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 1 - 10 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 (21 011 993)

    Category: Education Date: 31-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Ms X complains about the Council’s decision to decline to provide home to school transport for her child. She says her child has not been able to attend school due to the lack of transport. We find fault with the Council for not properly considering whether the cost of Ms X’s preferred school was incompatible with the efficient use of resources. We have made recommendations to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review itsHome to School Travel and Transport policy to ensure it provides clear information about: the tests it must apply when deciding whether to pay for transport/provide travel assistance; and where the Council decides the parental choice school is incompatible with the efficient use of resources, it will name both schools in the EHC plan along with the condition that the parent will pay for the transport costs tothe preferred school.The Council will review all transport appeal decisions, issued within the past 12 months, to check whetherthe same fault has occurred in other cases. If the Council identifies cases with the same fault, the Council should take appropriate steps to remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified. The Council will provide details tothe Ombudsman outlining the cases it has identified and a brief outline of the remedy provided.

  • Surrey County Council (21 009 310)

    Category: Other Categories Date: 11-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about how the Council managed the Coroner’s inquest into her father’s death. The Council was at fault when it both failed to invite Mrs X to the inquest and provide her with important documents prior to it. It meant Mrs X did not attend the inquest into her father’s death and lost the opportunity to ask relevant witnesses questions. The Council agreed to pay Mrs X £300 to recognise the distress, frustration and uncertainty this caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide evidence it has: updated the Coroner's office operating procedures with mandatory tasks relating to communication with and disclosure of documents to families; developed staff training for all staff on case management, information sharing and updating bereaved families; and revised its complaint handling procedures within the Coroner's office and recruited additional staff for complaint handling.

  • Surrey County Council (21 008 922)

    Category: Education Date: 28-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council delayed making changes to her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) causing distress, putting her to time and trouble and resulting in her son missing the start of school. We found the Council at fault in its review of Y’s EHCP. We recommended it provided Mrs X with an apology, payment for distress, payment for time and trouble and act to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide training or guidance to all staff who handle reviews of Education, Health and Care Plans to ensure they are aware of the need to meet timescales, avoid undue delay and decide on the parent’s preferred setting in line with the statutory guidance.

  • Surrey County Council (21 007 850)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 14-Feb-2022

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council in record keeping and handling sensitive data and this caused Mr X avoidable distress. The Council will apologise, pay him £500, erase a letter and arrange training for staff.

    Service improvements

    The Council will arrange a training session for staff involved in this case (including members of the learning disability and autism team and information governance team about the Council's duties under the Human Rights Act 1998.

  • Surrey County Council (21 006 640)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 27-Mar-2022

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to arrange suitable contact with her children or update her on their progress while they lived with foster carers. The Council was at fault for failing to send Ms X some of the records of her contact sessions with the children. The missed contact records caused Ms X undue distress. We recommend the Council apologise and send her the records. The Council was also at fault for failing to properly facilitate arrangements for a family holiday. It had already taken appropriate steps to remedy that fault. The Council was not at fault in the other matters Ms X complained about.

    Service improvements

    The Council will amend its Children's Services policy to include a timescale for sending its records of supervised contact between parents and their children when the children are in foster care.

  • Surrey County Council (21 001 012)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Dec-2021

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council delayed naming School A in her daughter’s Education, Health and Care plan resulting in unfair treatment and missed provision. We did not investigate the Council’s decision to name a type of school on the EHCP because Miss X had the right to appeal. However, we found the Council at fault because it did not address Miss X’s concerns of missed provision. We recommend the Council provide an apology, payment for distress and take action to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will identify why it cannot provide records of contacts with a complainant and if appropriate, take action to prevent recurrence. It will inform the Ombudsman of the outcome and any action taken.The Council will provide training or guidance to the officers that liaised with the complainant, to ensure they understand the Council’s duty to secure Education, Health and Care Plan provision and to act when made aware this is not being met.

  • Surrey County Council (20 013 133)

    Category: Planning Date: 06-Sep-2021

    Summary

    Mr X complains the Council has not properly investigated and acted on a planning enforcement complaint, resulting in his suffering continued noise disruption, distress, time and trouble. We find fault in the Council’s application of its planning enforcement policy and fault in its communications with Mr X, causing Mr X injustice. We recommend the Council provides Mr X with an apology, payment for distress and a further response to his complaint. Further, that it amends its policy to accurately reflect its practice.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to amend its Planning Enforcement Policy as necessary so that its description of monitoring accurately reflects its practice.

  • Surrey County Council (20 012 066)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 20-Oct-2021

    Summary

    X, Mr W and Ms Y complained the Council failed to fulfil its statutory duty to safeguard and promote X’s welfare. The Ombudsman has not found fault by the Council in the action it took to safeguard and promote X’s welfare but has found fault with its complaint handling. The Council has agreed to remedy this by apologising and making a payment to reflect the time and trouble this caused.

    Service improvements

    Provide us with evidence it has shared a copy of this decision with complaint managers to capture learning from it and reminded staff how they should follow the statutory complaint procedure.

  • Surrey County Council (20 011 662)

    Category: Education Date: 07-Sep-2021

    Summary

    Ms Y complains the Council failed to provide her son, G, with appropriate educational provision in line with his Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. She says this resulted in him missing two years of education. We find fault by the Council in how it applied its policy on alternative provision and the lack of education provided to G. We recommend the Council apologises, pays G a financial remedy to be used for education, social and mental health purposes, pays Ms Y a financial remedy for distress, time and trouble and looks at lessons that can be learnt from this case.

    Service improvements

    The Council should remind relevant staff of its Access to Education policy and what responsibilities are placed on each involved party. It should also write to School A to ensure it properly understands the policy for any future similar situations.

  • Surrey County Council (20 011 328)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 01-Sep-2021

    Summary

    We do not find fault in the investigation of Miss Y’s complaint about the Council’s social care involvement with her children, C and D. We do not uphold the points of complaint which Miss Y continues to dispute because they have been subject to a thorough and independent investigation. However, we are not satisfied the Council has fully completed all parts of the agreed remedy, so it will undertake the actions listed at the end of this statement.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide evidence to the Ombudsman of the written leaflets/guidance/information it has produced for families following the Stage 3 panel’s recommendations.

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