Service improvements

London Borough of Hackney

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 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 21 - 30 of 37 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Hackney (23 004 551)

    Category: Education Date: 01-Dec-2023

    Summary

    Miss B says the Council delayed completing an education, health and care needs assessment and in issuing a final education, health and care plan. The Council failed to meet the timescales in the code of practice when issuing the final education, health and care plan. An apology, payment to Miss B and reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will send a memo to officers to remind them of the need to adhere to the timescales set out in the code of practice when carrying out EHC needs assessments and when issuing final EHCP.

  • London Borough of Hackney (23 001 350)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 11-Sep-2023

    Summary

    Miss C complained that the Council moved her mother, Mrs E back to a flat without care or support and without carrying out the proper assessments or informing Miss C. Mrs E was found in the property shortly afterwards having fallen and been on the ground for some time. The flat was without heating, hot water, food or bedding. Mrs E was admitted to hospital and Miss C experienced significant distress and inconvenience in trying to resolve the matter. We have found the Council was at fault for moving Mrs E without carrying out a care needs assessment or a mental capacity assessment, for a lack of management oversight and for failing to involve or inform Miss C in the decision. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss C, pay her some money and improve its procedures for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its discharge procedures to ensure that no service user is moved out of interim accommodation or hospital until the appropriate assessments have been completed and signed off by a senior member of staff.The Council has agreed to remind staff of the importance of involving family members in assessments and discharge planning.The Council has agreed to remind staff that where there are concerns about consent and/or capacity that further advice is obtained about carrying out an MCA over a period of time and/or making a best interests decision.

  • London Borough of Hackney (23 001 244)

    Category: Housing Date: 14-Nov-2023

    Summary

    Miss B complained the Council delayed making a referral to Council 2 to see if it would accept the homelessness duties owed to her. She also complained the Council failed to deal with a mice infestation in her temporary accommodation. Miss B said this caused her distress and impacted her mental health. We found the Council delayed referring Miss B to Council 2 and failed to take effective action to resolve the mice infestation. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Miss B to remedy the injustice caused by its faults.

    Service improvements

    Issue a reminder to relevant staff to ensure they are aware the Council is ultimately responsible for the actions of landlords/agents of temporary accommodation.

  • London Borough of Hackney (23 000 583)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 27-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Miss B complained that the Council had failed to properly consider her application for disability-related expenditure (DRE) in line with the Care Act guidance and the law and delayed in considering her appeal and complaint about the decisions. We found fault with the Council’s approach. The Council has now agreed to include the disputed items as DRE. It has also agreed to pay Miss B £250 and review its procedures for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its Disability Related Expenditure (DRE) policy to ensure it is not operating a blanket approach in respect of exercise or other health costs and is not wrongly relying on section 22 of the Care Act 2014 to refuse expenses as DRE.

  • London Borough of Hackney (22 018 021)

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

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council had not paid her the correct amount for her role as a Shared Lives carer. The Council has admitted fault and agreed Mrs X should be paid the amount she is claiming. To remedy the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mrs X and carry out its suggested actions of streamlining some of its processes.

    Service improvements

    The Council will streamline its processes when a review or reassessment of a shared lives carers' agreement is required. Creating a centralised form will help to ensure a record is more easily available for liaison between relevant teams.

  • London Borough of Hackney (22 012 098)

    Category: Housing Date: 16-Apr-2023

    Summary

    The Council has a clear process showing how applicants are accepted onto its direct offer list but follows a random, discretionary process to determine which properties are offered to these applicants. This adds uncertainty in terms of how long someone will wait for a direct offer and information provided about waiting times may not be accurate. The Council has agreed to take action which to better monitor the wait times and make improvements to its service.

    Service improvements

    Write to all applicants currently on the direct offer list advising them of the number of residents on the list with similar bedroom requirements and details of the number of properties of that type it let in the previous year.Produce guidance setting out how it will use its discretion to determine which properties are offered to applicants on the direct offers list.Review how it operates the direct offer waiting list to ensure prioritisation of the list is based on whether the available property meets the specific needs of applicants and, where more than one applicant on the direct offer list matches the property, it will make the offer based on priority band and then band date.Consider whether it is appropriate to include tenants requiring a temporary decant on the direct offer list or whether they should be dealt with separately as management moves.Update the website to include all the appendices for the lettings policy.

  • London Borough of Hackney (22 007 250)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 13-Aug-2023

    Summary

    Miss B says the Council failed to provide her with sufficient support when she left care and failed to offer a suitable financial remedy when upholding most of her complaint. The Council accepts it delayed telling Miss B about the implications for her housing of starting university and that it failed to communicate properly with her. A revised financial remedy, the procedural remedies the Council has already implemented and a procedure to ensure actions in pathway plans are followed up on is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will put in place a process for ensuring oversight of pathway plans to ensure actions identified in those plans are followed up by officers.The Council will provide evidence to the Ombudsman of the outcome of the Member’s Scrutiny Committee recommendations.

  • London Borough of Hackney (22 004 688)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 21-Feb-2024

    Summary

    We uphold Ms Y’s complaint about the care and treatment of her sister, Ms X. We found fault by the Care Home in the care it provided to Ms X’s and its record keeping. We also found fault in the way the Mental Health Trust communicated with Ms Y. This meant Ms X did not always receive the care she was entitled to. Ms Y has also been caused distress, frustration and uncertainty. We recommend the Care Home and the Mental Health Trust apologise to Ms Y. The Care Home will also pay Ms Y £200.

    Service improvements

    Within one month of my final decision, the Care Home will:explainwhat action it has taken to date, or will take, to ensure it has appropriateguidance in place for care staff on maintaining “complete, legible, indelible,accurate and up to date” records in keeping with the Regulations.Within one month of my final decision, the Care Home will: explainwhat action it will take to ensure the Care Home has appropriate guidance inplace for care staff to provide continence care in line with a person’s careplan.I would have asked the Mental Health Trust toexplain what action it has taken to date, or will take, to ensure staffproperly involve relatives and carers, including attorneys, in decisions abouta person’s care and best interests. However, the Mental Health Trust is unableto make such changes as it is no longer responsible for the CHAT team. Instead,the Mental Health Team will:Sharethe final decision with the relevant Trust so it can consider whether anylearning points can be taken from the identified fault.

  • London Borough of Hackney (22 009 981)

    Category: Education Date: 08-Feb-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council has unreasonably refused her application for her summer-born child to defer entry to the Reception year group at the school of her choice. As a result, she says her child has been denied the place to which she is entitled. We find fault with the Council for delay and for failing to properly communicate the reasons for refusing the deferral at one school. We have agreed remedies to ensure this does not happen again.

    Service improvements

    The Council should ensure officers know that decision letters need to clearly show the reasons for the decision;

  • London Borough of Hackney (21 017 772)

    Category: Housing Date: 21-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mr Y complains on behalf of Mr X about the way the Council dealt with his homelessness and housing applications. On the evidence seen so far, we find the Council was at fault in that it delayed in reaching a decision on whether it owed Mr X the main housing duty. It also failed to accept review requests from Mr X in relation to the suitability of his temporary accommodation and its decision on medical priority. We have recommended a remedy for the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has also agreed that it will issue a reminder to relevant staff that possible review requests for both homelessness and housing applications contained within complaints should be identified as such and actioned accordingly.

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