Service improvements

Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council

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 - 9 of 9 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council as a CSV file.

  • Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (24 007 224)

    Category: Education Date: 21-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide her child Y who is a young adult, with the special education provision set out in their EHC Plan. The Council was at fault as it failed to provide the provision set out in Y’s Plan and failed to review the Plan before deciding to cease it. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mrs X to acknowledge the impact on Y and the distress, uncertainty and frustration caused to her. It has also agreed to issue reminders to officers to prevent a recurrence of the fault and review its procedures to ensure reviews are held in a timely manner when a placement has ended.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the statutory requirement to review the Education, Health and Care Plan of those aged 19 or over who stop attending their provision before ceasing their Education, Health and Care Plan.The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the requirement to continue to secure the provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan when a young person stops attending the school or college named in the Plan.The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure interim/emergency reviews are arranged in a timely manner when a placement has ended and a new placement is yet to be identified.

  • Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (24 004 165)

    Category: Planning Date: 09-Oct-2024

    Summary

    X complained the Council failed to take planning enforcement action against their neighbour. We found fault because the Council could not take enforcement action it had intended. This was because it failed to serve papers to a court within time. The Council has agreed to our recommendations and will now review its working practices, policies and procedures to reduce the likelihood of the same fault happening again.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault because it did not serve court papers on time. Because of this, it could not take the planning enforcement action it had intended.The Council agreed to review relevant practices, policies, and procedures to avoid the likelihood of similar fault happening again.

  • Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (24 003 816)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 29-Jan-2025

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council because it did not involve Mr X in safeguarding enquiries about his child, it cannot show that Mr X and his family failed to cooperate with the enquiry, and it did not deal with his complaint properly. There was no fault in how the Council weighed up police evidence and how it involved another local authority. The Council’s shortcomings caused Mr X and his family distress and frustration. It has agreed to take action to remedy this.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share this decision with relevant staff.

  • Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (24 002 887)

    Category: Planning Date: 09-Oct-2024

    Summary

    X complained the Council failed to take planning enforcement action against their neighbour. We found fault because the Council could not take enforcement action it had intended. This was because it failed to serve papers to a court within time. The Council has agreed to our recommendations and will now review its working practices, policies and procedures to reduce the likelihood of the same fault happening again.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault because it did not serve court papers on time. Because of this, it could not take the planning enforcement action it had intended. The Council agreed to review relevant practices, policies, and procedures to avoid the likelihood of similar fault happening again.

  • Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (23 020 502)

    Category: Housing Date: 23-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Miss Y complained about the Council’s response to her approach as homeless and failure to provide her with emergency accommodation. We have found fault by the Council, causing injustice, in failing to: respond properly to her request for assistance when she told it she was experiencing domestic abuse; properly assess its duties to Miss Y under the Housing Act 1996, in particular the duty to provide interim accommodation; carry out a review of its decision about her homelessness; and with its delays and communication failures. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by apologising to Miss Y, making a payment to reflect the distress caused and service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide training or guidance on domestic abuse to all housing staff to ensure they understand the requirements of chapter 21 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance and how to appropriately deal with homelessness and housing register applicants at risk of domestic abuse.The Council has agreed to share with its housing staff our recently published Good Practice Guide - Domestic abuse in housing

  • Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (23 014 909)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 30-Jul-2024

    Summary

    Mrs B complains that her son’s care provider did not provide adequate care to her son before he was admitted to hospital and says there was poor communication from the care provider. She also says the Council did not properly investigate her complaints or communicate with her. We have found fault as there were instances of poor communication from the care provider and from the Council and this would have added to the distress the family experienced. The Council has agreed to apologise to the family and to ensure that the service improvements that had previously been agreed have been implemented.

    Service improvements

    Confirm that the Care Provider has taken the actions agreed at the meeting on 21 March 2023.

  • Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (23 014 756)

    Category: Education Date: 15-May-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to provide her son with a full-time suitable education meaning he missed out on education and affected his mental and physical health. The Council failed to evidence why it was in Ms X’s son’s best interest to only receive 12 hours per week and it failed to promptly review this and put additional provision in place. A suitable remedy is agreed.

    Service improvements

    Share a copy of the Ombudsman's focus report to all relevant staff and remind them of the importance of keeping proper records of all decisions.

  • Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (23 012 661)

    Category: Housing Date: 01-Apr-2024

    Summary

    Miss D complained about the Council’s handling of her homeless application which meant she lived in unsuitable accommodation. She said, as a result, she experienced distress and uncertainty. The Council accepted it was at fault as it had a duty to provide Miss D with interim accommodation from February to December 2023. We found it also failed to issue its housing decisions giving her appeal rights, communicated poorly, and failed to respond to her complaint. The Council agreed to apologise to Miss D and make payment to remedy the injustice its faults caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide the Ombudsman with an update on the steps it has taken to resolve its staffing issues and recruitment in its Housing Team. This is to ensure it can progress homeless applications and complaints without delay.The Council will remind its housing staff of the its duty to share all housing decisions with applicants in writing to ensure transparency in decision making and provide appeal rights without delay.

  • Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Council (23 005 555)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 02-Jun-2024

    Summary

    The Council failed to provide support to Mr B with applying to charities for a carpet which he said he needed to be able to use his wheelchair upstairs and it failed to carry out a review when he said his care needs had increased. It also wrongly decided that Mr B had been overpaid direct payments and told his carer that they would not get paid, which contributed to Mr B being left without care. The Council later decided to stop paying direct payments to Mr B but failed to follow the correct process. The Council also delayed dealing with Mr B’s application for the household support fund and for a disabled facilities grant for a downstairs toilet. The Council’s failings have caused Mr B significant distress and meant that he has had difficulty accessing a toilet and moving around his home. The Council has agreed to make some payments to Mr B and to take action to prevent similar failings in future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to take action to ensure social workers promptly respond and action requests for support.The Council has agreed to review its procedures for Disabled Facilities Grants to ensure applications are made promptly and they are approved within the timescales set out in legislation.

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