Service improvements

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

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 11 - 17 of 17 cases with service improvements

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

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 014 062)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 24-Oct-2023

    Summary

    Miss C says the Council failed to properly investigate her concerns about noise nuisance, failed to respond to some of her communications, failed to consider the evidence she put in and forced her to put in a corporate complaint. The Council failed to record its view on whether noise recording equipment was appropriate, failed to respond to some of Miss C’s communications and failed to address some of the issues Miss C raised in her complaint. None of that affected the outcome. An apology and reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind officers of the need to consider whether noise recording equipment should be installed where diary sheets show intermittent noise and make a note where officers decide this is not necessary.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 013 602)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 24-May-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the Council’s decision making on her mother’s care and support, leaving her mother, Mrs Y, struggling with a shortfall in care. We found fault by the Council causing injustice. We recommended it apologise to Mrs Y, pay her £750 for distress and uncertainty, reinstate her previous package of care, offer a reassessment of her care needs and support, and take action to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide guidance to staff working in Adult Social Care to ensure they understand the Council’s duty to meet eligible care needs unless a carer is willing and able to do so.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 012 077)

    Category: Education Date: 13-Jun-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complained about delays throughout the Education, Health, Care Needs assessment process for her son, and the Council did not seek appropriate advice to inform the assessment of his needs. We found fault with the Council with significant delays, with poor communication, and some fault with what advice it obtained. This caused uncertainty, frustration and distress for Miss X and her son, and he missed out on extra support for his needs. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to remedy the injustice and to take action to prevent recurrence of fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its processes to ensure relevant staff are reminded to keeps parents appropriately informed as to the progress of Education, Health, Care needs assessments.The Council will review its processes to ensure it issues final Education, Health, and Care Plans within statutory timescales and minimises delays, sending guidance to appropriate staff members.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 011 432)

    Category: Housing Date: 27-Sep-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council placed her and her children in unsuitable accommodation which had an adverse impact on her own and her children’s health. The Council’s failure to review the suitability of the interim accommodation provided to Ms X when it was presented with new medical evidence and evidence of disrepair and Category 1 hazards is fault. This fault has caused Ms X an injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide training / reminders to relevant staff of the need to to keep the suitability of accommodation under review and to respond to relevant changes in circumstances which may affect the suitability. Staff should be reminded of the need to document reviews and record decisions.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 002 278)

    Category: Housing Date: 01-May-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council failed to provide suitable temporary accommodation and failed to correctly assess her housing priority. We have found the Council at fault for the way it administered Miss X’s housing application, for delays in providing Miss X with a right of appeal, and for its record-keeping. We have made recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind its officers of the timescales set out in the Homelessness Code of Guidance for making homelessness enquiries and ending the relief housing duty.The Council will remind officers it has an onging duty to consider whether temporary accommodation provided to homeless individuals remains suitable for their needs, accounting for any changes in the person's circumstances.The Council will remind officers that offers of temporary accommodation, made under the main housing duty, are decisions that should be made in writing. It will also remind officers these decision letters should clearly set out the applicant's right to appeal.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (22 001 023)

    Category: Education Date: 25-Oct-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council has not dealt properly with her son Y’s education. The Council did not properly consider whether it needed to provide alternative education for Y. Miss X and Y suffered avoidable distress and uncertainty, were subject to unnecessary child protection proceedings and Y lost educational provision. The Council should apologise to Miss X and Y, pay Miss X £9,600 in respect of Y’s lost educational provision, pay Miss X £1,100 for avoidable distress and provide training to staff.

    Service improvements

    Provide training to all relevant staff about the Council’s duties in relation to s19 alternative education provision and their responsibilities in respect of this, including awareness of issues around neuro diversity, autism/PDA and ADHD.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (21 015 477)

    Category: Housing Date: 02-Apr-2023

    Summary

    Mr Y complained about the Council’s lack of assistance with his homelessness. The Council was at fault for a failure to progress the homelessness case and issue appropriate decision letters between August 2020 and February 2021. The Council also failed to make proper enquiries about Mr Y’s caring responsibilities in that period but this did not affect the outcome. The Council said it would apologise and pay Mr Y £750 to remedy the frustration and uncertainty caused, which is an appropriate remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to keep a proper record of how they consider whether an applicant is in priority need, including whether they are vulnerable.The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to make appropriate enquiries with children's social care where an applicant is seeking to add a child to their housing application so it can consider whether to make an exception to its usual position that it will not do so unless the parent is the child's primary carer. If it declines to make an exception it should set out its reasons in writing.The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to issue formal decision letters with appropriate information about rights of review and appeal, in line with relevant law and guidance.

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