Service improvements

Somerset County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023

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 11 cases with service improvements

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

  • Somerset County Council (22 011 904)

    Category: Education Date: 26-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council will not provide transport for her child to attend their chosen preschool. Miss X says the Council has not considered her child’s needs or the individual circumstances when deciding whether to use its discretionary powers. We found fault with the Council for fettering its discretion by failing to log Miss X’s application. The Council agreed to consider Miss X’s discretionary application for travel assistance. The Council also agreed to updates its policy to amend the wording about the Statutory Guidance.

    Service improvements

    Amend the wording of its policy on providing home to school transport for children to advise the home to school travel andtransport statutory guidance (July 2014) says the appeal process is only for pupils“of” statutory school age

  • Somerset County Council (22 004 354)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about how the Council met her son Z’s educational needs since 2019. Mrs X said the Council failed to provide appropriate education, failed to finalise an Education, Health and Care Plan agreed at tribunal and when it issued the plan the provision was not appropriate for Z’s needs. The Council was at fault for delay in finalising an Education, Health and Care Plan, in not providing education from July 2019 and sufficient special educational provision from February 2021 until December 2021. The Council agreed to apologise to Z and pay him £12,600 to recognise the impact the loss of education and specialist provision had on him.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its processes for monitoring children who are not in education. It should ensure it has a robust procedure in place for escalating cases to senior managers where children have been out of education for 15 days or more.The Council will review how it tracks the progress of Education, Health and Care plans from assessment to issue, and annual reviews. It will ensure it has a robust system in place to identify and address cases that are exceeding statutory timescales;The Council was at fault for delay in finalising an Education, Health and Care plan, in not providing education from July 2019 and sufficient special education provision from February 2021 until December 2021. It has agreed to share the learning from this case with all relevant caseworkers and consider whether any additional training is needed in relation to the statutory Education, Health and Care Plan process.

  • Somerset County Council (22 004 107)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to arrange the provision set out in her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council was at fault. This meant Mrs X’s son missed out on specialist support and Mrs X had to go to time and trouble contacting the Council and specialist providers. The Council has agreed to apologise, pay Mrs X £2400 in recognition of the lost provision and £150 for the time and trouble she went to. It will also make improvements to its service to prevent the fault occurring again.

    Service improvements

    The Council will arrange training for relevant staff to ensure they understand the Council's obligation to ensure provision in an Education, Health and Care plan is arranged.The Council will ensure it has a mechanism in place for checking provision specified in an Education, Health and Care plan is arranged from the start of a new or amended plan. This should not rely solely on parents or schools or on the annual review process.

  • Somerset County Council (22 002 625)

    Category: Education Date: 09-Dec-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the support the Council provided for her son, Y’s, special educational needs. There was fault with how the Council ensured that all the support Y should have had was provided and delays following a December 2021 annual review. This caused Y to miss out on support he needed and caused Mrs X avoidable distress, uncertainty and inconvenience. The Council agreed to apologise, issue the final Education Health and Care plan, pay Mrs X a financial remedy and issue reminders to its staff.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to remind its Special Educational Needs staff that it is the Council’s responsibility to ensure that all provision in Education Health and Care plans is provided and that they should promptly investigate and intervene if they have reason to believe any provision is not being made.

  • Somerset County Council (22 000 756)

    Category: Education Date: 05-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to review her daughter’s Education Health and Care plan (EHC) within the required timescale and that her daughter did not receive a suitable education or the EHC plan provision that she should have had. This impacted her education and progress. It also caused anxiety and distress. We found the EHC plan timescales were not met and Y did not have a suitable education in the period of the complaint. We recommended the Council apologised and made a payment to reflect the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    I note that the Council has been working to a Written Statement of Action following an internal review and findings of Ofsted and CQC inspection in 2020. The Ombudsman has made four recommendations for improvement in 2022/2023 following findings of fault about adherence to EHC plan timescales or provision of alternative education. I recommend the Council reviews its progress towards improving these areas of its practice in the light of this further finding of fault.

  • Somerset County Council (22 000 503)

    Category: Education Date: 31-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the way the Council met her son Y’s educational needs since 2019. The Council delayed 53 weeks in issuing an amended final Education, Health and Care Plan and failed to ensure the special educational provision was in place for Y between May 2021 and July 2022. The Council agreed to pay Y £6,325 to recognise the impact the loss of education and specialist provision had on him.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind all relevant officers that the Council’s duty to secure the specified special educational provision in an Education, Health and Care plan is owed personally to the child and is non-delegable.The Council will review how it tracks the progress of Education, Health and Care plans from assessment to issue, and annual reviews. It will ensure it has a robust system in place for identifying and addressing cases that are exceeding statutory timescales.The Council was at fault for delay in issuing a final Education, Health and Care plan and not ensuring the specified provision was in place for the child. The Council will share the learning from this case with all relevant caseworkers and consider whether any additional training is needed.

  • Somerset County Council (21 018 446)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Jan-2023

    Summary

    The Council has accepted it failed to complete Mr Y’s annual review for the 2021/22 academic year within the statutory timescales. We find the fault caused Mr Y and Mrs X, who is Mr Y’s parent, distress and uncertainty about Mr Y’s college placement. Mr Y was denied appeal rights to the SEND Tribunal. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr Y and Mrs X and make them each a payment as well as several service improvements. But, we do not find the Council failed to invite Mrs X to a meeting with Mr Y’s College to discuss his placement during the summer 2021. We also do not find the Council at fault regarding Mrs X’s complaint it failed to tell her that it was consulting other placements and planned on naming a new placement during the annual review meeting. This is because we have not seen evidence of fault causing significant injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to make the following service improvement: establish a mechanism for logging when a school/college has arranged an annual review meeting and promptly following up with the school/college for the review paperwork. This is to make sure the Council meets the statutory timescale that, within four weeks of a review meeting, the Council must notify the young person or child’s parent of its decision to maintain, amend or discontinue the EHC plan.The Council agreed to make the following service improvement: circulate a reminder to relevant staff that when a young person is expected to transfer from one post-16 institution to another post-16 institution partway through the school year, the Council must review and amend the EHC Plan at least five months before that transfer takes place. Regulation 18, SEND Regulations.The Council agreed to make the following service improvement: circulate a reminder to staff of the need to maintain robust records of important meetings with schools/colleges so there is a clear record of what was discussed, who was invited/attended and any actions agreed.

  • Somerset County Council (21 015 427)

    Category: Education Date: 20-Sep-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council failed to make alternative education provision for her son when he could not attend school. The Council is at fault as it did not make alternative provision for Y when he was unable to attend school. As a result, Y did not receive suitable provision and support between April 2021 and February 2022. The Council also delayed in issuing Y’s Education, Health and Care plan and in agreeing a personal budget. The Council has agreed to remedy Y’s injustice by making a payment to acknowledge he has been disadvantaged by the lack of alternative provision and a payment to Mrs X for the distress caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will, by training or other means, ensure officers are aware of the Council’s duty under section 19 of the Education Act to make alternative provision for children out of school including the factors they should consider when deciding whether alternative provision needs to be made.

  • Somerset County Council (21 013 709)

    Category: Education Date: 26-Jul-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complains the Council have not dealt properly with education provision for her son Y. The Council is at fault because it didn’t ensure SEN (Special Educational Needs) provision was made, an annual review was not held properly and it issued an amended EHCP too late. Y missed SEN provision and Miss X’s appeal right was delayed for over three months. The Council has agreed to pay Miss X £2,000 and provide guidance to staff.

    Service improvements

    Provide guidance to staff to ensure that final EHCP documents together with a right of appeal are issued in the correct statutory timescales.

  • Somerset County Council (21 006 275)

    Category: Education Date: 12-Apr-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide alternative education for her children and delayed assessing their special educational needs. There was fault in how the Council reviewed its decision following a mediation agreement and how it failed to consider its duty to arrange suitable alternative education. It agreed to apologise to Mrs X and her children, pay them a financial remedy and review its policy and practice.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review its policy and practices for arranging alternative education for children not attending school for health reasons. It should ensure it considers all the available evidence and does not insist on evidence from particular health professionals. It will ensure is communicates and changes it makes to either its policy or practice to its staff and other relevant bodies (including schools in its area).

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