Service improvements

London Borough of Lewisham

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023

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 10 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Lewisham (22 010 531)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Feb-2023

    Summary

    There was administrative fault in the way the Council communicated with Ms X about the outcome of her transport appeal. This meant there was a period when Ms X did not access a free taxi for her child to travel to school which caused inconvenience and distress. The Council will apologise, update its application process and make a payment of £250 to acknowledge the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has improved its transport application process so applicants can upload supporting evidence and will ensure this goes live on its website on 23 June 2023.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (22 009 250)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Feb-2023

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council. The Council delayed arranging alternative educational provision once it accepted her son’s primary school was unsuitable. There was no education provided for her son after March 2022. The Council’s apology, review of arrangements and payment remedies the injustice to Miss X and her son.

    Service improvements

    The Council should review its arrangements for case allocation and supervision to make sure that officers can make the right decisions in complex cases.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (22 006 537)

    Category: Housing Date: 19-Dec-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council refused to assist her with her housing despite her having been given notice by her mother. The Council was at fault as it offered Miss X access to its rent deposit scheme then refused to assist her and in the way it ended its prevention duty and refused to accept a homelessness application. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X, offer to carry out a statutory review of its decision to end the prevention duty and reconsider whether she can access the rent deposit scheme.

    Service improvements

    remind officers to properly consider whether toexercise their discretion in considering applications for the rent depositscheme.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (22 002 014)

    Category: Housing Date: 17-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Miss C complained the Council failed to resolve the billing issues for her interim accommodation with the housing provider. She also says the Council delayed providing her with a final decision letter on her homelessness application. We find the Council was at fault as it should have been more proactive in resolving the billing issues and it significantly delayed providing Miss C with a decision on her homelessness application. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure homelessness applications are processed in a timely way. If there are going to be delays, staff should keep applicants updated at key intervals.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (22 001 225)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 17-Feb-2023

    Summary

    X, Y and Z complained the Council delayed in completing the statutory children’s complaint procedure when they complained about how the Council managed their foster care placement. They also complained the Council failed to carry out the recommendations it identified as necessary as a result of the statutory complaint procedure and failed to recognise the impact of the upheld complaint. The Council failed to complete some of the recommendations from the statutory complaint procedure, delayed in completing the complaint procedure and failed to appropriately recognise and remedy the injustice caused to X,Y and Z. The Council agreed to apologise and pay Y and Z a symbolic amount of £1,400 each and X £1,750 to recognise the injustice caused to them.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind all relevant staff members of the Council’s duties to provide an education for children who are unable to attend school because they have moved foster placements.The Council will remind relevant staff members of the timescales specified in the statutory guidance for carrying out children’s statutory complaint investigationsThe Council will remind staff members who complete adjudication processes in the children's statutory complaints process of the guidance to provide a response on all points of complaint, and not to pass responsibility on to complainants to request an explanation.The Council will share the decision where we found fault in how the Council provided education to three looked after children with the Council’s Virtual School Head for their consideration.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (21 017 084)

    Category: Housing Date: 01-Sep-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X and Mr D complained the Council wrongly found their temporary accommodation suitable and it discharged its housing duty towards them. He also said it had failed to act as set out in its repairs policy when they had mould in the property and water leak from another flat. We found no fault by the Council on the substantial matters complained about, or these were late and had already been considered by a court. However, the Council did cause a service failure due to its delays in completing repairs to their accommodation as set out in the Council’s Policy. The Council has agreed to apologise the Mrs X and Mr D, complete the assessed repairs without delay and make payment to acknowledge the distress this caused them.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review Mrs X and Mr D complaint against its Repairs Policy to identify learning and ways to ensure any delays in the inspection and repairs process are limited and consistent with its Policy. Including, how the Council communicates any delays outside its control to individuals affected.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (21 016 662)

    Category: Housing Date: 26-Oct-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s handling of her homelessness application and about various matters relating to the interim accommodation it provided. The Council was at fault for a significant delay in deciding her homelessness application, a failure to review whether the interim accommodation was suitable and poor communication in relation to repairs. The faults caused Miss X frustration and uncertainty, although she has potentially benefitted from the delay in making the homelessness decision. The Council should apologise and make a modest payment to remedy the injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its processes to ensure it decides homelessness applications without undue delay, keeps proper records of all key information relevant to the application, and has a system to identify when cases need reallocating, for example, due to the unexpected absence of staff.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (21 009 125)

    Category: Other Categories Date: 20-Dec-2022

    Summary

    Mr C said the Council charged him too much rent for his business premises and failed to provide evidence to show what he owed. Much of this complaint is out of time as Mr C could have complained earlier so we have not investigated. However, the Council is at fault for the way in which it dealt with Mr C’s concerns. This caused Mr C injustice in the form of distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr C and pay him a sum in recognition of the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault for poor record keeping and failures to respond to complaints. It has agreed that agreed that it will review its procedures, record keeping and systems to see how it can improve internal communication to prevent similar errors occurring in future and to write to the Ombudsman to inform us of any changes made.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (21 008 319)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 23-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mr and Mrs X complained the Council arranged a care package for Mrs X between March and September 2021 that they had not requested and did not agree to, and that it failed to end the care package when they asked it to. Mr and Mrs X further complained the Council did not properly consider their complaint about it and a safeguarding matter. The Council failed to cancel the care package when requested to do so, and failed to communicate about its complaint handling. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr and Mrs X, cancel some of the outstanding care charges and pay them £300 each to recognise the distress caused to them.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide us with evidence that is has completed the actions it identified as necessary following a safeguarding enquiry. This includes: the Council writing to the rehabilitation team manager about communicating and coordinating when other care agencies are involved with people it is supporting; the local adult social care provider providing refresher training for a care worker on medication administration, promoting choice, communicating and accessing service users' property; and the local adult social care provider writing an apology letter to the complainant about how they felt about the care they were provided.The Council will remind relevant staff to:take timely action when someone requests to cancel a care package, even where it may be an unwise decision; andensure the complainant is aware when one element of their complaint is put on hold for the conclusion of an enquiry in to another element of the complaint.The Council will remind the local adult social care provider of the importance of keeping accessible records for people it has provided domiciliary care to.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (21 001 866)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 24-Apr-2022

    Summary

    The Council failed to make a reasonable contribution to Miss B’s nursery expenditure and loss of earnings when she became a Special Guardian, after it agreed to do so. The Council also failed to ensure the nursery provided Miss B with clear invoices. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Miss B and to take action to ensure all providers of free early education are providing parents with clear, transparent and itemised invoices.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure that when it carries out monitoring of free early education providers, it checks that they are providing parents with clear, transparent and itemised invoices which clearly show the free hours taken for the period, and the fees for any additional hours. It will also check the free entitlement is not represented to parents as a monetary subsidy.

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