Service improvements

London Borough of Croydon

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025

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 15 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 (24 007 428)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 30-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complains about repeated failures by the Council’s care providers (Horizon Care & Welfare Association, Immaculate Healthcare Services Limited Croydon, Supreme Care Services Ltd and Abletrust Care) to support his grandmother, Mrs Y, between June 2023 and February 2024. There was fault in the care provided by Horizon Care & Welfare Association, Immaculate Healthcare Services Limited Croydon and Supreme Care Services Ltd which either caused harm to Mrs Y or put her at risk of harm. The Council also failed to involve Mrs Y in reviews of her needs. The Council needs to apologise to Mrs Y and make a symbolic payment to her for the distress caused. It also needs to take action to improve working practices.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to work with Immaculate Healthcare Services and Supreme Care Services to ensure they understand their responsibilities to report safeguarding incidents when they occur;Take action to ensure officers involve people in reviews of their care needs.

  • London Borough of Croydon (24 006 542)

    Category: Housing Date: 18-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained that the Council delayed in dealing with her request for a review of the suitability of her temporary accommodation, delayed in dealing with her complaints of disrepair and prevented her from bidding on three bedroom properties. The Council was at fault as it delayed in deciding if Miss X’s temporary accommodation was suitable and did not deal with her complaints of disrepair. As a result, Miss X lived in unsuitable temporary accommodation for 12 months longer than necessary. The Council will remedy the injustice to Mrs X by apologising and making a symbolic payment of £2600.

    Service improvements

    By training or other means, remind officers that they should promptly assess the risk to applicants and decide without delay whether their accommodation remains suitable to occupy in the event they disclose they are at risk of domestic abuse.Ensure the Council has a process to identify and escalate complaints about homelessness and housing which have exceeded the corporate complaints procedure’s timescales for a response. This is to ensure the Council responds to complaints in accordance with the timescales set out in the Council’s corporate complaints procedure and without significant delay.Share the learning from this complaint with officers responsible for temporary accommodation and repairs in the Council’s interim and temporary accommodation, including accommodation procured from private landlords. This is to ensure officers are aware that the failure to respond to requests for service or questions may hinder the Council’s duty to provide suitable interim and temporary accommodation.

  • London Borough of Croydon (24 002 094)

    Category: Education Date: 18-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Mrs H complained the Council failed to ensure her son (X) received all the provision set out in his Education, Health, and Care plan since 2021. We found the Council was responsible for a service failure which caused a short delay in putting occupational therapy in place in 2024, and it failed to issue a decision notice following an annual review. It should apologise to Mrs H and make a symbolic payment to acknowledge the short delay X experienced to receive occupational therapy. There was no other fault, and parts of Mrs H’s complaint was late.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind its special educational needs and disability staff to ensure decisions on whether to cease, maintain, or amend existing Education, Health, and Care plans are at all times issued within statutory timescales to parents. Including ensuring this is clearly recorded on the child’s or young person’s case record.

  • London Borough of Croydon (24 001 238)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 19-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained on behalf of her son, Mr Y, the Council refused to pay for the two-to-one care Mr Y needed and had not completed a review of his care needs between March 2022 and September 2023. The Council failed to properly assess, plan and review Mr Y’s care needs and did not communicate with Mrs X. The Council will apologise to Mrs X and pay her a symbolic amount of £500 to recognise the frustration, uncertainty and distress this caused her and will remind relevant officers to keep clear, complete and contemporaneous records.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind social workers and managers in the adult social care team of the importance of keeping clear, complete and contemporaneous records of best interests meetings, including the matters considered, its decision-making process and the outcomes and actions.

