Service improvements

London Borough of Hillingdon

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 - 4 of 4 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (25 010 896)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 14-Jul-2026

    Summary

    Mrs K complains about repeated missed bin collections and not collecting some rubbish from communal stores that led to problems with rotting waste. We uphold the complaint due to multiple problems with missed waste collections. And some poor communications about who was responsible for another part of Mrs K’s complaint. The Council has confirmed it is in contact with Mrs K’s landlord about changing the waste storage facilities at the block where Mrs K lives. That is a suitable remedy to the complaint.

    Service improvements

    The Council has contacted the landlord about changes to its waste storage facilities and is writing to residents of the block of flats.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (25 009 471)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 16-Jun-2026

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to respond when she told it the care provider was increasing its hourly rate for her sister, Miss Y’s, care. Miss X said Miss Y’s care reduced and the family are in debt. There was fault in the way the Council delayed reviewing and increasing the direct payment amount and complaint handling was poor. This distressed Miss X and Miss Y was placed at risk of harm. The Council agreed to apologise, make a financial payment, take the actions it agreed to to increase the direct payment rate and remove the debt and evidence its service improvements.

    Service improvements

    •Evidence the relevant committee has had oversight of, and considered the progress made against, the actions it said it would take:a) Finalising the implementation of a standardised agency rate for all direct care packages, with planned annual reviews; and b) Strengthening internal guidance to ensure timely escalation where cost changes risk care delivery.•The Council should confirm the ongoing monitoring arrangements against progress.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (25 006 217)

    Category: Housing Date: 14-May-2026

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to properly assess her housing application and family’s circumstances. We find no fault in the Council’s consideration of safeguarding issues, the medical evidence provided, or Mrs X’s length of residency in the borough. However, we find fault in the lack of clarity in the Council’s housing allocations policy on statutory overcrowding, and in its failure to properly address this in its handling of Mrs X’s complaint. This caused Mrs X avoidable distress, uncertainty, and time and trouble. We recommend the Council apologise, make a payment to Mrs X, and review its allocations policy.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review and amend its allocations policy to ensure it clearly explains:how it defines and applies statutory overcrowding for the purposes of housing priority; andhow this relates to the level of overcrowding assessed under the bedroom standard, including the number of bedrooms a household is lacking.The revised policy should make clear whether statutory overcrowding alone is sufficient to qualify for higher priority, or whether this is dependant on also meeting a specific bedroom shortfall.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (25 004 679)

    Category: Housing Date: 13-Apr-2026

    Summary

    The Housing Ombudsman Service (the HOS) finds maladministration by the Council in respect of its handling of Miss X’s reports of noise nuisance and antisocial behaviour. The Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) finds the Council at fault for failing to consider whether Miss X’s circumstances meant there was reason to believe she was homeless. However, for the reasons set out in the statement, we do not find this fault caused Miss X an injustice. Both Ombudsmen find the Council at fault for a delay in completing a risk assessment. The Ombudsmen have not found the Council at fault for how it conducted its management transfer procedure. The Ombudsmen have made orders and recommendations to remedy the injustice to Miss X and to improve the Council’s services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to update its housing management transfer procedure to ensure it considers whether it owes a homelessness duty, in cases where the Council decides the applicant no longer reasonably occupy their home, as part of its consideration.

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