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 10 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 (20 007 811)

    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 (20 006 020)

    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 (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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