Service improvements

London Borough of Lewisham

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

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 - 9 of 9 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 (23 014 781)

    Category: Housing Date: 08-Mar-2024

    Summary

    The Council failed to carry out an agreed action to investigate and respond to Miss X’s concerns about damp in her property, following a previous investigation by the Ombudsman. There was also fault by the Council in failing to move Miss X when it decided her temporary accommodation was not suitable. The Council has agreed to make a financial payment and service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will engage in discussions with Company A about a framework agreement to set out clear expectations around service standards, repairs policy and timescales.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (23 010 931)

    Category: Other Categories Date: 17-Jan-2024

    Summary

    Ms X says the Council failed to make reasonable adjustments when communicating with her and failed to respond within a reasonable timeframe. We find fault with the Council for failing to make agreed reasonable adjustments when communicating with Ms X and for failing to respond to Ms X within a reasonable timeframe.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff of the importance of ensuring any agreed reasonable adjustments are complied with.Remind staff of the need to respond to correspondence within a reasonable timeframe.Remind complaint handlers of the Ombudsman ‘s guidance on remedies when considering awarding financial remedies.Review how the Council records when reasonable adjustments are agreed and how this is shared between services.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (23 010 798)

    Category: Housing Date: 05-Mar-2024

    Summary

    there was fault in the way the Council considered Miss X’s request for a medical assessment and a review of her priority on the Housing Register. She has recently been offered a property. But she did not get a decision on her request for medical priority and is left with the uncertainty of not knowing whether she might have been awarded higher priority on medical grounds. The Council has agreed to provide a personal remedy for Miss X and to make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    Share the final decision statement with officers in the Housing Register and corporate complaints teams to ensure they understand the Council is responsible for the actions of partner organisations in the allocations scheme and should consider complaints about their actions.Review and amend its housing allocations scheme so it clearly explains the different procedures for assessing applications made by Housing Association tenants and for considering their review requests;Arrange for a senior manager responsible for the Housing Register team to meet a manager from the Housing Association to review their current performance in carrying out medical assessments and find out whether there is a wider issue with delays or blockages in the process. If there is a systemic problem, they should agree an action plan to address this.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (23 008 554)

    Category: Education Date: 25-Jan-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s handling of his application for continued home to school transport for his disabled son. Mr X says the Council’s actions negatively impacted the family. We found fault by the Council and the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and consider a new application for travel assistance.

    Service improvements

    Review the Council’s Travel Assistance Policy to include details about the Independent Travel Training program.Remind staff to adhere to the statutory guidance and the Council’s own Travel Assistance Policy, specifically when providing decision notifications to service users, (to include why the Council has reached its decision, how the Council conducted the review and the factors considered in reaching the decision).Remind staff of the Ombudsman’s principles of good administrative practice and the importance of keeping proper and appropriate records in relation to decision-making.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (23 007 412)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 06-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her recycling waste in the last year. I have found fault with the Council’s actions. It has failed to collect waste as agreed and has delayed acting to resolve the issue. This caused Ms X injustice. The Council will apologise, make payment to Ms X and take action to prevent reoccurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will take steps to introduce the proposed clear bags for recycling.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (22 017 915)

    Category: Education Date: 08-Mar-2024

    Summary

    Most of Ms X’s complaints are not within our remit because they have been appealed to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal, or they could have formed part of the appeal. There was a failure to complete the annual review process after the review meeting in July 2021 which was fault. This caused avoidable confusion, uncertainty and a delay in appeal rights. The Council will apologise and make a symbolic payment of £150.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind officers in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Team of the duty to complete the annual review process in line with legal timescales.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (22 017 218)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 24-Oct-2023

    Summary

    Mrs Y complains about several aspects of the Council’s involvement in the prospective adoption of her children, D and E. Some of the matters complained about happened two years ago and we have not investigated them because there is no good reason to exercise our discretion. Some of the other matters have already been before the courts and we do not have jurisdiction to consider them. In the remaining parts of the complaint, we find some fault causing injustice to Mrs Y and E which the Council has agreed to remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff about the life story guidance for adopted children. This could be through a briefing paper or as part of staff training.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (22 016 544)

    Category: Housing Date: 28-Sep-2023

    Summary

    Mr Y complained about the Council’s handling of his homelessness application. He said it did not do enough to help him when he became homeless or act on his review request of its decision on his homelessness application. On the evidence available, we found evidence of fault by the Council. We ask the Council to apologise to Mr Y and make a payment in recognition of the uncertainty caused to him.

    Service improvements

    The Council will undertake a review of its process and procedures for storing Personalised Housing Plans following the closure of cases and produce protocols for staff to ensure Personalised Housing Plans can be retrieved after a case is closed.

  • London Borough of Lewisham (22 009 932)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 19-Jun-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council delayed responding to his reports of a drain leaking on his property from the privately owned property next door and did not properly consider the matter. Mr X further complained the Council delayed in considering his complaint about the matter. The Council delayed in taking action, failed to communicate with Mr X and failed to consider his complaint. This caused Mr X frustration, uncertainty and time and trouble. The Council agreed to apologise and pay Mr X £200 to recognise the same.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff within the Building Control department to respond to enquiries and complaints directly, and provide an explanation where it decides it has no remit to investigate.The Council will remind relevant staff to follow its own corporate complaints policy in considering complaints about council services.

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