Service improvements

London Borough of Bromley

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 14 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for London Borough of Bromley as a CSV file.

  • London Borough of Bromley (25 009 677)

    Category: Education Date: 25-Mar-2026

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for failing to provide Mrs X with the funds to commission her child, W’s, education for one term. It was also at fault for failing to include necessary information in W’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. The faults meant W missed out on education and caused Mrs X avoidable frustration. The Council will apologise, make a symbolic payment and amend its policy on EHC Plan personal budgets.

    Service improvements

    The Council will highlight to staff that section J of a child or young person's Education, Health and Care Plan must include the information required by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code. If the Council becomes aware that section J of a final Education, Health and Care Plan is not suitable, it must amend the Plan.The Council will amend its policy on Education, Health and Care Plan personal budgets and direct payments to reflect that it is responsible for deciding whether to agree direct payments. The Council will also amend the policy to represent the restriction created by clause 9 of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 more accurately.

  • London Borough of Bromley (24 019 102)

    Category: Education Date: 13-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council delayed accepting her son, Mr G’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan when it was transferred from another Council’s area in July 2022 and failed to provide any educational provision in the Plan. The Council was at fault. It also failed to provide Ms X and Mr G with relevant appeal rights in relation to Mr G’s EHC Plan. The Council will apologise to Mr G and Ms X for the avoidable frustration they were caused, pay Mr G £7,200 for the two years of specialist provision he missed, and take action to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review how it manages and oversees transfers in Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans for children and young people moving to its area to ensure it complies with Section 15 of the SEND regulations 2014, and how it communicates with young people and their parents or carers about important decisions within the EHC process and subsequent appeal rights. The Council will identify a timebound action plan to complete any improvements that are required to avoid the same faults occurring in the future.The Council will consider a decision we made which found fault in how it handled a young person's Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan over a period of two years at a relevant scrutiny committee and decide if there are any further actions the Council intends to take in relation to the identified faults.

  • London Borough of Bromley (24 019 100)

    Category: Education Date: 02-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council did not review her child Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan in line with the statutory guidance and failed to identify a new school placement when Y’s school said it could no longer meet their needs in 2023. The Council was at fault. Y missed out on some of their specialist educational provision for three terms which caused Ms X avoidable frustration and uncertainty. The Council will apologise, make payments to remedy the injustice and issue its decision following an annual review of Y’s EHC Plan in December 2024 without further delay.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure all officers responding to complaints are aware of our Complaint Handling Code, with specific reference to section 5.4 which states: the person responding to a complaint should clarify with the complainant any parts of the complaint they are unclear about, and give the complainant a fair chance to set out their position.

  • London Borough of Bromley (24 018 413)

    Category: Education Date: 26-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to provide suitable education for her child, update her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan or provide the provision detailed in the plan since 2022. We found fault with the Council failing to provide suitable education for Miss X’s child for four terms and eight weeks. We also found fault with the Council delaying reviewing and issuing an amended Education, Health and Care Plan for Miss X’s child for 19 months. The Council has accepted our recommendations detailed in paragraphs 74 and 75 of this decision statement including provision of an apology and payment for the injustice caused and production of an Action Plan to address the faults found in this decision.

    Service improvements

    Produce an action plan to demonstrate how the council will ensure that it is following the relevant legislation and guidance in relation to Electively Home Educated children and children with Education, Health and Care Plans. This action plan should provide details about how it will meet the following outcomes:a) Ensuring relevant staff are aware that a child’s Education, Health and Care Plan needs to be updated when they become Electively Home Educated and put in place a process to ensure this is completed. b) Ensuring relevant staff are aware that the Council has a duty to consider whether it is appropriate to continue to fund a child’s Education, Health and Care Plan provision when they become Electively Home Educated and put in place a process to ensure this is completed.c) Ensuring relevant staff are aware of the Council’s duty to either find a suitable school placement or provide education for a child when a parent confirms they no longer wish to Electively Home Educate their child. d) Show how it intends to address delays with Education, Health and Care Plan annual reviews and production of Education, Health and Care Plans within the statutory timescales.e) Ensuring relevantstaff are aware of the statutory requirement and timescales in issuingnotification letters following a child’s annual review meeting includingproviding information about a person’s right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

  • London Borough of Bromley (24 015 200)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Jul-2025

    Summary

    We have found fault with the Council for failing to secure all the special educational need provision in Miss X’s son’s Education, Health and Care Plan. This caused him to miss out on the support he needed which affected his behaviour and attendance at school. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and make a payment to remedy Miss X’s and her son’s injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council will send an email reminder to relevant staff reconfirming the Council's responsibility to secure SEN provision.

  • London Borough of Bromley (24 014 728)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council delayed carrying out a review of her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan. The review should have been completed by 24 November 2024 but the final plan was not issued until July 2025, after Miss X complained to the Ombudsman. This delay is fault and has caused Miss X and her son distress and frustrated her appeal rights. A symbolic payment to recognise this is agreed.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff either by training or written guidance that it must complete annual reviews within the statutory timescales.

  • London Borough of Bromley (24 014 206)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Jul-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council delayed completing an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment after a tribunal ordered it to complete one in October 2023. Ms X also complained it delayed issuing the final EHC Plan for her child, Z, until July 2024, and did not provide an appropriate education in the interim. The Council was at fault. The Council will apologise and make payments to Ms X to recognise the avoidable frustration she was caused and the specialist educational provision and alternative provision Z missed out on.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff to consider whether the Council owes a child or young person a section 19 alternative provision duty where it is aware the young person is not attending school, including where the Council is carrying out an Education, Health and Care needs assessment for the young person.

  • London Borough of Bromley (24 014 166)

    Category: Education Date: 20-May-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council delayed issuing her child’s final education, health and care (EHC) Plan. The Council was at fault for failing to finalise the EHC plan within statutory timescales and this delayed Ms X’s appeal rights. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Ms X in recognition of the delay and take action service improvement action.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to share our final decision with its SEND Panel Members and remind them that to prevent delay, they should ensure they have all the information they require before making their decisions.

  • London Borough of Bromley (24 013 750)

    Category: Education Date: 22-Jun-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to issue an amended Education, Health and Care Plan within the statutory timeframe, failure to provide support for her son’s (Y) special educational needs as well as poor communication and complaint handling. We found the Council to be at fault. This caused distress, frustration and had an impact on Y’s development. To remedy this injustice, the Council agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment to Miss X and ensure delivery of missed provision.

    Service improvements

    The Council will take action to ensure correspondence sent by post is addressed to the intended recipient.

  • London Borough of Bromley (24 012 965)

    Category: Education Date: 18-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained that the Council failed to provide her son, Y, with suitable full-time education and failed to secure Section F provision of his EHCP during the 2023/24 academic year. The Council failed to implement the education package it proposed and did not secure the specialist dyslexia provision required in Y’s Plan. As a result, Y missed out on significant education and specialist support, and Ms X was caused avoidable distress and frustration. The Council has agreed to our recommendations.

    Service improvements

    Review its procedures for securing EOTAS provision in cases where a personal budget is declined or inappropriate, to ensure robust commissioning and contingency arrangements are in place.

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