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 1 - 10 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 (24 006 616)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 24-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained about how the Council carried out a financial assessment in respect of his mother, Mrs Y’s, care home placement. There was fault in how the Council carried out Mrs Y’s financial assessment and how it responded to Mr X’s complaint. This caused Mr X avoidable distress for which the Council agreed to apologise and pay a financial remedy. It also agreed to review when it refers people for financial assessments and arrange a briefing for staff on costs of disregarded properties.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review its process for referring people for a financial assessment. It should ensure, whenever possible, that people have the necessary information about the contribution they will be expected to pay towards their care before they need to make decisions about the care they want.The Council agreed to provide a briefing to its financial assessment staff and practitioners about how the Council should consider allowances for costs to people of their disregarded properties. This should include the relevant rules, guidance and Council policy.

  • Kent County Council (24 006 374)

    Category: Education Date: 19-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the Council’s handling of her child, Y’s Personal Transport Budget (PTB) since late 2022. The Council has processed and decided Y’s PTB in line with its policy. However, it delayed processing Ms X’s change of circumstances requests on two occasions and delayed informing her of both underpayments and overpayments. It also communicated and handled her complaint poorly. The Council agreed to make a symbolic payment to recognise the distress and confusion this caused Ms X. It will also carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its procedures around the processing of Personal Transport Budget (PTB) change of circumstance requests to ensure requests are dealt with within 28 days as outlined in its PTB policy.Reviewits procedures to ensure that where there is a change of circumstances that itconsiders, at the time, whether this results in an underpayment or overpaymentof the Personal Transport Budget Itshould then notify the parent/carer of this in a timely manner.The Council will remind its complaint handlers to ensure all the main areas of a complaint are responded to and to respond to complaints in a timely manner.

  • Kent County Council (24 005 179)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 18-Feb-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the standard of care her son (Mr Y) received between August 2023 and May 2024 in a Care Home which was council commissioned. She also complained the Council delayed completing the subsequent safeguarding investigation and failed to involve her in this process. The Council was at fault as the safeguarding investigation found the Care Home failed to provide Mr Y with a healthy diet and adequately record Mr Y’s care. The investigation also found the Care Home made inappropriate comments after giving Mr Y first aid. The Council delayed completing the safeguarding investigation however it did involve Ms X throughout. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to acknowledge the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault because a safeguarding investigation found a council commissioned Care Home failed to provide a resident with a healthy diet and adequately record their care. The investigation also found the Care Home made inappropriate comments after giving the person first aid. The Council delayed completing the safeguarding investigation. The Council has created an action plan to monitor the concerns raised. It will update the action plan and provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the Care Home’s progress with this.The Council will carry out an unannounced visit to the Care Home and provide the Ombudsman with its report on this.

  • Kent County Council (24 004 875)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 02-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mrs B complained that the Council failed to provide adequate support to her and her son (C) when he was experiencing distress, failed to explain why he was not eligible for services from its disabled child team and delayed excessively in arranging personal assistant support through direct payments. We have found fault with the Council’s actions. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs B, pay her £1300 and provide evidence of improvements to its procedures for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide evidence of the steps taken to:•ensure direct payments are not held up due to discussions over which service is involved with a service user; and •ensure the reasons for decisions about which service a child will be under are fully explained to parents in good time.

  • Kent County Council (24 004 481)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Dec-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council has failed to make appropriate educational provision available for her daughter. She also said the Council’s communication has been poor. We find the Council was at fault. This caused significant distress to Miss X and her daughter missed out on education. We make several recommendations to address this injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the guidance which states within four weeks of a review meeting, the Council must notify the child’s parent of its decision to maintain, amend or discontinue the EHC Plan.The Council has agreed to, by training or otherwise, remind staff of the importance of adhering to the Council’s complaints procedure; andprovide training or guidance to all relevant staff on the Council’s duties when a child is unable to attend school.

  • Kent County Council (24 004 188)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 15-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to properly consider a disability related expenditure claim for her son, Mr Y. We have found fault in the Council’s actions. We agree with its recent change of mind which said it should have considered the circumstances of the claim more carefully when it made its original decision. This caused avoidable distress and frustration for Miss X and meant Mr Y was expected to pay towards his care and support for a period where he should not have done. To remedy the injustice caused by this fault, the Council has agreed to complete its suggested remedy of an apology and symbolic payment to the family.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant officers and managers of the need to act promptly in fulfilling a remedy it has already agreed with a complainant. This will help to ensure that matters are quickly brought to a close and lessen the likelihood of further distress and inconvenience to the complainant.

  • Kent County Council (24 004 142)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Feb-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide a suitable education for her daughter Z. Based on the information we have seen, there was fault in how the Council failed to consider whether it needed to arrange alternative education for Z when she stopped attending school. This caused Z to miss out on education and caused Mrs X avoidable distress. The Council should apologise, pay Mrs X a financial remedy and remind it staff of the Council’s legal duties.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to produce and circulate a briefing to its special educational needs and education staff, and relevant elected members, of the Council’s duties to arrange alternative education under section 19 of the Education Act 1996. This should include, but not be limited to, the Council’s legal responsibilities, its expectations for staff when concerns are raised that a child or young person is not accessing the education otherwise available to them and Ombudsman’s 'Out of school, out of sight' focus report.

  • Kent County Council (24 003 150)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 29-Oct-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complains about services provided by the Council’s children’s and adolescent services. The Council was at fault for failing to consider the complaint under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has agreed to now consider Mr X’s concerns through the statutory procedure and will apologise to him for failing to do this originally.

    Service improvements

    Remind relevant staff via training, or a briefing paper, of the statutory guidance Getting the best from Complaints as well as drawing their attention to the Ombudsman's practitioner's guidance.

  • Kent County Council (24 001 526)

    Category: Education Date: 23-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about how the Council failed to provide suitable education for her son, Y. There was fault with the Council’s actions. It was responsible for delays following a review of Y’s Education Health and Care plan, failed to properly consider whether it needed to make alternative arrangements for Y’s education and communicated with Mrs X poorly. This caused Mrs X avoidable worry, frustration and distress. The Council agreed to apologise, pay Mrs X a financial remedy and issue reminders to its staff.

    Service improvements

    The Council agree to remind staff in its special educational needs team about the importance of:complying with the statutory timescales following a review of an EHC plan;promptly taking action to secure the provision in EHC plans when it knows this is no longer being provided; andproperly considering and recording their decisions about whether the Council needs to make alternative education provision for children who are not attending school.

  • Kent County Council (24 001 423)

    Category: Education Date: 30-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mr and Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide an education for their disabled son and that it failed to provide the social care and respite set out in his Education Health and Care Plan. We found there was lack of provision over a prolonged period and a failure to respond to their complaint in a reasonable timescale. We recommended an apology, a payment of £9000 to recognise the impact of the missed provision and £500 to recognise the distress the matter caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council should produce and circulate a briefing note to relevant staff to remind them that it is not possible to make changes to the provision of a child who has an Education Health and Care Plan without issuing a revised plan and an amendment notice to enable the child or young person’s parents to comment. This is in line with the process for amending a plan set out in the SEN Code paragraphs 9.193 to 9.198.

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