Service improvements

London Borough of Haringey

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 11 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Haringey (21 008 103)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 18-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council incorrectly applied a retail discount to his company’s business rates account. The Council was at fault. It incorrectly applied the discount on the account, then billed Mr X’s company without proper communication and then withdrew an offer to cancel some of the debt after Mr X had made a substantial payment. The Council has agreed it will pay Mr X £300 to acknowledge the distress and frustration this caused him.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind all officers to provide an explanation to people when there is a significant change to their council tax account. The Council will provide us with evidence it has done this.

  • London Borough of Haringey (21 006 254)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 24-Feb-2022

    Summary

    Ms B complained that the Council issued her with a penalty charge notice for parking in a residents’ parking bay without displaying a valid permit and failed to cancel it when she explained she had been issued with a virtual permit rather than a physical one. The Ombudsman found the Council was at fault in failing to cancel the penalty charge notice when Ms B made informal representations. In recognition of the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise to Ms B and make a payment to her. It has also agreed to review its procedures.

    Service improvements

    Alter the standard wording on its letters rejecting informal representations to comply with the Code of Practice by including information on the right to appeal and issuea reminder to civil enforcement officers (CEOs) that the London Borough of Camden issues virtual permitsrather than physical ones.Review its procedures to consider whether a process could be put in place whereby CEOs are able to check whether a motorist has a residents’ permit issued by the London Borough of Camden.

  • London Borough of Haringey (21 003 657)

    Category: Housing Date: 04-Jan-2022

    Summary

    Mrs Y complains the Council was at fault in the way it considered her housing register application and refused her application to join the housing register. We found fault as the Council did not clearly explain her appeal rights against its decision and wrongly listed her as living in a three bedroomed property. So, we have recommended a service improvement to the Council about its decision letters. But the fault did not cause Mrs Y an injustice, so we are completing our investigation.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its decision letters to Housing Register applicants to clearly advise of any appeal rights they may have and the timescales in which to submit an appeal, as well as including a link to its Housing Allocations policy.

  • London Borough of Haringey (21 002 377)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 14-Oct-2021

    Summary

    Mr X, on behalf of Ms Y, complains about the Council’s decision that she was not eligible for care and support from August 2019. There is fault in how the Council made its decision that Ms Y was not eligible for care and support from August 2019. As a result, Ms Y did not receive a care package for 18 months longer than necessary which caused distress and financial loss as she had to purchase some care. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice.

    Service improvements

    By training or other means remind officers that they should consider the impact of a person’s mental health on their ability to meet outcomes and their wellbeing when carrying out a care act assessment and determining their eligibility for care and support

  • London Borough of Haringey (20 013 993)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 19-Oct-2021

    Summary

    Mr X complained about how the Council responded to two child safeguarding reports about his children in 2020. There was no fault in how the Council investigated Mr X’s safeguarding reports, but there was fault in how the Council caused Mr X to miss part of a child in need meeting. The Council should apologise, review its procedures and issue reminders to its staff.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review its approach to online children's service meetings to ensure that, where a parent tell the Council they cannot access the meeting, the problem is resolved before the meeting continues. It also agreed to provide suitable raining or reminders to staff on the reviewed approach.

  • London Borough of Haringey (20 013 462)

    Category: Housing Date: 16-Sep-2021

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to provide her with timely and suitable support after her landlord illegally evicted her. There was no fault in how the council helped Miss X with her complaint of illegal eviction. There was fault with how the Council encouraged Miss X to withdraw her application when considering her homelessness, however this did not cause Miss X a significant injustice. The Council agreed to issue reminders to its housing officers to prevent similar fault in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to remind its housing advice staff that they should not make statements to applicants which imply the Council has decided what action to take, when the Council has not yet made a decision or inappropriately encourage applicants to withdraw homelessness applications.

  • London Borough of Haringey (20 013 446)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 22-Sep-2021

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council wrongly refused him a full discretionary grant payment, causing financial loss. We find fault in the Council’s decision making. We recommend it provides Mr X with an apology, a payment for time and trouble and a payment of £9000, for injustice caused by the missed discretionary grant payment.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide training or guidance to staff to ensure they keep contemporaneous records of decision making and publish relevant policies in future.

  • London Borough of Haringey (20 012 749)

    Category: Housing Date: 16-Nov-2021

    Summary

    Miss B complains the Council did not deal properly with a disrepair problem. The Council is at fault because it delayed taking action to resolve Miss B’s problems and did not take account of two complaint letters. Miss B lived without a working boiler for over a year. The Council has agreed to pay Miss B £500 for avoidable distress and review how it handles communications.

    Service improvements

    The Council should review how it handles communications from members of the public and how they are then entered on CRM systems in order to ensure they are properly assessed and actioned and then report back to the Ombudsman regarding its findings and proposed action.

  • London Borough of Haringey (20 008 763)

    Category: Housing Date: 26-Nov-2021

    Summary

    The Ombudsman found fault by the Council on Miss Q’s complaint about it failing to provide her with suitable temporary accommodation. It failed to show an inspection and necessary checks were done before she moved in. It delayed dealing with reports about mould and damp. It also failed to move her to suitable alternative temporary accommodation for 18 months. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to ensure inspections by, or on behalf of, the Council are carried out along with necessary checks of accommodation.The Council agreed to ensure requests for repairs are referred promptly to landlords/management agents and followed up to ensure they are done.The Council agreed to ensure applicants in unsuitable accommodation are found suitable accommodation promptly.

  • London Borough of Haringey (20 006 295)

    Category: Housing Date: 11-Aug-2021

    Summary

    Mr X complains on behalf of Ms Y and Mr Z. He complains that Council is at fault for not awarding band A priority under its housing allocations scheme to Ms Y and Mr Z. There is no evidence of fault in how the Council reached its decision to place Ms Y and Mr Z in band B. The Council failed to respond to Ms Y and Mr Z’s complaint of June 2020 which is fault and this caused frustration to them. The Council will remedy this injustice by apologising to Ms Y and Mr Z.

    Service improvements

    review the circumstances which led to its failure to respond to Ms Y and Mr Z’s complaint of June 2020 to identify why it did not respond and, if necessary, review its procedures to ensure it identifies complaints and responds to them in accordance with its complaints procedure.

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