Service improvements

Surrey County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025

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 27 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 (23 021 046)

    Category: Education Date: 29-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to arrange suitable education for her child, G, and failed to secure the special educational provision in G’s Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council was at fault over two terms. This caused Mrs X frustration and meant G missed out on provision they should have had. To remedy their injustice, the Council will apologise to Mrs X, pay her a symbolic amount and arrange funding for G to attend enriching activities. It will also issue a staff reminder.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff that they do not need a parent's consent to consider and act on safeguarding concerns about a child or young person.

  • Surrey County Council (23 020 951)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Ms T complains the Council delayed completing an annual Education, Health and Care Plan review for her daughter X from November 2022. There was fault by the Council. It has already provided a suitable financial remedy for the injustice to Ms T. The Council also agreed a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to remind officers they should ensure the correct right of appeal information is provided in decision letters following Panel decisions on Education, Health and Care Plans.

  • Surrey County Council (23 019 879)

    Category: Education Date: 28-Oct-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to deliver his child’s Education, Health and Care Plan provision since February 2022. Mr X also complained the Council failed to complete the Education, Health and Care Plan reviews suitably. We found the Council provided most of the provision from the Education, Health and Care Plan. But, we found the Council failed to ensure some Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy provision was provided. We found fault with the Council delaying for over 49 weeks outside the statutory timescales in producing an amended Education, Health and Care plan for Mr X’s child. This avoidable delay caused frustration and distress to Mr X, presented a barrier to Mr X appealing the Education, Health and Care Plan to the Tribunal and caused lost opportunity for Mr X’s child to have suitable up-to-date provision detailed in their Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council agreed to apologise to Mr X, pay him £500 for the injustice caused to him and £750 for the injustice caused to his child through its delays and £500 for the missed provision. The Council also agreed to provide guidance and training to staff about timescales for completing Education, Health and Care Plan reviews, issuing notification letters and about accurate record keeping. And, the Council agreed to ensure the full Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy provisions are put in place for Mr X’s child.

    Service improvements

    Provide training and guidance to staff about the importance of adhering to the statutory timescales in completing EHC Plan reviews and issuing the relevant notification letters as part of this process.Provide training to staff about the importance of accurate record keeping. The Council should also remind its Occupational Therapist teams and Physiotherapist teams about the importance of keeping records of the lengths of visits where timescales are specified in the EHC Plan.

  • Surrey County Council (23 019 472)

    Category: Education Date: 30-Jan-2025

    Summary

    The Council failed to arrange a suitable full-time education for Ms B’s son, K, when he was unable to attend school. It has agreed to apologise and makes payments to Ms B and K. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide guidance to relevant staff regarding unofficial exclusions and off-site directions. It will include details of the actions they should take if they become aware that a school has unofficially excluded a pupil or is not following the guidance in relation to off-site directions.The Council has agreed to remind members of the EHC Plan Governance Board to fully explain the reasons for its decisions.The Council has agreed to provide guidance to staff on what they should do if none of the schools it consults will offer a child a place.The Council has agreed to ensure reasons are provided when staff write to parents with the Council’s decision to not amend an EHC Plan, against the recommendation of the school.

  • Surrey County Council (23 019 324)

    Category: Education Date: 05-Sep-2024

    Summary

    There was excessive delay in finalising an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan after annual review and in consulting schools when a change of placement was recommended. The Council will apologise, make a symbolic payment to acknowledge distress and uncertainty, and carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will ensure consultations are sent to parental preference schools and decisions with reasons are issued to parents in a timely manner in accordance with the requirements in the Act.

  • Surrey County Council (23 018 241)

    Category: Education Date: 12-Sep-2024

    Summary

    There was excessive delay by the Council in completing an annual review and amending a final Education, Health and Care Plan; in consulting specialist schools so it took two years to identify a place; and in replying to a request for a statutory reassessment. There was also a failure to complete agreed complaint actions. This caused unnecessary time, trouble, frustration, uncertainty and distress and delayed a right of appeal by over a year. The Council will apologise, make a symbolic payment and carry out service improvements. The complaint is upheld.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review lessons from this case to identify why it took two years to identify a specialist school place and to ensure staff are aware of the need to widen search areas and include independent schools when initial consults are unsuccessful. The Council may also wish to consider whether such cases should be escalated to senior staff or returned to panel when a panel recommendation remains outstanding after a set period.The Council will ensure it has robust processes in place to alert to statutory timescales and ensure agreed complaint actions are completed on time. The Council may wish to consider regular reviews of cases by managers where time limits have been exceeded.

  • Surrey County Council (23 017 972)

    Category: Education Date: 18-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide her child with the educational provision in his education, health and care plan. The Council acknowledged the fault and injustice caused. It has agreed to our recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    Share this final decision with the Council’s Panel members to make them aware of the impact of their decisions.

  • Surrey County Council (23 017 616)

    Category: Education Date: 29-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Miss X complained about delays in her son, Y’s, Education, Health and Care Plan annual review process. She also complained the Council did not ensure Y received any education and EHC Plan provision. Miss X said this distressed her and Y missed education and provision. There was fault in the way the Council did not ensure Y received education and plan provision, delayed the annual review process and record keeping was poor. This fault frustrated Ms X’s appeal rights and distressed her. Y missed education and plan provision. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a financial payment, provide guidance to staff and review its policy.

    Service improvements

    •Remind staff of the importance of effective record keeping.•Remind relevant staff of the Councils duties when completing the EHC Plan annual review process.•Review the attendance policy to ensure officers are aware of the importance of assessing individual cases and using professional judgement where appropriate.

  • Surrey County Council (23 015 720)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Mrs Y complained about the Council’s delay in delivering the educational provision in her child, Z’s Education, Health and Care Plan. We have found fault by the Council in failing to: arrange the provision within the required statutory timescales; and agree reimbursement of the payments Mrs Y made for provision in the meantime, causing injustice. The Council has agreed to remedy this by apologising, making payments to reflect the impact on Z of the missed provision, upset, frustration and worry caused to Mrs Y, agreeing with and reimbursing Mrs Y for any outstanding provision costs, and making a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    the Council has agreed to share the learning from this decision with relevant officers.The Council has agreed to remind officers they must ensure the delivery of provision in EHC Plans, including those issued following a tribunal order, within the required timescales.

  • Surrey County Council (23 015 228)

    Category: Education Date: 30-Oct-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained about how the Council handled the transfer of his daughter, Miss Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan when they moved into the area. We find fault which left Miss Y without an education, or the provision detailed in her Education, Health and Care Plan for two years. The Council has agreed to apologise, makes a payment to Mr X and improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council will complete a review of its transfer processes to ensure they are in line with the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) code of practice in relation to children with Education, Health and Care Plans. The Council should produce a timebound action plan to implement any improvements it identifies as necessary as a result of that reviewThe Council has also agreed to remind relevant staff members dealing with transfers of children with Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans that it should accept the EHC Plan as it is, provide a placement and/or the provision in the Plan and then complete the annual review process set out in the SEND code of practice.

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