Service improvements

Leeds City Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2026 and 31 March 2027

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 - 5 of 5 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • Leeds City Council (25 026 043)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Jul-2026

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council in failing to establish, and keep under review, the legal basis on which Y was attending alternative provision. This meant the Council failed to consider if it was responsible for providing free transport to facilitate Y’s attendance. This caused injustice to Ms X who had to transport Y to the placement. The Council has agreed to refund expenses, reassess transport eligibility and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will advise the Ombudsman of improvements it has identified are required to strengthen joint working arrangements when a pupil with SEN is required to attend alternative provision and transport may be required to access the setting.The Council will ensure that when it becomes aware that a pupil is not attending school fulltime it keeps clear records to show how it has considered whether its s.19 duty is triggered, the outcome of the decision, and provides the parent with a written decision.The Council will review its transport policy, and training for transport officers, to ensure that whens.19 education is arranged for a pupil their eligibility for transport is considered.

  • Leeds City Council (25 021 128)

    Category: Education Date: 14-May-2026

    Summary

    We have found fault in the way the Council considered Ms X’s application for post-16 transport and in how it applied its own policy. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment to recognise time and trouble, to retake the decision, and to make service improvements. The complaint is upheld.

    Service improvements

    The Council will consider if it needs to provide decision makers with updated guidance or training to ensure they are considering applications on a case-by-case basis, exercising discretion to issue council organised transport where appropriate criteria is met, and recording its reasons correctly. The Council should share details of the action it decides is required with the Ombudsman.

  • Leeds City Council (25 018 700)

    Category: Education Date: 17-May-2026

    Summary

    There was fault in the way the Council considered Mr X’s application for post-16 transport and in how it applied its own policy to consider whether the expectation placed on parents to facilitate transport was ‘reasonably practical’. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment to recognise Mr X’s time and trouble, to take the decision again, and make service improvements. The complaint is upheld.

    Service improvements

    The Council will consider if it needs to provide decision makers with updated guidance or training to ensure they are considering applications on a case-by-case basis, exercising discretion to issue council organised transport where appropriate criteria is met, engaging with individual circumstances raised, and recording its reasons correctly.

  • Leeds City Council (25 015 150)

    Category: Education Date: 28-Jun-2026

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s actions when her child stopped attending school in January 2025. We have not investigated Miss X’s complaint regarding the Council’s failure to consider its section 19 duties or its failure to secure the special education provision, this is because these matters are premature. We found no fault in the way the Council reached its decision to refuse the elective home education (EHE) request. However, we found fault in delays considering the EHE request, delays and errors in the complaint process, failures to properly oversee and complete the annual review process within statutory timescales, and delays issuing the final amended EHC Plan, which caused Miss X avoidable distress, uncertainty, frustration, time and trouble, and delayed her right of appeal to the Tribunal. We recommend the Council apologises, makes a payment to Miss X, and takes action to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to create an action plan which sets out how, in future, it will avoid similar failures to ensure that annual reviews are held on time and finalised within statutory timescales.

  • Leeds City Council (25 006 105)

    Category: Education Date: 12-Apr-2026

    Summary

    The Council delayed completing Miss X’s child, Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment in line with statutory timescales. It delayed deciding whether to issue Y with an EHC Plan within the statutory timescales, caused by a 34 week delay in obtaining Educational Psychologist advice. It then further delayed issuing Y’s final EHC Plan by 42 weeks after it received the EP advice. The Council was also at fault for failing to maintain oversight of Y’s alternative provision arrangement between 2023 and 2025. These faults caused Miss X and Y distress and delayed Y’s access to the specialist provision and placement specified in the final Plan by two terms. The Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to recognise the injustice the faults caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will complete an action plan to ensure it has sufficient processes in place to maintain oversight of children out of school receiving alternative provision. The action plan should ensure the Council has processes in place to maintain regular communication with both the provision and parents and ensure provision is reviewed for its suitability.

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings