Service improvements

Surrey County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022

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 - 17 of 17 cases with service improvements

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

  • Surrey County Council (20 007 811)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 01-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Ms C complained the Council has failed to arrange a care support package for her since July 2020. She says this resulted in significant distress, inconvenience and impacted her health, including her mental health. We have found fault with the Council not being able to find a care agency to support her, for which the Council has agreed to apologise and pay a financial remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review the system through which it monitors and supervises the progress of cases allocated to its adult social care social workers to ensure cases are escalated when needed.The Council has agreed to share the lessons learned about complaints handling with the team who handled Ms C's complaint.

  • Surrey County Council (20 007 260)

    Category: Education Date: 26-Aug-2021

    Summary

    Mrs B complained the Council did not secure suitable education provision her son and delayed reviewing his Education, Health and Care plan. Mrs B said her son missed education and EHC provision. We found fault with the Council for failing to secure education and Education, Health and Care provision for C. We also found delays in the Council’s EHC process. The Council will make a financial payment to Mrs B to remedy the injustice caused by these faults and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will: •Provide staff involved in education provision and the EHC process with training about the Council’s statutory responsibilities and statutory timescales.•Provide staff involved with education provision and the EHC process guidance about dealing with complaints about these matters.•Review the Council’s policy for escalating concerns about education providers.

  • Surrey County Council (20 006 020)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 30-Nov-2021

    Summary

    The Council is at fault as there is evidence to show it was not even handed towards Mr X during a child protection enquiry, there were inaccuracies in its children and families assessment, it failed to amend minutes of a child protection conference as agreed and its advice regarding contact between Mr X and his son lacked clarity. The Council also wrongly refused to consider Mr X’s complaint. These faults caused distress and frustration to Mr X. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by apologising to Mr X and making a payment of £500.

    Service improvements

    Reviews its procedures for carrying out child and families assessments/child protection enquiries to ensure officers are even handed, consider counter allegations and all relevant evidence.Reviews its complaints procedures to ensure officers consider if there is an underlying complaint which can be considered through its complaints procedure.

  • Surrey County Council (20 002 144)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Sep-2021

    Summary

    There was delay by the Council in issuing an EHC plan which delayed appeal rights and a school move. There was also a failure to consider social care needs during the assessment. This caused distress, uncertainty and loss of support for an extended period. The Council will apologise, make service improvements and make a financial payment to the family.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its training and processes to ensure social care needs are always considered as part of an Education, Health and Care needs assessment, including whether parent carers have a need for support.

  • Surrey County Council (19 020 776)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Sep-2021

    Summary

    There was fault in the way the Council carried out a statutory assessment for special educational needs and in failing to provide suitable full-time education when a pupil was unable to attend school due to anxiety. This caused distress, uncertainty and led to the child missing out on education for an extended period. The Council will apologise, make a financial payment and carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its training and procedures for education, health and care assessments to ensure robust and timely decision making and that health partners are properly consulted.The Council will review its training and procedures for children missing education to ensure the Council fulfils its duty to provide alternative education under s.19 Education Act 1996 where appropriate and review its medical tuition policy to clarify what should happen when consultant advice is not available.

  • Surrey County Council (19 018 864)

    Category: Education Date: 23-Feb-2022

    Summary

    Mrs D complained about the actions the Council took in respect of her son, B’s, special educational needs after he was out of school from March 2019. She also complained that the Council delayed excessively in dealing with her complaint about the matter. We found some fault in the Council’s actions. The Council has agreed to pay Mrs D a total of £900 and improve its procedures for the future.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide us with evidence it has reviewed or is reviewing its consultation process and to take steps to ensure it completes reviews of EHCPs within the timescales laid down in statutory guidance.

  • Surrey County Council (19 012 447)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Dec-2021

    Summary

    Mrs C complains about the Council’s delay in meeting her son’s special educational needs, including a delay in carrying out an EHC assessment. She also complains the Council delayed providing suitable education when her son was not medically fit to attend school. The Ombudsman view is that large parts of Mrs C’s complaint is outside our jurisdiction, partly because Mrs C has used her right of appeal. But the Ombudsman has found fault with some of the complaint we have considered – in particular a failure to provide Mrs C’s son with alternative education.

    Service improvements

    The Council says it should have earlier referred the case to its legal team. As well as that insight, my view is another lesson from this complaint is the importance of always keeping in mind what is in the best interests of the child – my view is officers lost sight of this in their actions over alternative education for D. So the Council has agreed to send a reminder to all relevant staff of these learning points from this complaint.

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