Service improvements

Kingston upon Hull City 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 - 8 of 8 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for Kingston upon Hull City Council as a CSV file.

  • Kingston upon Hull City Council (24 023 192)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Feb-2026

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the unsuitable transport the Council provided for her child which led to harmful incidents and inappropriate restraint. We found the Council at fault for not offering Mrs X formal escalation or an appeal with its decision, not properly recording evidence to support its decisions, and failing to carry out a risk assessment. This caused significant frustration, uncertainty and distress to the family. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment, and review its policy to ensure parents can formally challenge decisions about transport arrangements.

    Service improvements

    The Council should review its school transport policy to include what formal process parents should follow when they do not agree with the Council’s travel arrangements for their child, including timescales; andOnce in place, the Council should write to relevant staff about this process and ensures all decision letters about transport arrangements to parents signpost them to this process (for example, by creating a letter template).

  • Kingston upon Hull City Council (24 022 114)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 28-Nov-2025

    Summary

    We upheld a complaint made by Mr D about how the Council considered his request for support with adaptations to his home to benefit his disabled child. We found the Council wrongly refused to consider awarding a Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) based on the cost of the proposed adaptations. While we could not say the adaptations would have necessarily proceeded, this fault resulted in avoidable delay and uncertainty for Mr D. The Council accepted these findings and agreed to remedy Mr D’s injustice as we recommended. This will include reviewing its decision. It will also improve its approach to considering high-cost adaptations to prevent a repeat.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed that it would introduce a policy or protocol that would explain how it will consider cases where it is asked to provide 'high cost' adaptations to homes, that will meet the needs of disabled household members. These are cases where the cost of adaptations will likely exceed the £30,000 limit for Disabled Facilities Grants (DFG) application.The Council agreed that it would present a report to its community scrutiny committee setting out our concerns about how it handled a request for 'high cost' adaptations from the complainant. The investigation found significant delay, flawed decision making and flaws in Council policy for considering discretionary awards in addition to disabled facilities grants. The report would consider how the Council was meeting timescales recommended by Government for deciding DFG requests and how these might be improved.The Council agreed that it would complete a review of its housing renewal policy, taking account of criticisms made in our decision statement where we highlighted passages that were unclear.

  • Kingston upon Hull City Council (24 020 630)

    Category: Education Date: 21-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to complete an Education, Health and Care needs assessment for her child, Y, within the statutory time limits. She also complained of poor communication from the Council. We found the Council at fault for not completing the assessment within the statutory timescales and for its poor communication. This fault caused injustice to Miss X. The Council has agreed to make a payment to recognise Miss X’s distress and make changes to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council will amend its webpages regarding applying for a primary or secondary school place to explain:• how parents should apply for a school place whilst still awaiting the outcome of an Education, Health and Care needs assessment; and,• how this process may change if the Council later decides to issue their child with an Education, Health and Care Plan.

  • Kingston upon Hull City Council (24 015 537)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 20-May-2025

    Summary

    The Council failed to investigate Ms X’s complaint using the children’s statutory complaints procedure when it should have done. It also delayed responding to Ms X’s complaint through its corporate complaints procedure. The Council’s faults have caused Ms X avoidable frustration and uncertainty. In recognition of this, the Council has agreed to apologise, pay Ms X £250 and carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind complaint handling staff of the importance of using the Council’s screening tool for ensuring that complaints which should be investigated under the children’s statutory procedure are not missed in future.The Council has agreed to demonstrate that it has considered what caused the delays in its corporate complaints handling in this case and has taken steps to prevent these delays in future.

  • Kingston upon Hull City Council (24 012 465)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Mr and Mrs X complained the Council delayed providing their child, Y with an education placement or an appropriate education following an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan review in 2023. The Council was at fault. It failed to keep oversight of Y’s education or decide whether alternative provision was appropriate when they were out of school. It then failed to ensure Y could attend their named placement in the EHC Plan. It meant Y went without education for three terms. The Council also failed to issue an amended EHC Plan naming a post-16 placement in Y’s phase transfer year. The Council agreed to apologise and make payments to Mr and Mrs X and Y to recognise the impact on Y’s education and the distress and uncertainty caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant officers to keep oversight and decide whether it has a duty to provide alternative provision when it becomes aware a child is not attending school.The Council will remind Special Educational Needs and Disability officers of the duty to carry out phase transfer annual reviews and issue amended Education, Health and Care Plans in line with statutory timescales naming a post-16 educational placement by 31 March in the year of transfer.

  • Kingston upon Hull City Council (24 012 182)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 04-Feb-2026

    Summary

    Ms Y complained about how the Council dealt with her mother’s, Mrs X, care charges and about her complaints with the standard of care provided to Mrs X. There were some faults by the Council which caused injustice to Mrs X and Ms Y. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    Provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the full safeguarding investigation the Care Provider agreed to complete following the safeguarding enquiry into the repeated medication error in Mrs X’s case. Also provide evidence to show the Council shared the safeguarding investigation outcome with the Care Quality Commission.

  • Kingston upon Hull City Council (24 003 617)

    Category: Education Date: 30-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained that the Council and Integrated Care Board did not deliver the provisions of her daughter, Y’s Education and Health and Care Plan. This led to frustration and distress for Mrs X. We found fault with both the Council and Integrated Care Board leading to the distress Mrs X has suffered. The Council and Integrated Care Board agreed to take actions to remedy this situation for Mrs X.

    Service improvements

    The Council should write to the complainant to outline what work they have done, or intend to do, to improve the timeliness of providing desensitisation plans to children with similar learning needs.

  • Kingston upon Hull City Council (23 011 537)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 19-Aug-2025

    Summary

    The Council, and KWL acting on its behalf, were at fault for delay installing a level access shower in Mr X’s home and for the poor quality of the resulting works. As a result, Mr X was without an adaption he needed for over two years and experienced avoidable distress and frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X, make a payment, and act to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to carry out an in-depth review of processes and procedures with KWL to identifywhy the works had to be repeated or repaired so many times before they were ofan acceptable standard and identify learning to improve communication,timeliness, and quality.The Council has agreed to produce an action plan setting out how the Council, and KWL on itsbehalf, will improve communication and improve the timeliness and quality ofDisabled adaptation works.The Council has agreed to refer the outcome of the review and the resulting action plan to the relevantscrutiny committee or Cabinet Member to ensure democratic oversight.

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