Service improvements

London Borough of Newham

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 17 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Newham (22 010 399)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 17-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to correctly consider his application for a Blue Badge. The Council failed to consider Mr X’s application in line with government guidance. The Council will apologise, carry out a new assessment and take action to prevent reoccurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind staff of the walking distances for assessment under the Blue Badge scheme local authority guidance (England)The Council will remind staff to provide a full explanation when they decide to refuse a blue badge application. It should explain why the criteria has not been met and how this conclusion was reached.

  • London Borough of Newham (22 008 620)

    Category: Housing Date: 09-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council delayed in taking action when he requested help to prevent homelessness. This has had a significant impact on his mental and physical health. We find fault by the Council. To address the injustice caused by fault, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and remind staff of the relevant guidance.

    Service improvements

    The Council should issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of:·The Council’s duties to take into account the location of accommodation, including the proximity and accessibility of the accommodation to medical facilities.

  • London Borough of Newham (22 007 022)

    Category: Housing Date: 31-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council has delayed in moving her and her family to suitable temporary accommodation and delayed in dealing with disrepair and failed to deal with her complaints of anti social behaviour. The Council is at fault for delaying in providing Miss X and her family with suitable temporary accommodation. As a result Miss X has lived in unsuitable accommodation for five months and this injustice is ongoing. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by making a payment of £750 to her and £150 per month for every month she remains in unsuitable temporary accommodation. The Council is also at fault as it delayed in dealing with disrepair in Miss X’s property but this did not cause significant injustice to her. The Council failed to properly deal with Miss X’s reports of anti social behaviour which caused distress to her. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by making a payment of £150 to Miss X.

    Service improvements

    Reviews its procedures for dealing with complaints of anti social behaviour to ensure officers take appropriate action in accordance with the Council’s anti social behaviour policy and ensure it notifies complainants of the action to be taken. The Council should explain to the Ombudsman how it will improve its performance in this area.

  • London Borough of Newham (22 006 290)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 06-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council has failed to properly investigate and take appropriate action against his reports of anti-social behaviour and noise from his neighbours. The Council is at fault. It has investigated Mr X’s complaints for nearly two years without clearly explaining its decision making and conclusions. It also wrongly refused Mr X’s request for the Community Trigger. The Council should apologise to Mr X and pay him £300 to recognise the distress, frustration, uncertainty and time and trouble caused to him. It should communicate to Mr X what, if any action it intends to take and reconsider his request for the Community Trigger.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review its Anti-Social Behaviour policy around the Community Trigger to ensure its local threshold is in line with statutory guidance.

  • London Borough of Newham (22 004 573)

    Category: Education Date: 23-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Mr C complained the Council failed, or caused delays, in providing Miss X’s assessed special educational needs provision and social care support. We found the Council failed to follow up on his rehousing application as agreed. It also failed to adhere to its complaint policy timescales. It should apologise, and make payment to acknowledge the injustice this caused Mr C and Miss X. There was no fault on other parts of Mr C’s complaint.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind its Children’s and Adult Social Care services staff to review whether necessary steps, such as rehousing applications, have been completed to ensure assessed care needs can be met, and inform the individual or their representatives if further action is needed.The Council will remind its staff to respond to complaints without delays and within the timescales set out in the Council’s complaints policy.

  • London Borough of Newham (22 004 363)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 25-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mr Y complained about the way the Council dealt with his request that it recall two outstanding penalty charge notice debts from its enforcement agents because he is a vulnerable person. We found fault in how the Council considered his request. But this fault did not cause Mr Y an injustice and so we have completed our investigation.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to issue a memo reminding all staff handling Penalty Charge Notice complaints and recovery of Penalty Charge Notice debts that any reference to the debtor being vulnerable should be followed up.The Council agreed to remind its enforcement agents that where a debtor says they are vulnerable the Council should be informed so that it can consider the circumstances of the case to see if it should become involved.

  • London Borough of Newham (22 001 827)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 24-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council has not enforced the controlled parking zone on his road and has taken no action to address the street signs being vandalised. We have found the Council at fault for its record-keeping and for delaying in instructing a repair to the signs. These faults caused Mr X avoidable frustration. We have recommended an apology and service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will put in place an action plan to ensure reports of vandalised street signs are properly documented and addressed without administrative delay.

  • London Borough of Newham (21 018 447)

    Category: Education Date: 02-Dec-2022

    Summary

    There was fault and excessive delay in the way the Council carried out an EHC needs assessment. There was fault in failing to provide a child out of school with anxiety with s.19 education. There was fault in failing to secure therapy provision in an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. This led to loss of education and distress. The Council will make a financial payment, apologise and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind officers / provide update training to ensure: legally compliant Education, Health and Care needs assessments are always carried out; the advice to be sought is discussed with parents and professionals, in line with the Code of Practice; where the Council decides advice is not necessary or it is not ‘reasonable’ to obtain advice it provides this decision to parents in writing with reasons at the time.The Council will remind officers / provide update training to ensure section 19 education is provided in a timely way and is suitable and fulltime where appropriate.The Council will ensure it has a mechanism to check special educational provision in an Education, Health and Care plan is put in place when a new plan is issued.

  • London Borough of Newham (21 017 670)

    Category: Housing Date: 02-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained about how the Council dealt with the long‑term disrepair and management issues at her temporary accommodation. The Council was at fault with how it dealt with Miss X’s concerns. This caused Miss X distress, time and trouble, frustration and she remained in an unsuitable accommodation for longer than she should have. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to:•review and ensure tenants’ license to occupy agreements clearly states/confirms who is responsible to pay the different charges for a temporary accommodation•adopt a procedure of regular reports from its managing agent on how the agent is handling reports of disrepair, so the Council can identify, and if necessary, address, any persistent or long-lasting disrepair issues•explain and provide evidence to the Ombudsman the action(s) it intends to take to improve its performance in this area.

  • London Borough of Newham (21 017 652)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 04-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mr Y complains about the Council’s actions in relation to the assessment and support planning for his partner, Ms Y. He also complains about problems with Ms Y’s direct payments. We find fault in all parts of the complaint we have investigated. The Council will apologise, pay £500 and review Ms Y’s case.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff dealing with adult social care complaints of the timescales outlined in the Council’s complaints procedure.

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