Service improvements

London Borough of Hillingdon

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2025 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 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 Hillingdon as a CSV file.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (25 005 556)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 04-Mar-2026

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to contact him when carers from Comfort Care Services failed to gain access to his mother’s property to deliver care services on three subsequent days. The care provider failed to follow its no reply procedure and Mr X’s mother was found by paramedics in a distressing state which required hospital admission. A remedy to acknowledge the distress and improve services to prevent similar situations is proposed.

    Service improvements

    Provide details of the actions taken by the Quality Assurance Team to specifically address the issues highlighted in this case and to prevent similar situations. If actions have not yet been taken, provide details of an action plan setting out how it will do this.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (25 002 684)

    Category: Housing Date: 04-Feb-2026

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council delayed in providing her with interim accommodation when she presented to it as homeless. The Council was at fault for delay, meaning Miss X spent around a month in unsuitable accommodation. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X, make a payment to reflect the injustice, and act to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind housing staff of their responsibilities regarding the need to provide interim accommodation and the low threshold the Homelessness Code of Guidance sets, explicitly directing councils to make interim accommodation available while it undertakes investigations.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (25 001 417)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 08-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council failed to respond and effectively deal with the safeguarding concerns reported to it. We have found fault in the Council’s actions for failing to inform Miss X about the progress and outcome of the referrals she had made. The Council has agreed to issue Miss X with an apology and complete service improvements.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff of the importance of keeping relevant parties updated with the outcome of any safeguarding referrals.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (25 000 129)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 09-Jun-2025

    Summary

    The Council was at fault in how it dealt with Ms X’s complaint about its adoption service. This caused her frustration and meant she had to pursue her complaint through the wrong procedure unnecessarily. To remedy this injustice, the Council will apologise to Ms X, pay her £250 and begin a stage two investigation under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. It will also issue staff reminders to prevent the fault happening again.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind complaints staff they should consider if a complaint related to adoptions comes under the children's statutory complaints procedure. If it does, the Council must use the procedure to investigate the complaint.The Council will remind complaints staff of the limited circumstances under which the Council can make a valid early referral to the Ombudsman under the children's statutory complaints procedure.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (24 021 944)

    Category: Other Categories Date: 23-Oct-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s actions in relation to a business she runs in a Council-owned property. We have not investigated all aspects of her complaint, as it would be reasonable for her to pursue some matters through the courts. We find the Council at fault for poor communication, failure to act as promised, and poor complaint handling. This caused Miss X avoidable uncertainty, distress, and time and trouble. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Miss X, and take steps to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to using this case as an example, remind relevant officers of the importance of clear, timely communication, providing updates within agreed timescales, and ensuring action and commitments are followed through.The Council has agreed to remind relevant complaint handling officers to ensure responses address each aspect of a complaint and offer appropriate apologies and remedies where fault is found.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (24 016 443)

    Category: Housing Date: 23-Sep-2025

    Summary

    We have found fault with the Council for how it handled Mrs X’s homelessness application, housing register application and reports of property disrepair. This caused Mrs X and her son avoidable distress and meant they remained in unsuitable accommodation that affected her son’s health. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy Mrs X’s avoidable injustice.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff of the statutory decision-making procedures and the need to inform applicants of their right to review.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (24 011 980)

    Category: Housing Date: 03-Apr-2025

    Summary

    On behalf of Mr X, Mrs B complained the Council poorly handled Mr X’s homelessness application. Mrs B says this caused Mr X distress. We find the Council at fault for a delay in opening a new application for Mr X. To remedy the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to Mr X and remind its staff of when the Council should carry out homelessness assessments.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind its housing staff of the Council's duty to carry out an assessment once it has reason to believe that a person may be homeless or threatened with homelessness within the next 56 days.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (24 010 480)

    Category: Education Date: 25-Jun-2025

    Summary

    The Council failed to review and issue Mr X’s son, Z’s, Education, Health and Care Plans on time. It also failed to plan for the support Z would need when he started post-16 college. This meant Z missed key support he needed during his GCSE year of school, he had no record of his needs as his physical disability progressed and he avoidably missed out on post-16 education. The Council’s faults also caused Z and Mr X avoidable frustration, distress and uncertainty. To recognise the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise, pay Mr X and Z £2,500 and take action to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    In recognition of the Council's failure to review a child's Education Health and Care (EHC) Plans, failure to plan for the child's post-16 education and failure to ensure the child received the additional support needed at school, the Council has agreed to demonstrate that senior management have considered this decision and carried out a lessons learned review, including producing an action plan for ensuring faults like this do not occur in future.The Council has agreed to share the details of this case with its SEND team and remind all relevant staff of the importance of adhering to the statutory timeframes for reviewing and finalising EHC Plans, as well as the importance of transition and post-16 planning being completed by the legal deadlines set out in the SEND Code of Practice.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (24 009 792)

    Category: Housing Date: 22-Apr-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained about how the Council handled her homelessness after she received an eviction notice in 2024. The Council was at fault. It failed to take steps to alleviate her risk of homelessness and delayed moving her to interim accommodation. This meant Miss X remained in a property at risk of eviction and homelessness for longer than necessary. The Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to Miss X to recognise the distress and uncertainty this caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to remind officers of the importance of notifying homelessness applicants of the correct homelessness duty and ensuring the Council accepts and ends the correct duties at relevant times.The Council agreed to review its procedures around how it deals with homelessness applicants who have been issued with a Section 21 eviction notice so its approach is in line with the Homelessness Code of Guidance and the correct homelessness duty is considered at the time. It should ensure applicants are not required to stay in accommodation until a warrant for eviction is issued.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (24 009 135)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 30-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s failure to take prompt and effective enforcement action to prevent the anti-social activities of a neighbouring business. We found the Council to be at fault because it allowed the case to drift and there was poor communication with Mr X. To remedy his frustration and distress, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and take action to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council will, by training or other means, take action to ensure relevant enforcement staff are aware of their responsibilities to involve other Council departments and update complaints when required.

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