Service improvements

London Borough of Croydon

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

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 26 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 012 772)

    Category: Housing Date: 12-Mar-2024

    Summary

    Mrs D complained the Council failed to properly consider her application to join the housing register. We find the Council was at fault for failing to properly consider Mrs D’s evidence and circumstances. It also delayed dealing with Mrs D’s housing application and her request for a review. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to staff who deal with housing reviews to ensure they give proper scrutiny to supporting evidence and explain their reasons for not relying on evidence where they decide not to.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 007 613)

    Category: Housing Date: 16-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained about how the Council managed her homelessness and temporary accommodation. The Council was at fault for the confusing information it provided to Miss X about the status of her accommodation and for incorrectly removing her from the housing register. The Council will apologise to Miss X and pay her £250 to recognise the avoidable uncertainty caused to her.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review what happened to the Council’s records when the previous housing team was disbanded to ensure problems with record keeping and access to records is not repeated in any future restructure and identify any areas for improvement.The Council will remind staff completing reviews of the ongoing suitability of temporary accommodation they should be completed within eight weeks of the request.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 005 264)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 12-Dec-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complains the Council has not dealt properly with her Housing Benefit and Council Tax charges. The Council is at fault because it has agreed it did not properly take account of Ms X’s circumstances. Ms X suffered avoidable distress and was prevented from bidding for permanent accommodation. The Council should apologise, pay Ms X £229.51 that it told her it would not recover, pay Ms X £500 for avoidable distress, pay Ms X £1,000, consider her housing situation and provide guidance to staff.

    Service improvements

    Provide training and guidance to staff to ensure that requests for benefit appeals to be passed to Tribunal are actioned.Provide training and guidance to staff to ensure that complaints are responded to within the appropriate timescales in its complaint’s policy.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 003 200)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 11-Dec-2023

    Summary

    The Council’s poor record keeping and lack of clear decision making has caused Ms X uncertainty about whether her noise complaints were properly investigated. The Council also failed to have regard to its duties under the Equality Act when it did not consider Ms X’s request for reasonable adjustments. In recognition of the injustice caused by these faults, the Council has agreed to apologise, pay Ms X £350, consider her reasonable adjustments and carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind its staff that deal with noise complaints and anti social behaviour that they should consider a range of evidence when assessing anti social behaviour and noise nuisance in order to come to a reliable decision and keep clear records of how they arrive at these decisions.The Council has agreed to remind its staff that deal with noise complaints and Anti social behaviour that they should keep records of all visits and what was witnessed during the visits.The Council has agreed to remind its staff that deal with noise complaints and anti social behaviour that they should send clear, detailed decisions to complainants explaining how the Council has decided whether anti social behaviour or noise nuisance has taken place and what evidence it relied on.The Council has agreed to remind its staff that deal with noise complaints and anti social behaviour that if a resident says they are not managing to access a service, report issues, or communicate with the Council due to a health condition or disability, the Council has a duty under the Equality Act to enquire into the adjustments they are requesting and if they are reasonable, to put them place.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 002 824)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 19-Dec-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to put in place respite service for her child, Y, when they transitioned from children’s to adult social services. The Council was at fault. It failed to properly consider whether there was a need for a respite service for Ms X and Y. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X and pay her a symbolic amount of £250 for the distress and uncertainty the matter caused her. It will also review with staff the importance of following up the request for a respite service and offering carers an assessment of needs.

    Service improvements

    The Council failed to properly consider whether there was a need for a respite service when a child transitioned from children's to adult services. The Council will review with staff this complaint, the importance of following up respite where it has been requested and ensures staff have offered an assessment to carers where there may be a need.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 002 793)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 04-Jan-2024

    Summary

    Mr A complains the Council has delayed investigating his reports of an alleged planning control breach caused by a neighbouring property owner. We have found evidence of fault by the Council including significant delay of nearly two years. We have upheld the complaint and completed the investigation because the Council accepts our remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to explain how it will better monitor cases about unlicensed rental/ Houses in Multiple Occupation to prevent delay and inactivity.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 002 406)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 13-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the Council’s failure to provide appropriate care and support to her and her father Mr Y. The Council was at fault for delays in investigating safeguarding concerns, not carrying out a formal carer’s assessments or progressing Ms X’s request for direct payments and for delays in finding a suitable care home for Mr Y. As a result Ms X was caused significant distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise, to make a payment to Ms X and to carry out service improvements to prevent a recurrence of the faults.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault for delays in investigating safeguarding concerns, not carrying out a formal carer's assessment or progressing a request for direct payments and for delays in finding a suitable care home. The Council will provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the action taken by the Quality Assurance Team to follow up the complainant's concerns about the care home.The Council will remind relevant officers of the need to:properly record safeguarding concerns in a timely manner;offer a separate formal carer’s assessment to those providing care and support to an adult whose needs they have assessed; andfollow up any requests for direct payments to ensure these are progressed in a timely manner.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 001 450)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 14-Mar-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained the bailiffs acting on behalf of the Council had unlawfully clamped his leased vehicle in a private garage. He said despite his contact and complaints, the clamps were not removed until five months later. We find the Council was at fault. This caused significant distress to Mr X. The Council has agreed to several recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant officers:of the recovery agencies complaints policy; andof Schedule 12 of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act that states an enforcement agent may take control of goods only if they are the goods of the debtor.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 001 336)

    Category: Housing Date: 17-Sep-2023

    Summary

    the Council failed to properly assess Mr B’s homeless application, failed to issue him with a personal housing plan or a decision as to which duty the Council had accepted, delayed offering him interim accommodation, failed to provide him with suitable accommodation, failed to respond to some of his representative’s communications and included incorrect information in a complaint response. An apology, payment to Mr B, reminders, training for officers and a review of the process for identifying properties for homeless applicants is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide the Ombudsman with evidence it has arranged training for officers dealing with homeless applications on:what the code of guidance and law says in relation to assessing homeless applications;how to assess whether it is reasonable for an applicant to remain living in their accommodation;when a prevention duty is owed;when a relief duty is owed;when interim accommodation should be considered;when any prevention duty, relief duty and PHP should be reviewed; andthe need to issue decisions with appeal rights in writing and to ensure PHP’s are completed.The Council will review the procurement policy to identify ways to expand the type of accommodation available to the Council to house homeless applicants to ensure there is sufficient self-contained accommodation available for applicants for whom shared accommodation is unsuitable.The Council will remind officers of the need to carry out a suitability assessment before placing a homeless applicant in shared or other temporary accommodation.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 000 827)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 14-Nov-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s financial assessment of her mother, Mrs Y, for her care in a care home. There was no fault in the Council’s calculation of how much Mrs Y should pay towards her care. There was fault in the Council’s invoices, complaint handling, and record keeping. The Council agreed to pay Miss X £400 to acknowledge the frustration and distress this caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind staff members who handle complaints that, where a joint complaint response is required from multiple service areas, it should ensure the Council’s response is complete before sending its response.

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