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 21 - 27 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 (23 013 826)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about how the Council considers school transport applications for children in her village. We do not find fault with how the Council assesses these applications. We find the Council at fault for delays in considering Mrs X’s appeal and for a lack of communication. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to recognise the uncertainty caused, and act to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will develop and implement a process for its Travel and Assessment team to ensure appeals are progressed in line with government guidance and applicants are responded to in a timely manner.

  • Surrey County Council (23 012 668)

    Category: Education Date: 26-Jun-2024

    Summary

    The Council was at fault for failing to deliver suitable education – and special educational needs support – to Mr B’s son while he had no school to go to. The Council should make symbolic payments to Mr B and his son to recognise their injustice. It should also take steps to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide us with an action plan which sets out how, in future, it will avoid similar failures to secure section 19 provision and deliver special educational needs support to children who cannot go to school.

  • Surrey County Council (23 011 828)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Apr-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the delays in the education, health and care plan process. She also complained about the Council’s communication and said her son had been out of education. We find the Council was at fault. This caused significant distress to Mrs X and her son was out of education. The Council has agreed to several recommendations to address this injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant officers of the importance of providing clear communication and responding in a timely manner.The Council will remind relevant officers of the timescales set out in the SEND regulations which states following mediation agreement, councils must issue the draft plan within five weeks and the finalised plan within 11 weeks.

  • Surrey County Council (23 011 669)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 30-Sep-2024

    Summary

    Miss C complained the Council failed to take action when she reported illegal parking. Miss C says this has caused safety issues on the street which has caused her distress. We find the Council at fault for failing to take timely action to repaint the double yellow lines in the area and for failing to acknowledge Miss C’s correspondence as a complaint. The Council will apologise and make a symbolic payment of £100.

    Service improvements

    The Council will complete the work it has started to ensure the double yellow lines are fully repainted and enforceable.The Council will provide training for its contact centre and parking and traffic enforcement teams on recognising the difference between complaints and service requests and ensure that they understand the process for acknowledging and handling complaints whenever complaints are received.

  • Surrey County Council (23 009 776)

    Category: Education Date: 18-Apr-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the process the Council followed when completing the annual review of Ms Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan. We find the Council at fault for missing statutory deadlines and for not keeping Mr X updated throughout the process. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and Ms Y, make a payment to recognise the injustice caused, and act to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to develop and implement a process to ensure Education, Health and Care Plan reviews continue to progress and meet statutory deadlines even when faced with staff absence.

  • Surrey County Council (23 009 094)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Jun-2024

    Summary

    There was fault and delay in completing an annual review and a failure to provide suitable fulltime alternative education and special educational provision in an EHC plan for 5.5 terms. This continued after the Council admitted the fault. The fault has caused significant injustice to the whole family and loss of education to the child. The Council will apologise, make a symbolic payment to acknowledge the injustice caused and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review lessons from this complaint to ascertain why a complaint upheld at local level and where a significant financial remedy was offered but the loss of education was allowed to continue despite manager oversight.The Council will improve multi-agency working when a child is out of school for an extended period of time to include consideration of child in need and Parent Carer Needs Assessments.The Council will complete annual reviews on time.The Council will monitor alternative / s.19 education and ensure actions are followed up.

  • Surrey County Council (23 005 393)

    Category: Education Date: 25-Apr-2024

    Summary

    Mrs B says the Council failed to provide education when it knew her son could not return to his allocated school due to medical reasons. I have found no fault in the Council’s decision not to put in place alternative provision. The Council failed to ensure the therapeutic provision the school agreed to put into place was followed up on. An apology, payment to Mrs B and a reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind officers that when it intends to provide additional funding to a school to put in place therapeutic intervention it follows that up with the school to ensure the provision is in place.

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