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 21 - 26 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 (22 010 846)

    Category: Housing Date: 03-Sep-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complained about how the Council managed her housing needs once it agreed to a management transfer because of antisocial behaviour. She said the Council delayed in making a suitable offer of accommodation, offered an unsuitable property, and withdrew support for her move when she raised concerns about the property offered. We have found the Council at fault for not having a clear approach to prioritising and allocating properties where it has agreed a management transfer. We have also found the Council at fault for failing to consider whether it owed Miss X a homelessness duty and for a lack of clarity in its Allocations Scheme. We have made recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind officers to fully consider what statutory duties the Council owes applicants who have been approved for a housing management transfer. In particular, the Council will remind officers to consider whether applicants are owed a homelessness duty, in cases where the Council has decided they cannot reasonably remain in their homes.The Council has agreed to put in place a procedure to document the actions it takes to monitor and progress applications approved for housing management transfers.The Council has agreed to review and update its Allocations Scheme, to clarify the rights afforded to applicants approved for housing management transfers. In particular, the Council will ensure its scheme clearly sets out if and when an applicant can request a review of the Council's decisions. It will also clearly set out any restrictions on the type and location of properties offered through management transfers.

  • London Borough of Croydon (22 009 164)

    Category: Education Date: 26-Apr-2023

    Summary

    We find the Council at fault for its failings to follow the Annual Review and Education Health and Care (EHC) needs reassessment timescales for the complainant’s (Mrs X) son (Y), its failings within Y’s key stage transfer and the way it handled Mrs X’s complaints. These faults caused Y and Mrs X injustice. The Council agreed to issue Y’s final Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), apologise, make payments to recognise negative impact of the Council’s failings on Y’s education and make payments for Mrs X for distress and time and trouble spent on chasing up the Council’s responses. The Council also agreed some service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will consider making improvements in monitoring Annual Reviews timescales by aiming at sending proposed amendments to EHCPs four weeks from the date of the Annual Review meeting and implementing checks whether the process has been completed within twelve weeks from the date of the meeting.The Council will remind the front-line Special Educational Needs staff of the details of the Council’s corporate complaints policy and in particular what constitutes a complaint, which should be passed to the complaints team and responded in line with the Council’s policy.

  • London Borough of Croydon (22 008 865)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 04-Apr-2023

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for a delay in considering whether to exercise its discretion to pay Ms X’s legal fees in connection with an immigration application, a delay in processing her housing register application and a failure to send a decision letter when it later changed her priority band. There were also failings in the complaints process. The Council should pay her £500 for the worry and frustration caused, and take action to prevent recurrence of the fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to consider exercising discretion to depart from its policies, depending on the circumstances of the individual case. Where it decided not to depart from its policy, it should record its reasons and explain them to the individual.The Council will remind relevant staff that where a complaint is considered under the children's statutory complaints process includes issues that would usually be out of scope for that process, relevant officers from the services involved should be available for interview at stage 2 and to attend a stage 3 panel, to ensure that all issues can be properly considered.

  • London Borough of Croydon (22 005 414)

    Category: Housing Date: 04-Jul-2023

    Summary

    The Council properly considered Ms X and her household’s medical issues and their overcrowding when it decided their temporary accommodation was still suitable for their needs. However it failed to demonstrate that it had considered the domestic abuse, anti-social behaviour and racial abuse that Ms X disclosed when deciding whether the accommodation continued to be suitable. This caused Ms X significant distress and uncertainty about whether she may have been offered alternative accommodation if not for the fault. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to apologise, pay Ms X £600 and make a new suitability decision.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind its housing team that it should contact residents promptly once they disclose they are at risk of domestic abuse in their property and decide without delay whether the accommodation remains suitable for them to occupy. These conversations should be handled sensitively due to the often re-traumatising effects of discussing abuse.The Council will remind its housing team that its suitability decisions should clearly set out why it considers the accommodation to be suitable.The Council will remind its housing team that the Council has a duty to inspect where there is a risk of Category 1 or 2 hazards in residential accommodation within its area.

  • London Borough of Croydon (22 002 639)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 12-Sep-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council is at fault in how it assessed and met her care needs since 2014 and for not always making reasonable adjustments when communicating with her. We investigated Ms X’s concerns from 2021 onwards and found fault in how the Council handled these matters. The Council has agreed to apologise to Ms X, make a payment in recognition of the injustice caused to her and to carry out a full review of its handling of her case.

    Service improvements

    The Council will undertake a full review of its handling of this case. The review will identify why concerns about the care package (including the request for help with antisocial behaviour) and the request for an Occupational Therapy assessment were not addressed sooner. It will also identify why the Council did not always make reasonable adjustments when communicating with the complainant. The Council will create an action plan explaining how it will prevent a recurrence of the fault we found.

  • London Borough of Croydon (21 012 716)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 15-May-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complains about the Council pursuing council tax for two properties for which his company owns the freehold. The Council has agreed to increase its remedy.

    Service improvements

    The should Council remind its enforcement agents that they should pass information they receive onto the Council for its consideration.

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