Service improvements

Surrey 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 41 - 46 of 46 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 (22 012 228)

    Category: Education Date: 17-Apr-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council delayed issuing her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council was at fault for a two month delay in issuing the plan. It has also failed to provide the provision set out in the plan so Ms X’s child has missed out on provision. It has agreed to apologise to Ms X and make a payment in recognition of the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the actions it is taking to increase educational psychology capacity and reduce waiting times and to increase capacity for specialist school places.

  • Surrey County Council (22 011 444)

    Category: Education Date: 17-Apr-2023

    Summary

    Mrs Z complained the Council delayed completing Education Health and Care Plans (“EHCPs”) for her children and failed to ensure they had suitable education and EHCP provision, causing distress. We found the Council at fault. We recommended it provides an apology, pays £100 for time and trouble, pays £1000 for distress, pays £3300 for missed provision and acts to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will produce an action plan to address delays in its process for completing Education Health and Care Plans, including timeframes for completion.The Council will act to ensure there is oversight or monitoring in place during its assessment or review of any Education Health and Care Plan so that senior staff are promptly alerted to any delay.

  • Surrey County Council (22 009 996)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Apr-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained, on behalf of her granddaughter, Child A, the Council refused to provide home-to-school transport because there was a nearer suitable school. The Council was at fault for not applying the correct legal test known as the Dudley test. This left uncertainty about the decision reached. The Council has agreed to reconsider the transport application in line with the Dudley test and provide a fresh decision and right of appeal. The Council will also review its home-to-school travel policy and retrain staff to prevent reoccurrence of the fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its home-to-school travel policy to ensure it provides clear information about the tests it must apply when deciding to pay for school transport.The Council will provide staff training, to ensure all relevant staff which includes those carrying out school transport decisions/appeals as well as the Special Educational Needs Disability team are aware of the three stage test process. The decision which this service improvement resulted from will be shared as part of the training.

  • Surrey County Council (22 005 703)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 26-Jun-2023

    Summary

    We find the Council at fault for delays in providing an outcome and failing to advise Mrs X of her rights under the children’s statutory complaints process. The Council also kept poor records and delayed in its communications with Mrs X. The Council should review procedures, apologise to Mrs X, make payments in recognition of uncertainty, frustration and time and trouble. It should also complete an investigation under stage two of ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’ within the timescales set out in that guidance.

    Service improvements

    The Council should review its procedures for handling statutory complaints about children’s services so they are clear that complainants can progress to stage two if they are unhappy with the outcome of Alternative Dispute Resolution.The Council should review the use of mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution and ensure that the process sets out how recommendations of an independent facilitator are to be considered, actioned and communicated to a complainant.

  • Surrey County Council (22 004 105)

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

    Summary

    We found fault by a Trust with regards to how it handled concerns about Mrs P’s mental health. The Trust will apologise to Mrs P and take action to prevent similar problems occurring in future. We also found fault by the Council with regards to the record keeping of its Mental Health Duty Team. However, we found no fault with the care provided by that team or the Approved Mental Health Practitioner service.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide the Ombudsmen with a copy of its revised record-keeping guidance for staff, along with the accompanying email from the Caldicott Guardian.

  • Surrey County Council (22 003 115)

    Category: Education Date: 17-Apr-2023

    Summary

    Mr T complains on behalf of his son (Mr K) who has special educational needs (SEN). There was a two-year period where Mr K could not attend school because of his complex educational needs. Mr T complains the Council failed to provide Mr K with suitable alternative education in accordance with its legal duty under the Education Act 1996. We found the Council failed to provide Mr K with suitable alternative education provision. Overall, the Council provided Mr K with around a quarter of the education he was legally entitled to receive. This had a serious impact on Mr K’s educational development and wellbeing. The Council has accepted our recommendations to remedy the fault and injustice identified.

    Service improvements

    At asenior level, the Council will undertake a detailed written review into thefailings identified in this statement. This will focus on its delays inimplementing timely alternative provision and the effective monitoring andrecording of decisions relating to what provision is suitable in thecircumstances. The Council will adopt measures to identify when alternativeprovision must be implemented and what arrangements are needed to ensure thisis provided. The review will also inform service improvements and policychanges, as well as specific feedback and areas of needed training to thoseinvolved in the case.

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