Service improvements

London Borough of Sutton

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 - 3 of 3 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Sutton (25 003 911)

    Category: Housing Date: 24-Jul-2025

    Summary

    It came to our attention that the Council’s Removals and Storage procedure did not properly reflect the requirements of the Housing Act 1996. The Council agreed to review and amend the procedure to make sure it does reflect the relevant legislation. It has also agreed to review requests from 10 households which did not receive removal or storage assistance to ensure the correct test was used.

    Service improvements

    The Council has already agreed to review and amend its Removals and Storage procedure.The Council should review, and where necessary reconsider, the requests from 10 households for storage provision to ensure the decision they did not qualify for assistance was based on the correct test of whether the Council considers the property would be lost or damaged if it did not act and not their financial status alone.

  • London Borough of Sutton (24 017 814)

    Category: Housing Date: 21-Jul-2025

    Summary

    We have upheld Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of her housing register application. We will not investigate further because the Council has agreed to take appropriate steps to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff that it is for the Council to make decisions about priority on its housing register and not its medical advisers, and also about the importance of providing proper reasons for its decisions, particularly at the review stage.

  • London Borough of Sutton (24 012 749)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Jun-2025

    Summary

    We found fault by the Council on Mr Y’s complaint about the way it dealt with his application for post-16 Travel Assistance and appeals. It failed to properly consider them and give full reasons for its decisions. It also fettered its discretion. This caused distress as Mr Y does not know if the outcome would have been different but for the fault. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused. This included sending an apology, arranging a fresh appeal hearing, and issuing fresh guidance to relevant officers.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to issue guidance to relevant officers making decisions, either on applications or appeals, about the need to not to: fetter discretion when making decisions; take irrelevant considerations into account; refer to factors which are not in its policy.

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