Service improvements

London Borough of Tower Hamlets

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025

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 24 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 (24 010 862)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 03-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council allowed road closures and roadworks to be carried out at both ends of the road where he lived at the same time. Mr X is a wheelchair user and had a disabled parking space at his address. He says the road closures and works undertaken prevented him from being able to use his car. Mr X says this caused him to miss medical appointments and negatively impacted his social life. We found fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and provide a financial remedy.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff to consider the Public Sector Equality Duty as part of the Council’s decision-making process.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (24 005 624)

    Category: Benefits and tax Date: 04-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained of the Council’s handling of her council tax bill. This included issuing multiple confusing bills and failing to give a refund she was eligible for. Ms X also says the Council stopped her council tax reductions and failed to inform her of this. The Council was at fault for its poor communication regarding the refund. It was also at fault for its delayed complaint responses. However, the Council was not at fault for issuing multiple bills or how it assesses council tax reductions. The Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to Ms X to recognise the distress, frustration and uncertainty its poor communication caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind complaints officers to address the full complaint in its complaint responses and provide responses in line with the timescales set out in the Council’s corporate complaints policy.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (24 003 907)

    Category: Housing Date: 20-Mar-2025

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for delay providing Mr X with interim accommodation, meaning he slept rough for nine days. The Council was also at fault for delay accepting the main housing duty, poor communication, failing to make reasonable adjustments and delays in complaint handling. These faults caused Mr X distress. The Council failed to provide suitable temporary accommodation despite accepting Mr X’s current accommodation is unsuitable. As a result, he remains living in a hotel which does not meet his needs. To remedy the injustice to Mr X, the Council has agreed to apologise, seek alternative accommodation and make payments to Mr X.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to ensure all frontline staff understand the Council’s duty to make reasonableadjustments and know how to identify, record, and act on a request forreasonable adjustments. It will provide training or guidance as needed.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (24 003 027)

    Category: Housing Date: 08-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Ms J complained about how long the Council has taken to move her from unsuitable temporary accommodation. She also complained about how long she has been in temporary accommodation. At this stage, we consider there is some fault as the Council delayed in moving her once it decided the accommodation was unsuitable. The Council has agreed to address the fault by a personal remedy to Ms J, and a review of its process.

    Service improvements

    Within three months of the decision, the Council will review the causes of the delays identified and produce a plan to avoid a recurrence.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (24 000 559)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 29-Oct-2024

    Summary

    We found fault in the Council’s failure to apply to the Court of Protection about care arrangements for the complainant’s (Mr X) son (Mr Z). The Council’s fault caused injustice to Mr Z and Mr X. We did not find fault in the Council’s visiting arrangements. We will not investigate whether the Supported Living placement was suitable for Mr Z and Mr X’s complaint about the Supported Living placement manager. The Council agreed to apologise, to apply to the Court of Protection and to make a symbolic payment for Mr X’s distress. The Council also agreed to remind social workers of their duties for people who lack mental capacity and are placed in the supported living settings.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind social workers and their managers of the Council’s duties for people who are placed in the community settings and who lack mental capacity to make decisions about their care arrangements.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (23 021 071)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Dec-2024

    Summary

    Ms B complained about the provision of therapies and activity sessions in accordance with her son D’s Education, Health and Care Plan between September 2020 and July 2022. We found some fault. We consider the Council has offered an adequate remedy for the Occupational Therapy and Speech and Language Therapy but did not acknowledge the failure to provide the activity sessions. The Council has agreed to pay £1165 for the missed sessions and to improve its procedures for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its procedures for withdrawing a personal budget and ensure that clear notification is given to a service user when the Council intends to withdraw a personal budget with full substantiated reasons and a right of review or appeal.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (23 019 942)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 26-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s actions when it reassessed his care needs and decided to amend his care and support plan. We found fault because the Council failed to send Mr X his updated care plan in a timely manner. This caused him avoidable distress, frustration and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X, send reminders to relevant staff and review one of its policies.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review the wording of its direct payment and personal budget policy regarding those who receive direct payments. It will clarify how oncosts related to being an employer are calculated. This will help service users to understand whether oncosts are a standard amount or assessed on a case-by-case basis.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (23 019 868)

    Category: Housing Date: 02-Jul-2024

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for contacting the alleged perpetrator of domestic abuse against Ms X as part of its inquiries into her homelessness. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to recognise the distress caused and act to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide training or guidance to relevant staff on the expectations of Chapter 21of the Homelessness Code of Guidance relating to gathering evidence and making inquiries about domestic abuse.The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that the Homelessness Code of Guidance explicitly directs that the council should not approach alleged perpetrators of domestic abuse.The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that if they are departing from the Code of Guidance, they should record detailed reasons for doing so in a particular case.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (23 019 552)

    Category: Housing Date: 18-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council decided she should not have medical priority on her housing application and that it took too long considering her request for a review of that decision. The Council was at fault. This caused Miss X avoidable frustration, upset and uncertainty. To remedy her injustice, the Council will apologise, pay Miss X £400, carry out a new review and inspect Miss X’s home for health hazards. The Council was also at fault for delay considering the review requests of 46 other applicants in a six-month period. The Council will apologise to those applicants, backdate their priority banding if their reviews were upheld and carry out service improvements to prevent this fault happening again.

    Service improvements

    The Council will apologise to the 46 housing register applicants whose reviews of its priority decision were delayed between January and July 2024. The apologies should meet the standards set out in the Ombudsman's guidance on remedies.The Council will backdate the priority banding of the three housing register applicants whose reviews of the it's priority banding decision was delayed between January and July 2024 and ultimately upheld.The Council will review the template letter it uses for medical priority decisions and review outcomes. The review letter should ensure that where staff are refusing an application, they are prompted to explain, in enough detail, how they considered medical information and why the information was either discounted or insufficient to demonstrate a need for medical priority. The Council may want to consider the Ombudsman's recent focus report 'Medical assessments for housing applicants' as part of the review.The Council will remind housing staff that when a housing applicant says their health is being affected by disrepair in their property, they should share the details of its Environmental Services team, who can carry out hazard inspections.The Council will send the Ombudsman an action plan setting out how it will reduce the wait time for housing register priority banding reviews. The plan should set out the steps the Council will take, who will complete them and by when.

  • London Borough of Tower Hamlets (23 018 987)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 01-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s decision to refuse her blue badge renewal application. She said the Council did not properly consider her medical evidence from a psychologist, and was over reliant on a short telephone assessment from its own medical advisor. The Council was at fault for not sending all Miss X’s medical evidence to its expert assessor. The Council offered to reassess Miss X to remedy the injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind staff in its parking and mobility services about the importance of sending all relevant evidence to the Council’s expert assessors for blue badge applications.

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