Service improvements

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough 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 - 3 of 3 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council as a CSV file.

  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (23 015 327)

    Category: Education Date: 19-Jun-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council has not dealt properly with her son Y’s Special Educational Needs (SEN). The Council is at fault because it did not hold an annual review properly. Y lost education provision and Mrs X was denied the ability to appeal to Tribunal. The Council should apologise, Pay Mrs X £6000 for lost education provision, £400 for her time and trouble and avoidable distress, make a decision about incurred costs, provide an action plan and staff training.

    Service improvements

    Produce an action plan to demonstrate how the council will meet statutory timescales for annual reviews.Provide staff training to ensure they understand the legal framework and obligations in relation to the faults found.

  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (23 009 390)

    Category: Education Date: 18-Dec-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to provide her child with an education, delayed issuing and reviewing an education, health and care plan, and handled her complaint poorly. Miss X said this meant her child’s needs were not met, they lost out on education, and it caused distress, frustration, and upset. We find the Council at fault, and this caused injustice. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Miss X, make an additional monthly payment for each month of delay reviewing the plan, and improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind all relevant staff, including managers, of the Council’s duty to provide an education to children who are out of school (section 19 duty).The Council will remind all relevant staff, including managers, of the Council’s duty to provide the provision set out in Education, Health and Care plans to children who are out of school (section 42 duty).The Council will remind all relevant staff, including managers, of the Council’s duty to review Education, Health and Care plans within 12 months even if a child is out of school.The Council will remind all relevant staff, including managers, of the Council’s duty to decide whether or not to reassess an Education, Health and Care plan when asked to by a child’s parent, young person, or their educational placement. The Council must tell the child’s parent or young person whether it will complete an Education, Health and Care needs reassessment within 15 calendar days of receiving the request. If the decision is not to reassess, the Council must provide information about the right to appeal that decision to the tribunal.The Council will remind all staff in the special educational needs/Education, Health and Care plan team, including managers, of the Council’s complaints procedure and its expectations of complaint responses.

  • Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (23 005 486)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Apr-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to secure the provision set out in her son, Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan, and failed to make alternative provision available for him once he was excluded from school. We find the Council at fault for failing to secure Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan provision, for failing to consider alternative provision for him, and for failing to keep complete contact notes. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to recognise the injustice caused by the fault, review Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan and act to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff where a child is not attending school they need to consider the Council's duty to consider if it needs to provide alternative provision or enforce attendance.The Council will remind relevant staff of the importance of keeping complete and accurate contact notes.

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