Service improvements

Nottinghamshire County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2027

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 - 18 of 18 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for Nottinghamshire County Council as a CSV file.

  • Nottinghamshire County Council (22 016 518)

    Category: Education Date: 20-Jul-2023

    Summary

    Mrs F complained the Council failed to find a suitable special school and put in place suitable alternative provision for her daughter when her school could no longer meet her needs. The Council agreed it was at fault and proposed a remedy. We found its remedy was not enough to acknowledge the loss of educational provision its faults caused Mrs F’s daughter. The Council agreed with our recommendations.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share with the Ombudsman evidence it has completed its proposed service improvement recommendations, which were to:•recruit additional staff to its SEND Team to effectively manage caseloads;•review and refine its current Education, Health and Care plan system and processes, including how it consults with school and reaches its decisions on placements; •improve the way it tracks and monitors children and young people who are not in school full-time or receive alternative provision; and •ensure all its staff has the knowledge and skills to enable them to have greater accountability for children with Education, Health and Care plans they are responsible for.

  • Nottinghamshire County Council (22 013 566)

    Category: Education Date: 23-Apr-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complains about the way the Council handled her daughter’s Education, Health and Care Plan. We find fault with the Council for delay, failing to communicate with Mrs X and failing to secure the provision specified. This caused frustration and distress to Mrs X and meant her daughter did not get the educational provision she should have. We have agreed service improvements and financial remedies for the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council should monitor our previous recommendations to ensure compliance.Within three moths the Council should ensure Special Education Needs staff send post-review letters within four weeks from the review meeting, notifying of the Council’s positionWithin three moths the Council should ensure Special Education Needs staff issue final Education Health and Care Plan’s within eight weeks of the date of the Council sending proposed EHCP amendments to the parents/young people, andWithin three months the Council should ensure Special Education Needs staff check the provision in new and amended Education Health and Care Plan’s is being delivered.

  • Nottinghamshire County Council (22 012 554)

    Category: Education Date: 19-Oct-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council delayed in assessing her son’s needs and issuing his Education, Health and Care plan and failed to secure all of the provision in her son’s Education, Health and Care plan. Ms X also complained about the level of communication she received from the Education Other than at School service. We have found the Council at fault which caused injustice to Ms X and her child as her child missed out on some provision and Ms X had to wait longer to challenge her child’s final Education, Health and Care plan. To remedy the injustice caused the Council agreed to apologise, make a payment to Ms X for the loss of provision to her child and the distress she experienced.

    Service improvements

    Remind the teams involved with this case of the Council’s communication standards and take whatever steps necessary to ensure the teams are putting this in place.

  • Nottinghamshire County Council (22 008 374)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Feb-2023

    Summary

    The complainant (Mr X) said the Council failed to review his son’s (Y) Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) following the family’s move, failed to ensure delivery of all special educational provisions (SEP) included in the EHCP, failed to follow the right EHCP review process and delayed removing Y from the school roll. We found fault with the Council in parts of Mr X’s complaint. Some of these faults caused Y and Mr X injustice. The Council agreed to apologise, issue Y’s final EHCP within two weeks, refund educational and therapy costs to Mr X, make payment for Y’s lost education and make service improvement within its EHCP review processes.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) review process and provide relevant training to the front-line staff and their managers to ensure:• Sending post-review letters within four weeks from the review meeting, notifying of the Council’s position and advising parents/young people of their appeal rights when required, are part of the review process;• Final EHC plans are always issued within eight weeks from the date of the Council sending proposed EHCP amendments to the parents/young people;The Council will provide us with the evidence the above action has been completed.

  • Nottinghamshire County Council (22 005 863)

    Category: Education Date: 29-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council has not provided her daughter, Y, with Occupational Therapy (OT) specified in her Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) since May 2022. Miss X also complained the Council has not provided a personal budget when she requested this and its communication has been difficult. Miss X says she has been funding Y’s education and this has put financial pressure on her family. Miss X has been put to time and trouble to complain. There was fault in the way the Council communicated with Miss X, delays in dealing with the personal budget request and not providing Occupational Therapy for Y.

    Service improvements

    •Provide the Ombudsman with its policies on EOTAS and personal budgets.

  • Nottinghamshire County Council (22 003 903)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Feb-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council delayed issuing Child A’s Education Health and Care (EHC) plan and ignored medical professionals. Because of the delay, Ms X said Child A missed specialist pre-school provision between April and early September 2022 and did not have an appropriate setting in place for the new school year. The Council was at fault for the delay in issuing Child A’s EHC plan and not providing Child A with all the provision set out in it. The Council will pay Ms X £300 for frustration caused by the delay and £2400 to acknowledge the missed provision. The Council will provide evidence of the action it is taking to increase educational psychology capacity and specialist school places.

    Service improvements

    The Council is taking action to increase educational psychology capacity and reduce waiting times.The Council is taking action to increase capacity for specialist school places.

  • Nottinghamshire County Council (21 010 513)

    Category: Education Date: 19-Jun-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council did not provide a suitable alternative education for her daughter, Y, when she was out of school. Although the Council was not aware initially that Y was out of school, it was at fault for not checking the support in Y’s Education Health and Support plan was in place, enabling her to return to school, and delays in identifying a new school when it became clear this was needed. As a result, Y missed out on education from March 2020 to July 2021. It should review its processes and make a payment to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its process for Education Health and Care assessments and plans to ensure there is a consistent point of contact for families of children with special educational needs and reduce delays in consulting with schools.The Council will review its processes to ensure it monitors annual reviews for children and young people with Education Health and Care plans, and follows up with schools where it has not received annual review records on time.The Council will review its processes to ensure it checks the provision in new and amended Education Health and Care plans is being delivered, and that it checks plans for reintegrating children into schools have been successful, providing further advice and support if needed.The Council will review its processes to ensure it responds to complaints in line with the timescales in its complaints policy.

  • Nottinghamshire County Council (21 000 697)

    Category: Education Date: 11-Feb-2022

    Summary

    Miss Y complains the Council failed to follow the correct process when carrying out an annual review of her Education, Health and Care Plan. She complains the Council failed to provide her special educational provision in full while it finalised her Plan. She says this caused her significant distress and uncertainty. We have decided to uphold Miss Y’s complaint because there was fault causing injustice. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to apologise to Miss Y and her parents and make Miss Y a payment. The Council has also agreed to make several service improvements.

    Service improvements

    Within three months of my final decision, the Council has agreed to make the following service improvements: a) circulate a reminder to relevant staff on when an amendment notice should be sent to parents/guardians and a young person following an annual review, including the deadline for sending this and information to provide; b) review its Preparing for Adulthood transition policy to ensure it includes clear information on: the requirement to carry out a transition assessment of care and support needs and when this should take place, as well as how staff should ensure annual reviews include a focus on preparing young people for adulthood from Year 9. The Council should provide training on its transition policy to relevant staff following this review; and, c) circulate a reminder to relevant staff of the requirement to invite a social care representative to annual review meetings and the importance of attending.

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