  • London Borough of Croydon (24 001 095)

    Category: Housing Date: 24-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council delayed assessing his homelessness application, failed to provide timely support to relieve his homelessness and failed to respond properly to his complaint through the complaints’ process. The Council was at fault for delay, for not considering whether to offer interim accommodation earlier and for delays in its complaints process. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mr X to acknowledge the distress and frustration caused and to review its procedures to ensure it communicates effectively with those without computer literacy.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure that homeless applicants who are not computer literate, are communicated with effectively either by using a postal address, or where the applicant has a representative, by sharing key decision letters with them.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 020 130)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 19-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Miss D complained the Council placed her in unsuitable accommodation and it failed to take timely action to address the issues with the accommodation. She also complained the Council failed to provide her with appropriate redress for the damage caused to her possessions and the impact on her mental and physical health. We find the Council was at fault for how it dealt with Miss D’s accommodation and how it dealt with her complaint about the matter. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to relevant officers to ensure they are aware they must have a coordinated approach to how they address complaints, especially when several departments are involved.The Council will issue written reminders to staff in the leaving care service to ensure they are aware they must put arrangements in place for checking suitability before a young person moves into a property.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 019 545)

    Category: Other Categories Date: 20-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mr B complained that the Council had failed to take effective action to stop a resident blocking access to his garage. It had also failed to respond to his communications about the problems or refund the garage rent despite promising to do so. We have found fault in the Council’s actions causing Mr B an injustice. The Council has taken action to stop the anti-social behaviour, to refund the past rent to Mr B and freeze ongoing payments. It has also agreed to apologise to him, make a symbolic payment of £300 and improve its record-keeping for the future

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review how its tenancy, parking and garage services keep records of customer contact and how they are monitored to ensure responses/action are done.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 018 324)

    Category: Housing Date: 30-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council did not properly review the suitability of temporary accommodation it provided her when she was homeless, when she asked it to. It also did not properly consider her priority on its housing register. There was fault by the Council which caused Miss X to remain in bed and breakfast accommodation that was unsuitable for her, which caused her distress. The Council agreed to apologise, pay a financial remedy, reconsider Miss X’s housing priority, and produce an action plan to address faults identified in this case.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review the faults identified in this case and produce an action plan for changes it will make to its housing service procedures, to ensure it:properly considers the suitability of interim and temporary accommodation offered to homeless applicants;where a complaint is about the suitability of temporary accommodation for a homeless applicant, considers this via the correct statutory review procedure rather than responding via the complaints procedure;where a complaint is upheld, ensures promised actions are completed;responds to complaints within the timescales set out in its complaints procedure; and directs to the correct Ombudsman service when it issues its final complaint response.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 018 175)

    Category: Planning Date: 08-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained on behalf of Mr Y that the Council failed to ensure a new housing development complied with the planning conditions set out in the approved plans. As a result, she says neighbours could see into Mr Y’s property. The lack of privacy caused Mr Y distress, frustration and uncertainty. Mrs X also complained the Council failed to adequately investigate and respond to her complaints. The Council was at fault for failing to ensure the developer had adhered to the planning conditions and for its delayed complaint responses. The Council has already taken action to ensure the planning condition has been met. However, it has agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to Mr Y remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind complaints officers to provide complaint responses in the timescales set out in the Council’s corporate complaints policy.The Council has agreed to remind relevant officers to ensure planning conditions are met before they are discharged to the developer.

  • London Borough of Croydon (23 015 543)

    Category: Planning Date: 12-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to alleged planning control breaches at a development near to his home and about poor communication. We found fault because the Council did not act in a timely manner when beginning its investigation into the breaches and its communication was poor overall. To remedy the injustice caused by this fault, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mr X and issue reminders to relevant officers.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant officers and managers of the need to progress planning enforcement cases without avoidable delay. This will help to ensure that those who have reported issues are not left waiting for action to be taken or for a decision on the Council's stance to be made.The Council will remind relevant officers and managers of the content of the Council’s own planning enforcement policy and how it should communicate with and update those who have reported issues to it. This will help to ensure those who have reported potential breaches will be informed of what is happening in clear and timely manner.

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