    Ms C complains the Council failed to calculate charges properly and inappropriately pursued for arrears. As well as making some procedural changes the Council has agreed to apologise to Ms C and pay her £250 for how it dealt with backdating charges. The Council is also at fault for failing to properly consider payments made by Ms C towards housing and council tax in financial assessments for care at home. It has agreed to reconsider Ms D’s current financial assessment and review procedures.

    Service improvements

    review the charging policy to account for situations such as Ms D’s;advise and if necessary, provide staff training about any changes to the charging policy.

  • Kent County Council (21 005 008)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 14-Jan-2022

    Summary

    Mr C complained the Council failed to consider all his medical information before refusing his Blue Badge application. We find fault with the way the Council considered Mr C’s application and the decision letter it issued. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address Mr C’s injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to issue written reminders to relevant officers to ensure they provide enough detail for applicants to understand why their Blue Badge application was unsuccessful.

  • Kent County Council (21 004 641)

    Category: Education Date: 14-Feb-2022

    Summary

    We upheld a complaint about a delay in issuing an Education, Health and Care Plan. The delay caused avoidable distress, a delay in appeal rights and a loss of education provision for Y who has autism. The Council will apologise, make payments and take action described in this statement.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure staff in the Tribunal and Special Educational Needs' teams are instructed to ensure statutory timescales for completing Education, Health and Care Plans are adhered to even when a case is under appeal to the tribunal.

  • Kent County Council (21 004 335)

    Category: Education Date: 22-Nov-2021

    Summary

    Mrs G complains the Council delayed in completing an Education and Health Care Plan annual review for her daughter (Child X) who has special educational needs. Mrs G says the failure meant Child X did not receive suitable educational support for an extended period of time. We found the Council was at fault for delays in completing an annual review of Child X’s EHCP. These failings delayed Child X receiving specialist educational provision which was appropriate for her needs. Further, the failings caused Mrs G serious distress and uncertainty. We have therefore recommended a remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its handlingof holding annual reviews within the time frames set out in the statutory code. TheCouncil will also conduct a review of the complainant's case and identify serviceimprovements to be implemented for the benefit of service users in the future.

  • Kent County Council (21 003 813)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 31-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s management of a child protection investigation involving his son. We find fault with the Council. The Council will apologise, implement service improvements, and pay him £200 for his distress.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind social workers in children’s social care to keep written records of all meetings and phone calls.

  • Kent County Council (21 002 970)

    Category: Education Date: 14-Jan-2022

    Summary

    the complainant Ms X complained the Council failed to provide suitable educational provision for her child or offer any alternative provision once he reached compulsory school age. The Council says it provided suitable educational provision but did not issue an amendment as early as it should. We found the Council at fault. The Council agreed to apologise, pay £200 in recognition of the distress caused and to share the decision with staff to improve services.

    Service improvements

    Share this decision with staff to remind them of the need consider alternative provision when a child reaches compulsory school age.

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