Service improvements

London Borough of Hounslow

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 - 8 of 8 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • London Borough of Hounslow (25 006 657)

    Category: Education Date: 25-Feb-2026

    Summary

    The Council was at fault. It did not provide Mrs X’s child, Y, with a suitable education or their special educational provision to which they were entitled. The Council will apologise to Y and pay Mrs X a symbolic payment to acknowledge Y’s missed education, missed special educational provision and Mrs X’s uncertainty. It will put a service improvement in place.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its policy and procedures to ensure it retains oversight and control of its section 19 duty. The Council has a duty to retain responsibility for ensuring children receive suitable education, even where they remain on the school roll and ensuring it considers whether the Council should arrange alternative provision for a child, even when it is trying to find a new school place for that child.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (25 004 077)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Jan-2026

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for delay in arranging the special educational provision in Mr Z’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. It also failed to carry out two annual reviews of Mr Z’s EHC Plans and delayed issuing an amended Plan. This meant Mr Z missed out on provision he should have had and his father, Mr X, experienced avoidable frustration. To remedy their injustice, the Council will apologise and make a symbolic payment. It will also issue a clarification to staff to prevent similar fault in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault for delay in arranging the special educational provision in a young person's Education, Health and Care Plan. It also failed to carry out two annual reviews of their Plan and delayed issuing an amended Plan. The Council will share this decision with staff who carry out Education, Health and Care Plan annual reviews. The Council should highlight that an appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal does not relieve the Council of its duties to carry out an annual review of a child or young person's Education, Health and Care Plan.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (25 000 528)

    Category: Housing Date: 29-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s handling of his homelessness application. We have found fault by the Council, causing injustice, in failing to: properly consider whether it had reason to believe Mr X might be in priority need and a duty to arrange interim accommodation; make it clear, in its revised decision, it had now accepted the interim accommodation duty; process Mr X’s review request in a timely way or properly address the issues raised: keep adequate records about its response to his issues with the interim accommodation; and complete its complaint handling process within its published timescales. To remedy the injustice, the Council has agreedto: apologise to Mr X, make payments to recognise the impact of its failures; and service improvements.

    Service improvements

    the Council has agreed to review its process for considering whether a person is vulnerable as a result of having served a custodial sentence, been committed for contempt of court or remanded in custody to ensure;• it reflects the Code of Guidance regarding the relevant information to be taken into account when making these decisions; and• guidance to officers is clear about the process they should follow, the relevant information to be obtained and how they should record their decisions.the Council has agreed to report to us on the improvements made to the delivery of temporary accommodation through its “Setting the Standards” project.the Council has agreed to review its:• complaint handling process to identify the reasons for the delay inthis case and any changes it should make to ensure complaints are handledwithin the published timescale; and• statutory review process to identify the reasons for the failures in this case to process Mr X’s review within the required timescale and properly address the issues raised.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (24 022 774)

    Category: Education Date: 14-Oct-2025

    Summary

    The Council was at fault. It did not secure Ms X’s child, Y’s, speech and language therapy (SALT) or occupational therapy (OT), had poor record keeping practices and communicated poorly with Ms X. This caused Ms X frustration and meant Y missed provision to which they were entitled. The Council will apologise to Y, make a symbolic payment to Ms X, review the impact of Y’s lost SALT and OT, consider how it can communicate with Ms X in the future and put in place service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff of the need for accurate record keeping to ensure relevant documents are saved to pupils' files.The Council will provide the Ombudsman with evidence it has recruited permanent special educational needs staff members.The Council will provide the Ombudsman with evidence it has implemented a new customer standard that all communication is responded to within five working days.The Council will provide the Ombudsman with evidence it has improved its commissioning arrangements in relation to special educational needs.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (24 021 003)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Mar-2026

    Summary

    Ms X complains the Council has not dealt properly with services for her family including reviewing an Education Health and Care Plan, her son’s education provision, blue badge applications, a carers assessment and has not handled her complaints properly. The Council is at fault because it delayed an Education Health and Care Plan annual review, failed to make special educational provision, closed a child in need plan without informing her and did not deal with part of her complaint through the correct complaints process. Ms X suffered a delayed right of appeal and Y missed special educational needs provision. The Council should apologise, make a symbolic payment to Ms X, repay Ms X costs of therapy provision and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    • Provide guidance to staff that an EHC Plan is not essential for a successful blue badge application in respect of a child.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (24 017 728)

    Category: Education Date: 17-Jul-2025

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for ending B’s college placement without an alternative in place, failing to follow the statutory timescales and process following a review of an Education, Health and Care Plan and delay reinstating B’s college place. The Council has agreed to apologise, make payments and act to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide training or guidance on remedying injustice to staff responsible for responding to complaints at both stages of the Council’s complaint process with reference to the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (24 015 858)

    Category: Housing Date: 13-Jul-2025

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council in its handling of this homelessness case. It did not review whether the complainant was in priority need when it should, and required him to provide evidence he was homeless beyond what was legally required, and despite the fact it had already accepted he was homeless. This meant the complainant remained homeless for a period when the Council should have accommodated him. The Council has agreed to offer the complainant a financial remedy, and issue guidance to staff to ensure they correctly understand the law. The Council was also at fault because it gave the complainant inaccurate information about its deposit scheme, but this did not cause an injustice.

    Service improvements

    the Council should:• issue guidance to officers in its homelessness department. The guidance should explain:- upon receipt of new and potentially relevant evidence, officers should promptly review any decision they have made about an applicant’s priority need, or any other part of the eligibility criteria for homelessness duties. They should make a clear record of their decision and the reasons for it; and- the legal basis of the ‘reason to believe’ threshold and what it means in practice.The Council should circulate a copy of this decision to officers as part of this guidance.

  • London Borough of Hounslow (24 015 455)

    Category: Housing Date: 21-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to offer her interim accommodation when it accepted the relief duty to her. She also complained it did not offer her interim accommodation while it considered a suitability review of a final offer of accommodation it made to her. We found fault by the Council on the matters we investigated. The Council agreed to apologise to Miss X and make her a symbolic payment in recognition of the injustice caused to her and her family.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share this decision with staff responsible for dealing with offers of interim accommodation to identify learning and prevent a recurrence of the fault we found.

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings