Service improvements

London Borough of Croydon

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

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

Export results (CSV)

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

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 007 575)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 04-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council sent Enforcement Agents to his home to recover charges for an unpaid Penalty Charge Notice from 2019 against a car he did not own, without any notice. Mr X said the Council ignored his letters and complaint about the matter. There was fault in how the Council identified Mr X as responsible for the debt and in how it communicated with him. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr X and pay him £150 to recognise the distress caused to him when it took unnecessary and avoidable enforcement action against him.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure the Enforcement Agents have appropriate methods to verify names and addresses identified during their enquiries and remind it to use those methods in all cases.

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 007 267)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 23-Nov-2021

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to move his complaint on to stage two of the children’s statutory complaint procedure. We have found the Council at fault. The Council has now agreed for Mr X’s complaint to be considered at stage two.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide the complaints team with a copy of the decision and remind them of the need to complete the children's statutory complaints process once started.

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 005 990)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 04-Jan-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s decision to refuse a Small Business Grant resulting in the loss of this grant and a discretionary grant. We found fault in the Council’s handling of Miss X’s grant application. We recommended the Council provide Miss X with an apology, payment for time and trouble, and a payment of £10,000, equal to the missed grant. We also recommended it take action to prevent recurrence of the identified fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share our Principles of Good Administrative Practice with staff to ensure they are aware we expect councils to offer a review or appeal on any decision and suitable remedies for accepted fault.The Council will share this decision with other businesses at the address and allow them to request a review of the Council’s decision on their entitlement to a business grant, if not previously provided.

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 002 539)

    Category: Housing Date: 10-Nov-2021

    Summary

    The Council’s failure to complete a statutory review of the suitability of Miss X’s temporary accommodation is fault. The Council has agreed to apologise, pay Miss X £150, and complete the statutory review.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to amend its “informal review” process to reflect that these new decisions about suitability carry a statutory right of review. The Council will update any template letters and provide staff training as necessary.

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 002 047)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 10-Feb-2022

    Summary

    Ms C complains the Council delayed in providing services to Mr D and share his care plan. The Council assessed and provided services to Mr D promptly. There was fault in the way the Council dealt with Ms C’s complaint which caused her time, trouble, and frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms C and review the complaints process.

    Service improvements

    review how the Council deals with complaints when a person complains to PALS first.

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 001 174)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 01-Nov-2021

    Summary

    Ms X complains the Council’s care charging policy is discriminatory. She also complains the Council failed to properly consider her disability related expenditure during a financial assessment. We find fault with the Council for the delay in accepting her disability related expenditure. We also find fault with the delay in the Council completing its review of its care charging policy. We have made recommendations.

    Service improvements

    The Council will complete a review of its care charging policy, taking into account the Norfolk judgment. If, following the review, the Council decides to make changes to its charging policy that affects the amount someone must pay towards the cost of their care, it should consider whether it is appropriate to provide a remedy to those affected.

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 000 202)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 21-Feb-2022

    Summary

    Miss A complains the Council failed to safeguard her from financial abuse. Miss A also complains about the mental capacity assessment and how the Council handled the decisions about her accommodation, which resulted in her living with her family instead of her own accommodation. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council for failing to act in a timely manner in safeguarding Miss A. The Ombudsman also finds fault with the Council for how it considered Miss A’s housing needs. This caused Miss A significant distress. The Ombudsman does not find fault with the Council for how it conducted the mental capacity assessment. The Council has agreed to pay a financial remedy and consider service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to consider issuing staff with training or guidance for best practice when discussing allegations of abuse. This should include clear guidance on where and how concerns are best discussed.The Council has agreed to consider whether changes should be made to how the Council considers accommodation needs during a placement breakdown. This should also include a review of how the Council communicates with family members and how it will explore all options available.The Council has agreed to provide training and guidance to staff for recording decision making processes where safeguarding concerns are raised. This should include where the decision is not to act, rationales should still be recorded

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 000 045)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 10-Jan-2022

    Summary

    Ms D complains on behalf of her adult son, Mr F about the way the Council dealt with his transition from children's services to adults' services in 2020. The Council has accepted there were delays in assessment; these caused injustice to Ms D and Mr F which warrants a financial remedy. There was no fault in the care and support assessments and plans. Fault in complaint handling caused time and trouble for Ms D.

    Service improvements

    Review its standard wording for complaint responses and how it determines whether to use the adult social care or corporate complaint procedure.

  • London Borough of Croydon (20 014 067)

    Category: Planning Date: 25-Oct-2021

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council should not have given a neighbour planning permission to build on land in his ownership. We find fault in the Council’s failure to adequately scrutinise the land ownership certificate provided by the neighbour as part of their planning application. We find this caused injustice to Mr X as the neighbour used the planning permission to justify resuming building work on Mr X’s land (and that of another neighbour affected) causing distress. The Council accepts these findings. At the end of this statement, we set out the action it has agreed remedy this injustice and that associated with some poor complaint handling.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to issueclear guidance for its staff on the approach it expects them to take when acertificate accompanying a planning application is challenged. It willintroduce a greater level of scrutiny and an audit trail of its decision making.The Council will also ensure it has a process that considers the case forenforcement where it is presented with evidence which might lead it to thinkthe certificate accompanying an application is knowingly false or misleading.

  • London Borough of Croydon (20 013 417)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 20-Jan-2022

    Summary

    Ms C complained about the lack of support she and her son received from the Council, which she says resulted in distress to them. We found there was some fault in the way in which the Council supported Ms C and her son, for which the Council has agreed to apologise and pay a financial remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to share the lessons learned with its adult social care staff.

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