Service improvements

Suffolk County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026

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 19 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 (25 007 020)

    Category: Education Date: 05-Mar-2026

    Summary

    Ms X complained about the way the Council dealt with school transport for her son, Y, who has an education, health and care plan. The Council was at fault for failing to apply the correct legal tests when amending the education, health and care plan and making the school transport decision. This caused Ms X frustration and uncertainty. The Council should apologise, review Ms X’s application again, make a payment and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide the Ombudsman with evidence it has provided training and updated guidance to all relevant staff (Special Educational Needs and Disability, and Transport teams, appeal members) on how to apply the Dudley test for pupils with Education, Health and Care plans.The Council will ensure its information for parents whose children have Education, Health and Care plans references the Dudley test (If only one school is named in a young person’s Education, Health and Care plan, then that is the school the council has determined is the nearest suitable school for the child. It is therefore the nearest ‘qualifying school’ for the child to attend for school transport consideration. This is because the council has not made arrangements for the child to attend a closer school) and they are signposted to accurate information about transport at the time they need to express a preference for a particular school. The information should advise parents of their right to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal if they disagree with the Council’s decision on naming two schools or a decision on inefficient use of resources.

  • Suffolk County Council (25 003 045)

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

    Summary

    There was a delay in offering Mr B an assessment by an occupational therapist, to decide whether Mr B was eligible for a disabled facilities grant (DFG) but the Council has already remedied this. The Council failed to properly consider its duties under the Armed Forces Covenant when it made its decision and this was fault. The Council has agreed to review its decision and provide a written response to Mr B.

    Service improvements

    Remind relevant officers of the Council’s duties under the Armed Forces Covenant.

  • 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.

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