Service improvements

Kent County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026

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 16 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 (25 003 233)

    Category: Education Date: 13-Feb-2026

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council delayed her son Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan annual review and failed to act on a personal budget request. She said the Council made errors in the amended EHC Plan and failed to correct them. Mrs X also complained the Council delayed reimbursing invoices for provision and delayed responding to her Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaints. We find fault in the Council’s actions. This caused financial loss, undue distress, time and trouble to Mrs X. The Council has agreed actions to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    Review the Council’s complaints process to ensure financial remedies are monitored and payments made efficiently.

  • Kent County Council (25 001 695)

    Category: Education Date: 18-Dec-2025

    Summary

    The Council failed to ensure it consulted Z’s preferred college placement to see if they could attend. It then delayed issuing Z’s Education, Health and Care Plan following an annual review and failed to ensure Z had suitable education in place for one year. The Council’s faults led to avoidable missed provision for Z and distress and frustration for Z and their parent, Ms X. To recognise the injustice caused by the faults in this case, the Council has agreed to apologise, pay Ms X £3,200 and take action to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council will investigate and report back to the Ombudsman about why a young person did not have their Education Health and Care Plan issued by 31 March 2025 setting out the details of their post-16 transition. It will outline action it has taken to ensure other children and young people are not similarly affected during key transition years in their education.The Council will outline what, if any, issues have been identified in the Council’s processes for consulting schools, colleges and other education providers which led to the faults in this case including missed provision. The Council should then outline any action it is taking to prevent recurrence of these issues in future.

  • Kent County Council (25 000 562)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 21-Oct-2025

    Summary

    The Council was largely not at fault for the support it offered to Miss X while her daughter, Y, was subject to a child protection plan. It was also not at fault for considering other family options before arranging a foster placement for Y. However, it was at fault for failing to handle Miss X’s requests for financial support properly. It has agreed to apologise to Miss X, and will take steps to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to ensure that its frontline children’s social care staff are fully aware of its ‘Section 17 Children Act 1989 Financial Assistance Guidance’.

  • Kent County Council (24 022 560)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Feb-2026

    Summary

    Mr X says the Council wrongly said his nursery had charged a compulsory top up fee, reached that decision without giving him an opportunity to comment and treated him differently to other nurseries that operate in the same way. There is no evidence of fault in how the Council reached its decision about the charges Mr X’s nursery was making or evidence it treated him differently to other nurseries. However, the Council did not give Mr X an opportunity to comment before telling him to refund the parents’ fee. That caused him frustration. An apology and guidance for officers handling complaints is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue guidance to complaint staff to ensure they know about the need to allow the provider complained about to respond to a complaint before the Council reaches a final decision.

  • Kent County Council (24 019 682)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Nov-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to ensure her child, Y had funding in place for social care provision outlined in their Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. The Council was at fault. It failed to provide a personal budget for part of Y’s social care provision and failed to provide any help for Ms X in sourcing a support worker for Y when she struggled to find one herself. It leaves uncertainty around whether more could have been done to ensure the support was in place. The Council agreed to apologise to Ms X and make a payment to acknowledge the injustice caused. It also agreed to review the social care provision to ensure a support worker is in place without further delay.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant officers via team meetings or staff briefings that personal budgets in Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans are optional. Where parents/carers express concerns with the Council that they no longer want a personal budget, then the Council should instead take responsibility to ensure the relevant provision is put in place.

  • Kent County Council (24 019 194)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Ms Y complained about the way the Council handled her son’s post 16 Education, Health and Care plan. We found the Council at fault. The Council had acknowledged a delay in issuing the plan and had offered a recognition payment. It has agreed to make an additional payment to appropriately address the injustice caused and to carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council should emind all relevant staff of the need to respond to correspondence appropriately.

  • Kent County Council (24 017 132)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 14-Aug-2025

    Summary

    The Council was not at fault in the way it decided to protect Mr Y’s belongings when he went into hospital or in the time taken to return the belongings to him. It was at fault for the delay in asking Mr Y whether he was happy with the Council securing his belongings once it was satisfied he could make his own decisions, however, this did not cause an injustice to Mr Y. The Council has already made a service improvement. The Council was also at fault for delaying responding to Mr X’s complaint. The Council has already apologised to Mr X and offered him a symbolic payment. It has agreed to remind relevant staff of the timescales set out in its complaints’ procedure.

    Service improvements

    The Council will amend its process so when a person using its service under the protection of property team does regain capacity, it will ask them whether they are happy for the Council to continue to secure their belongings and document their decision.The Council will remind relevant staff to respond to complaints in line with its complaints procedure.

  • Kent County Council (24 016 385)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 14-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Ms F complained that Kent County Council and NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board’s flawed Section 117 aftercare policy meant she would have to unfairly contribute toward accommodation costs. We consider the Council and ICB’s Multi-Agency Policy is flawed, which has caused Ms F confusion, uncertainty and distress. The Council and ICB have agreed to apologise to Ms F, make a symbolic payment to her, review the policy, and offer to reassess her Section 117 aftercare needs.

    Service improvements

    The Council and ICB should carry out a joint review of their Multi-Agency Policy (specifically sections 4.9 and 6.2) to ensure if falls in line with the Mental Health Act and Code of Practice's approach to Section 117 and accommodation. Once the Council and ICB have completed that review of the Multi-Agency Policy, within a further four weeks, they should contact Ms F to offer to arrange a comprehensive assessment of Ms F’s Section 117 aftercare needs, to support her discharge from her current hospital admission. If they decide Ms F will need accommodation on discharge from hospital, it should include a detailed analysis explaining if that placement meets the criteria for “accommodation plus”.During my investigation, the Council and ICB told me “There are approximately 250 people who have been identified that might be paying rent in the context of supported living, who receive Section 117 after-care”. Based on the Council and ICB’s flawed Multi-Agency Policy, some of those people may be unnecessarily paying towards their accommodation. Therefore, as part of individual service users’ Section 117 annual review process, the Council and ICB should review if those people’s supported living placement forms part of their Section 117 aftercare.

  • Kent County Council (24 016 061)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 27-May-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained that the Council took too long to make funding arrangements to support her mother’s place in a care home. We found the Council to at fault because it took over a year to resolve. This caused Mrs X significant distress and frustration. To remedy this injustice, the Council has agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to Mrs X. It will also take action to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council will carry out a review, at management level, about what went wrong in this case and provide the Ombudsman with a short report setting out the action it proposes to take to ensure financial assessments are completed in a timely fashion and there is sufficient management oversight of outstanding financial assessments.The Council will brief relevant staff of the importance of keeping family members informed of progress when carrying out financial assessments.

  • Kent County Council (24 012 991)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 14-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s actions when her son, Mr Y, had to move from supported residential accommodation. We have found fault because the Council was too slow to act in trying to find new accommodation and failed to adequately assess Mr Y’s needs or provide sufficient information linked to his move. This caused Miss X and Mr Y significant avoidable distress, frustration and uncertainty. To remedy the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise and make symbolic payments to Miss X and Mr Y. It will also provide reminders and guidance to relevant officers.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant officers and managers to comply with their responsibilities under relevant Care Act legislation and the Care and Support Statutory Guidance. This will help to ensure care and support plans are reviewed and updated in a timely manner. It will also help to ensure comprehensive, relevant information is shared with relevant service users at an early stage to promote their wellbeing and advise of possible options in the case presented.

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