Service improvements

London Borough of Hounslow

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 - 5 of 5 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Hounslow (21 005 892)

    Category: Housing Date: 08-Feb-2022

    Summary

    The Council’s failure to take a homeless application when Miss X said she was at risk of domestic abuse is fault. The Council is also at fault for failing to provide interim accommodation at the earliest opportunity. The Council has agreed to apologise, pay Miss X £1,500, and take action to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to ensure frontline staff are aware that a homeless application can be made to any department and provide guidance or training as necessary.The Council has agreed to share this decision with staff in the relevant departments.The Council has agreed to provide evidence of the Council’s changes to policy and practice since the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, including evidence of any training or guidance for staff.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (21 003 804)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 11-Feb-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained about how the Council supported him while leaving the Council’s care. The Council failed to arrange a personal adviser for Mr X when it should have done and unnecessarily delayed investigating Mr X’s complaint. This caused Mr X avoidable uncertainty, frustration, time and trouble for which the Council agree to apologise and pay him a financial remedy. It also agreed to review the training and guidance it provides to its social workers.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review the training and guidance it provides to its social workers supporting young people in care to ensure its social workers are clear about: the duty to provide personal advisers for young people before they leave care; and the different responsibilities that personal advisers have, if social workers carry out this role before the council provides a dedicated personal adviser.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (20 011 321)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 07-Jul-2021

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council refused him a business grant, causing financial difficulties. We find fault in the Council’s decision making process causing uncertainty. We recommend the Council provide an apology and review its decision.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide training/guidance to relevant staff to ensure they provide clear evidence based decisions in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance on good administrative practice.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (20 007 776)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 04-Jun-2021

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for how it handled some of Mr X’s reports of noise and anti-social behaviour. This caused Mr X distress and resulted in him continuing to complain to the Council. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Mr X to reflect the distress he and his family suffered.

    Service improvements

    Provide a reminder to staff to ensure outcomes of investigations following reports of noise and anti-social behaviour are communicated to those complaining.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (20 005 894)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 29-Sep-2021

    Summary

    Mr F complained about the Council’s introduction of two experimental road traffic orders as part of its response to COVID-19. We upheld the complaint, finding fault in how the Council introduced these measures. We considered Mr F was caused some uncertainty as a result, although this was limited because one scheme was subsequently stopped and the other amended. The Council accepts our findings and will provide an apology to Mr F as well as reflect on what lessons it can learn.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed that it would consider what lessons it could learn from this complaint as part of an ongoing review of its decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic that would go to its Cabinet for their consideration.

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