Service improvements

Kent County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

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 27 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 (23 011 351)

    Category: Education Date: 05-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained Y had not received the physiotherapy support set out in his Education, Health and Care plan since March 2023. This risks Y’s physical deterioration. The Council was at fault. It should apologise, make a payment to remedy the injustice caused and take action to address the situation.

    Service improvements

    The Council is carrying out a commissioning review to address failures to put in place physiotherapy and other therapies it set out in the Education Health and Care plans for children and young people in its area.

  • Kent County Council (23 009 926)

    Category: Education Date: 17-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complains the Council did not deal with her son Y’s Special Educational Needs properly. The Council failed to deliver special educational needs (SEN) provision in Y’s EHC Plan, did not complete annual reviews of Y’s EHC Plan properly and did not respond to Ms X’s complaints in line with its corporate complaints policy. Ms X and Y suffered a loss of SEN provision and did not receive annual reviews properly. The Council should apologise, pay Ms X £1900 for missed SEN provision, show how Y’s EHC Plan is being met, show how annual review requirements will be met and deliver staff training.

    Service improvements

    Produce an action plan to demonstrate how the council will meet statutory timescales for annual reviews.Provide staff training to ensure they understand the legal framework and obligations in relation to the faults found.

  • Kent County Council (23 008 311)

    Category: Education Date: 13-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Mr D complained the Council has failed to provide his son, E, with a suitable education after his school placement broke down. We find the Council was at fault for how it handled Mr D’s son’s education after the placement broke down. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware children who receive alternative provision should have access to a broad and balanced curriculum where appropriate. The provision must also be of a standard a child would receive in school.

  • Kent County Council (23 006 845)

    Category: Education Date: 26-Feb-2024

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council causing injustice to Miss B and her family. The Council took too long to issue a final Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan following a review of this. It took too long to deal with Miss B’s complaints and to consider her request for a personal budget for her daughter’s education. The Council also did not do enough to make sure it was providing the education set out in her daughter’s EHC Plan. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy the injustice to Miss B and her child.

    Service improvements

    Share this decision with relevant staff, along with the Ombudsman’s focus report ‘Parent Power: learning from complaints about personal budgets’ (November 2023).Remind staff to be alert to requests for personal budgets and direct payments so that the Council can properly consider these.

  • Kent County Council (23 006 222)

    Category: Education Date: 20-Dec-2023

    Summary

    The Council took too long to issue a final Education Health and Care plan. It did not ensure that Miss B’s son could access the educational provision set out in the plan. The Council did not properly consider her request that the funding be made available to him to better deliver the plan while he could not attend school. The Council took too long to deal with Miss B’s complaint and did not properly address the issues she raised. The Council’s shortcomings meant that Miss B’s son missed out on education and caused her distress, frustration and uncertainty. The Council offered a means to remedy the impact on the family and it has agreed to my additional recommendations.

    Service improvements

    Share this decision with relevant staff, along with the Ombudsman’s focus report ‘Parent Power: learning from complaints about personal budgets’ (November 2023).Remind staff to be alert to requests for personal budgets and direct payments so that the Council can properly consider these.

  • Kent County Council (23 003 403)

    Category: Education Date: 19-Sep-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s Independent Appeal Panel’s decision to refuse his child, Y’s, appeal for a place at a grammar school. The Council was at fault. The Clerk’s notes did not explain how the Panel reached its decision. This caused Mr X uncertainty about its decision. The Council has agreed to arrange a fresh appeal with Mr X. It will also remind staff of the importance of keeping an accurate record of appeal hearings.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind all clerking staff of the importance of accurately recording how the panels have reached their decisions.

  • Kent County Council (23 003 106)

    Category: Education Date: 14-Aug-2023

    Summary

    Mr D complained about the appeal panel’s decision not to admit his son to his preferred secondary school. We find some fault in how the panel considered Mr D’s appeal. As a result, Mr D cannot be satisfied the appeal process was carried out fairly. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind clerks of the need to record robust and clear reasons for the panel’s decision at both stages of the school admission appeals process.

  • Kent County Council (23 001 905)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council removed a Personal Transport Budget (PTB) for her son without notice in October 2022. Mrs X says it took the Council five months to reinstate the PTB. Mrs X also complains the Council failed to respond to her complaint about this. The Council has acknowledged there was a delay and it took four months to complete the review of the PTB. We have found further fault with the Council’s request for medical evidence and complaint handling. To remedy the injustice caused to Mrs X the Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue guidance to staff explaining that applicants should be advised of the options available for obtaining and submitting medical evidence in support of their PTB appeal

  • Kent County Council (22 018 130)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Mar-2024

    Summary

    Miss B complained about matters connected to the Council’s management of a personal budget she receives to meet some of her child’s special educational needs. We upheld the complaint, mainly because the Council delayed too long in responding to Miss B’s complaints. We consider this caused her an injustice, as distress. The Council has accepted our findings and at the end of this statement, we set out the action it has agreed to remedy this injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed that it would try to arrange a meeting with health service commissioning bodies to discuss how it can improve current arrangements and publicity materials to support parents / carers who may want to request a personal budget to meet both education and health needs identified in an Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council agreed to also write to us to tell us the outcome of any meeting and actions agreed.

  • Kent County Council (22 017 780)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Oct-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained there was a failure to provide Occupational Therapy (OT) support that is part of her daughter’s EHC provision. She also complained the Council failed to respond to her complaint. We found the Council had failed to provide the required support over a prolonged period and it had not responded to her complaint. We recommended the Council made a payment to Mrs X and to her daughter and that it developed an action plan to address the lack of Occupational Therapist resources that led to the problem in her daughter’s case.

    Service improvements

    The Council should develop an action plan to show how it intends to address the ongoing lack of Occupational Therapy availability in its area. This should be reported to the relevant committee for democratic scrutiny and an update should be provided to the Ombudsman to set out the actions agreed to improve this area of provision.

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