Service improvements

Suffolk County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

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 22 cases with service improvements

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

  • Suffolk County Council (22 016 913)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 10-Oct-2023

    Summary

    There was no fault the Council was intending to close down the support it was providing to Mr X’s family. There was fault that it closed it prematurely because of its poor communication. There was also fault the Council did not share the updated assessments on the support it was providing with Mr X. The Council accepted these faults and have offered Mr X a sufficient personal remedy for this injustice. It has also agreed to take additional steps to improve how it communicates with service users to prevent a reoccurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council was at fault because it was not able to show how it openly discussed and took into account the complainants views and agreed a support plan while it was providing him with support as a parent of adopted children. The recommendation is to remind all staff of the importance of sharing assessments to ensure it obtains adoptive parent’s views on support.

  • Suffolk County Council (22 016 391)

    Category: Education Date: 05-Oct-2023

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council in failing to provide suitable fulltime education under s.19 Education Act when it agreed medical tuition was required for a child not attending school. There was also fault in the Council’s complaint handling. The Council will apologise, make a symbolic payment and implement service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its process for allocating medical tuition to ensure it is compliant with the law and recently issued statutory guidance, that it has a plan to address gaps in capacity of tutors and that it retains oversight of provision while a child is out of school.

  • Suffolk County Council (22 015 693)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 02-Jul-2023

    Summary

    There were delays and errors in the way the Council handled the accrual of debt for Mrs A’s late mother Mrs X. The Council has apologised to Mrs A and taken some steps to improve services but should go further to recognise the distress she was caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its response to the difficulties of issuing invoices without a cover letter and consider alternative solutions.

  • Suffolk County Council (22 015 250)

    Category: Education Date: 26-Sep-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to ensure her child D received a suitable education or had their special educational needs met. Ms X also said the Council failed to make reasonable adjustments for her as someone with a disability, so she could engage fully in its processes. There was fault by the Council which meant D did not receive suitable education or support for their special educational needs. It also caused avoidable distress for D and for Ms X. The Council agreed to apologise, agree reasonable adjustments it will make for Ms X, ensure suitable education and special educational support is in place for D without delay, and pay a financial remedy. It will also review relevant procedures, issue reminders to its staff, and ensure our findings are considered as part of its SEND Improvement Strategy.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to issue reminders to all relevant staff who manage its Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plan processes, about:its statutory duty to properly consider and respond to requests from families for an EHC needs re-assessment; its statutory duty to properly consider and respond to requests from families for further professional advice to be sought as part of an EHC needs assessment or re-assessment; its statutory duty to carry out EHC plan reviews and EHC needs assessments or re-assessments within the required timescales; andthe importance of communicating properly with families and keeping them updated about any delays.The Council agreed to share a copy of our final decision with all staff who work in its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities service, and its complaints service. It will remind them of its duties under the Equality Act 2010, including the reasonable adjustment duty.The Council agreed to ensure a copy of our final decision is considered as part of its ongoing Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Improvement Strategy, following its Independent SEND Review. The Council commissioned this independent review in 2021 to address issues with its SEND services and is monitoring progress against the actions it identified.

  • Suffolk County Council (22 013 840)

    Category: Education Date: 05-Jun-2023

    Summary

    The complainant (Ms X) said the Council failed to provide her son (Y) with suitable alternative education since he stopped attending school, failed to deliver all special educational provisions (SEP) included in his Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), delayed issuing Y’s EHCP following reassessment of his Education Health and Care (EHC) needs and failed during consideration of Ms X’s Personal Budget request. We found fault with the Council in all areas of Ms X’s complaint. This fault caused injustice to Y and Ms X. The Council agreed to apologise, review the educational provision offered to Y, re-consider Ms X’s request for Personal Budget, make payments for the loss of Y’s education and Ms X’s distress and introduce an information leaflet to be sent when responding to requests for Personal Budget.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure all the parents/young people requesting Personal Budget in Education Health and Care plans are provided at the beginning of the process with the information required by law and SEND Code of Practice 2015, including details of the organisations that provide advice and assistance on Personal Budgets and the right to apply for a review of the Council's decision. The Council will provide the evidence that this has been introduced as part of the process.

  • Suffolk County Council (22 011 419)

    Category: Education Date: 21-May-2023

    Summary

    The Council delayed identifying a suitable specialist school placement for Mrs B’s son which affected the provision he could receive, delayed issuing a final education, health and care plan following a review and failed to keep Mrs B up-to-date with what was happening. An apology, payment to Mrs B and reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind officers dealing with EHCPs of the need to comply with the timescales set down in the code of practice.The Council will remind officers dealing with children that need to move to a different school or type of school of the need to ensure consultations are undertaken promptly and concurrently rather than sequentially.The Council will provide evidence of the action the Council is taking to identify additional specialist school places.

  • Suffolk County Council (22 010 615)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 06-Jun-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to notify him that he would be responsible for the full cost of residential care after 30 September 2021 meaning he incurred considerable costs. There is no evidence of fault by the Council other than its failure to keep full and clear records to show exactly what information it provided.

    Service improvements

    Review its guidance on record keeping for social care staff and ensure it is fit for purpose and that staff are aware of what is required.Complete the review into information sharing between the finance team and care providers.

  • Suffolk County Council (22 010 176)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Jul-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the Council’s handling of the annual review of her daughter’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan and delay in issuing her EHC plan. She also complained about its consideration of her request for a personal budget. We found evidence of fault by the Council. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to put right the injustice caused Ms X and her daughter and to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review it procedures for deciding personal budget requests to prevent a recurrence of the delays we found. It will create an action plan explaining what it will do to achieve this.The Council has agreed to review its procedures for attending virtual Education, Health and Care plan review meetings to ensure there is not a recurrence of the IT issues we found. It will create an action plan explaining what it will do to achieve this.

  • Suffolk County Council (22 007 108)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 25-May-2023

    Summary

    Miss F complained the Council has failed to provide adequate respite provision for her son who is a child in need. She also says the Council significantly delayed responding to her complaint and it has failed to provide an appropriate remedy for her and her son’s injustice. We find fault with how the Council dealt with the respite provision and for its delays in responding to Miss F’s complaint. The Council apologised to Miss F and offered her a suitable financial remedy. This is a sufficient for her and her son’s personal injustice. The Council agreed to implement service improvements when it considered Miss F’s complaint, which it has agreed to evidence. It has also agreed to our further recommendation to make another service improvement to address the significant delays during the statutory complaints procedure.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review the operation of its statutory complaints procedure to identify where it can make changes to prevent delays.The Council will provide us with evidence it has reviewed its link family provision.

  • Suffolk County Council (22 006 055)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 04-Sep-2023

    Summary

    Mrs D complained that the Council failed to provide suitable carers to meet her needs, failed to communicate with her properly about the difficulties in sourcing carers, and made inappropriate suggestions for alternative care. It also failed to deal with Mrs D’s complaint about the issue in accordance with its complaints procedure, causing a long delay and increasing Mrs D’s distress. We have found fault with the actions of the Council causing injustice to Mrs D. The Council has agreed to pay Mrs D £500 and improve its complaint handling for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind all staff dealing with complaints to respond to dissatisfaction with complaint responses in accordance with its published procedure and to keep complainants informed of progress on a regular basis.The Council has agreed to remind all complaint staff to ensure our requests to consider premature complaints through all stages of the complaints procedure are actioned promptly.

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