Service improvements

Suffolk County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2018 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 - 20 of 108 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • Suffolk County Council (25 001 384)

    Category: Education Date: 13-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to complete her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan within the statutory timescales. We find the Council at fault for delay, which caused uncertainty and distress. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mrs X. It should also review its action plan to ensure Education, Health and Care Plan writing is conducted in line with the timescales set out in statutory guidance.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide an update on its progress in meeting Objective 7 of its Priority Action and Improvement Plan. This objective aimed to bring performance in issuing final EHC Plans within 20 weeks, in line with national expectations, by September 2025. The Council will update us on if it has met this target. If not, it should provide a new action plan.

  • Suffolk County Council (24 019 227)

    Category: Education Date: 05-Oct-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council delayed completing Y’s annual review and failed to provide a personal budget for Y’s wheelchair which is outlined as specialist provision in their Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. The Council was at fault. The Council panel’s decision not to provide a personal budget to maintain Y’s wheelchair was flawed. The Council also delayed amending Y’s EHC Plan following a 2024 annual review by nine months. The Council agreed to apologise and make a payment to Ms X to recognise the injustice caused to her and reimburse her for wheelchair maintenance expenditure. It also agreed to carry out another annual review of Y’s EHC Plan and reconsider how it intends to meet Y’s wheelchair provision going forward.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind all relevant officers that personal budgets for Education Health and Care (EHC) Plans must be reviewed and agreed during the annual review process. Any agreed personal budget must also be included and outlined in Section J of the EHC Plan.

  • Suffolk County Council (24 018 382)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 25-Nov-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the way the Council dealt with payments for the care of her granddaughter, Y. The Council was at fault for failing to recognise its duty to accommodate Y and make payments to Mr and Mrs X. This caused Mr and Mrs X distress and frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise, backdate payments, make a payment to recognise the injustice caused and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind all relevant officers that if it is involved in the arrangements for a child to be cared for by a private family arrangement, that it ensures all parties are aware of the nature of the arrangement and where financial support may come from. It should also ensure proper records are made of this explanation and discussions, so it is not in dispute. This will allow the carer to make an informed decision about whether to accept a child on a private arrangement.

  • Suffolk County Council (24 018 288)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 23-Oct-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the standard of the care the Council commissioned care home provided to his late wife. He also complained about the Council’s handling of the retrospective safeguarding enquiry. We find the Council was at fault for its delays in completing the retrospective safeguarding enquiry and review and for its failure to keep Mr X properly updated. The care home was at fault for failing to follow its falls policy, its record keeping and for how it handled Mr X’s wife’s food and fluid intake. These faults caused Mr X uncertainty, distress and upset. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X, make a payment to him and implement service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to issue written reminders to relevant care home staff to ensure they are aware of what they should do and how to escalate matters if a resident consistently refuses to eat and drink.The Council has agreed to issue written reminders to relevant officers to ensure they complete safeguarding investigations without unreasonable delay and provide regular updates to the person who has reported the safeguarding concern.

  • Suffolk County Council (24 017 940)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 25-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Mr G complained about the Council’s delays with completing his child’s, Y, Child in Need assessment and its refusal to consider his complaint under stage 2 and stage 3 of the statutory complaints procedure. There was fault by the Council for its delays in completing a Child in Need assessment for Y, but this caused no significant injustice to Y and Mr G. The Council was also at fault for its failure to complete all the Child in Need recommendations in a timely manner and its failure to properly consider Mr G’s complaint under the statutory complaints procedure which caused injustice to Y and Mr G. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    • share a copy of this decision with Council staff dealing with statutory complaints procedure. Ensure learning from this decision is shared appropriately and ensure individual cases/complaints are properly investigated under the statutory complaints procedure• remind relevant staff of the need to complete ‘Child in Need’ assessments within the 45 working days from the date of the referral request in line with statutory timescales• by training or other means, remind relevant staff of the importance of completing agreed recommendations set out in ‘Child in Need’ plans in a timely manner and within agreed timescales.

  • Suffolk County Council (24 017 247)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 21-Oct-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to act on safeguarding concerns, delayed providing support for his disabled son, and restricted the investigation of his concerns. The Council was at fault in how it responded to safeguarding concerns, delayed support under a Child in Need assessment, and handled both the complaints process and the Stage 2 investigation. The Council has agreed to our recommendations.

    Service improvements

    Remind relevant staff of the importance of:i.enabling Investigating Officers to interview all relevant professionals, in line with statutory guidance;ii.providing clear and timely communication during assessments, including sharing key documents; andiii.issuing written updates and revised timescales where complaints investigations are delayed.

  • Suffolk County Council (24 016 358)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 11-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Miss C complained on her own behalf and that of her son, Mr D, who has care needs. We upheld her complaint, finding the Council undertook a flawed review of Mr D’s care needs. This resulted in it wrongly stopping him paying Miss C as his carer, against his wishes. This caused unnecessary distress to both Miss C and Mr D and contributed to Mr D having no organised care provision after July 2024. The Council has accepted these findings. At the end of this statement, we set out the action it has agreed to remedy this injustice and improve its service to avoid a repeat.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to carry out three briefings to staff covering assessments of care needs, care and support planning and administration of direct payments. These would aim to share learning from this complaint on the importance of keeping a clear audit trail of decisions where the Council proposes cutting a care package; involving the users of services in deciding what care services they want and decisions around direct payments; as well as when and how it might end a direct payment. In this case the Council had been at fault in all three areas, not explaining why it proposed cutting a care package, and stopping direct payments contrary to the complainant's wishes and without adequate justification.The Council also agreed to review it current arrangements for responding to adult social care complaints to ensure they were consistent with the expectations we publish, including where it contracts care to private care providers. This was after it failed to keep oversight of a complaint about a care provider, and unnecessarily prolonged correspondence with the complainant.

  • Suffolk County Council (24 016 124)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 06-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the way the Council dealt with the care of his daughter, Ms Y. The Council was at fault for completing a flawed stage two investigation, delaying in completing the complaint procedure, poor communication and failing to explain its reasons for rejecting the panel’s findings. This caused Mr X distress, frustration and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mr X and fully explain its decisions.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide evidence of the completion of the review of staff neurodivergent training and staff awareness on the General Data Protection Regulation.The Council will remind staff of the importance of keeping to complaint handling timeframes.

  • Suffolk County Council (24 015 692)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 12-May-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complains about how the Council carried out financial assessments for her sons, Mr Y and Mr Z. Mrs X says this has resulted in them being charged for care. We find fault with the Council for its communication about charges, and its consideration of Mrs X’s complaint. We agreed the Council will apologise to Mrs X and carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    Within three months of the final decision the Council should:• Carry out service improvements to ensure that complaints are fully responded to;• Review how the Council can improve communication where the Council sends out multiple charging letters on the same day or close together, it will also tell people of the final amount to pay.

  • Suffolk County Council (24 015 439)

    Category: Education Date: 08-Oct-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained that the Council refused to provide a passenger assistant trained to administer emergency medication for her son Y who has special educational needs. She said this prevented Y from receiving the suitable home to school transport he was entitled to, it had a significant negative impact on Y’s development, and caused financial and emotional impact on the family. We find the Council at fault for the way it made its decision which caused distress. The Council agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and amend its policy.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to amend its School Travel Policy to ensure it aligns with the statutory guidance about considering medical training for passenger assistants working on dedicated school transport.

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings