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 - 10 of 14 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 (24 016 172)

    Category: Housing Date: 05-Mar-2025

    Summary

    We have upheld Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s decision on her banding level in her housing application. The Council has agreed to resolve the complaint early by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    review the form used by a medical assessor to ensure that the assessor is prompted to include their justification on the decisions they make.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (24 006 088)

    Category: Housing Date: 28-Feb-2025

    Summary

    Mr S complained about the way the Council dealt with his homelessness application. He said the Council failed to provide him with advice and support. He also complained the Council caused him to miss out on obtaining a property through its administrative error. We found the Council at fault. The Council has agreed to provide Mr S with a personal remedy and carry out service improvements to avoid a repeat of what has happened here.

    Service improvements

    Within three months of the decision, the Council will provide training to all relevant staff on the processes and timescales of dealing with homelessness applications, sending decision letters including appeal rights and ensuring that all relevant applicants are correctly set up on its systems to allow their housing bids to be successfully administered.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (24 003 847)

    Category: Housing Date: 16-Dec-2024

    Summary

    The Council failed to take proper account of the health needs of Miss B’s son, when it offered her interim accommodation that was too far away from his school and involved him making a long journey on public transport. It has acknowledged that the accommodation may not have been suitable for the family. Miss B had to separate her children to sleep on the floors and sofas of other family members during this time. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy the injustice it caused Miss B and her family.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share this decision with relevant homelessness staff and remind them that interim accommodation should always be suitable, and it needs to take into account the individual circumstances and needs of the household.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (24 003 455)

    Category: Housing Date: 04-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council has failed to provide suitable temporary accommodation for her son Mr Y despite accepting a homelessness duty. We find the delays in dealing with Mr Y’s homelessness application and the failure to provide suitable interim or temporary accommodation are fault. These faults have caused Mr Y and Ms X an injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council has Agreed to provide training/written reminders to all relevant staff of the statutory duties to:•ensure main housing duty decisions are made within 56 days and that if an extra 15 working days is required, that this is properly documented.•ensure homelessness reviews are conducted within statutory timescales, and remind relevant staff of the statutory deadlines in writing.•provide interim and temporary accommodation and to properly document decisions regarding the suitability of accommodation. The Council should ensure all offers of temporary accommodation are made to the applicant in writing and set out the applicant's statutory right to request a suitability review.The Council has also agreed to carry out a review of its procurement of temporary accommodation and identify ways of increasing the supply of different types of self-contained temporary accommodation.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (23 019 289)

    Category: Housing Date: 29-Oct-2024

    Summary

    Ms K complains the Council failed to provide suitable temporary accommodation. The Council was at fault and it has agreed a remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to issue a reminder to officers to send a formal offer letter explaining how to request a suitability review of accommodation and that they should carry out a suitability review when requested.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (23 019 039)

    Category: Housing Date: 08-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complains about the Council’s poor handling of her brother's homelessness application. There was delay and poor communication by the Council. It has agreed a remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council should review its homelessness procedures to ensure it has a procedure in place which reflects the timescale in the Homelessness Code of Guidance when applicants do not maintain contact.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (23 019 030)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 28-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to properly investigate recurring fly-tipping near his home. There was fault with how the Council failed to properly investigate Mr X’s reports of fly-tipping and how it communicated with him throughout 2023. The Council agreed to apologise, pay Mr X a financial remedy, carry out a thorough review of its investigation and make several service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to remind senior officers in its Community Safety and Enforcement teams who are responsible for responding to complaints, that they should ensure all aspects of a complaint are investigated, including any underlying issues.The Council agreed to provide an update to the Ombudsman on its review of its fly-tipping case management system.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (23 016 752)

    Category: Housing Date: 05-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his homelessness application and failure to provide interim accommodation. We find the Council at fault which caused Mr X avoidable uncertainty, frustration, distress, and expenses. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X, make him a symbolic payment for the injustice caused, refund his avoidable expenses, and provide a staff reminder.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind staff dealing with homelessness applications to send updated contact information to service users when there is a change in allocated caseworkers.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (23 016 587)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 14-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s lack of action when she reported serious concerns for her brother, Mr Y. She said there have been significant delays which are ongoing. We find the Council was at fault. This caused significant distress to Miss X and Mr Y. We make several recommendations to address this injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to complete a capacity assessment in situations such as these. The Council should use this case as an example.

  • London Borough of Hillingdon (23 014 816)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 17-Jun-2024

    Summary

    Ms D complained about the way the Council dealt with her father’s care charges after he was discharged from hospital. We found the Council at fault for failing to provide enough information about the care charges before the costs were incurred. The Council will apologise and waive the fees to acknowledge the injustice it caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will consider whether its current processes include providing meaningful costs information about adult care services at the outset, and unless there is a good reason, before costs are incurred. If they do not, revise this process to ensure reasonably estimated cost information is provided at the earliest stage possible.

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