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 1 - 10 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 (24 007 650)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to secure the provision set out in Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan. As a result, Mrs X says Y has not received the provision he is entitled to. We find the Council at fault for not securing provision. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to recognise the injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind staff who deal with complaints of the importance of putting forward tangible and measurable resolutions when they have identified fault and injustice.

  • Surrey County Council (24 005 704)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Feb-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to review Y’s Education, Health and Care Plan within statutory time limits and delayed in obtaining an Educational Psychologist reassessment. Mrs X also complained the Council failed to make appropriate alternative provision available while Y was out of school. Mrs X said this caused her real stress and frustration. We find the Council at fault. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to recognise the injustice caused and act to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind staff where they are aware a child is not attending school, it should consider each individual case and its Section 19 duty in accordance with relevant law and guidance. This includes exploring whether alternative provision can be increased at each opportunity to do so.

  • Surrey County Council (24 005 595)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Mar-2025

    Summary

    the Council failed to amend Mr F’s daughter G’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan to name her school following an order from the SEND Tribunal over a year ago. The Council has not completed the re-assessment of G’s needs it agreed to undertake, and G has not received any occupational therapy (OT) in her Plan since the conclusion of Mr F’s appeal. The Council has agreed a remedy for the injustice this caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will work with its partners in the Occupational Therapy service to analyse why the Council was unable to deliver the special educational provision in a child's Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council will explain to this office what steps it will take to address any problems identified.

  • Surrey County Council (24 004 945)

    Category: Planning Date: 27-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Mr X says the Council failed to properly consider the impact on trees and hedgerows when granting planning permission, failed to properly assess trees, failed to follow the petition process and failed to respond to his complaint properly. There is no evidence of fault in how the Council handled the planning application or in its assessment of the trees. The Council did not follow the petition process fully and did not respond to all parts of the complaint. An apology, reminder to officers and a response to the complaint issues missed is satisfactory remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind officers dealing with complaints of the need to ensure all aspects of the complaint are responded to, particularly when a complaint has been summarised.

  • Surrey County Council (24 004 684)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 14-Mar-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the way the Council dealt with her son, Mr Y’s care. The Council already accepted fault for several complaint points which caused Mrs X distress. The Council will make a symbolic payment and update us on proposed service improvements, in addition to the remedies it has already carried out, to recognise this injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide an update and evidence of the introduction of a section 20 information leaflet for families and the review completed to ensure appropriate communication about section 20. Section 20 Childrens Act 1989 is where a child or young person may be accommodated by a council, usually with the agreement to the arrangement by those with parental responsibility.

  • Surrey County Council (24 004 159)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 22-Jan-2025

    Summary

    Mrs Z on behalf of her parents, complained the Council lost documents relating to a care assessment, delayed implementing a suitable care and failed to complete a carer’s assessment. Mrs Z says as a result she had to pay privately for carers to meet her parents’ needs. The Council failed to upload notes of a review meeting, failed to complete a carer’s assessment and delayed responding to a request from Mrs Z to discuss matters. A suitable remedy is proposed.

    Service improvements

    Issue a reminder to all staff about the Council's recording policy and the need to respond to emails in a timely manner.

  • Surrey County Council (24 002 523)

    Category: Education Date: 04-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to follow a tribunal order and failed to put in place the special educational provision detailed in her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. We have found the Council at fault for the delay in issuing the final Plan and failing to secure the special educational provision detailed in the Plan. The Council has agreed to apologise, reimburse financial costs and complete service improvements to remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its process for securing special educational provision, such as speech and language therapy and occupational therapy, which cannot be delivered within a mainstream school setting and ensure there is a system in place to secure provision and funding without delay.

  • Surrey County Council (24 000 853)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Jan-2025

    Summary

    The Council significantly delayed issuing an amended Education, Health and Care Plan for Ms X’s child, Z, following their annual review. It also significantly delayed in consulting alternative schools for Z and its communication with Ms X was poor. In recognition of the injustice caused by the faults in this case, the Council has agreed to apologise and pay Ms X £1,000. It has also agreed to take action to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to carry out a lessons learned review to understand why there were such significant delays in finalising a child's Education Health and Care Plan, implementing the funding for their teaching assistant, and in consulting specialist school placements.The Council has agreed, following its lessons learned review, to make an action plan setting out what steps will be taken to prevent these delays occurring for children and parents in future.

  • Surrey County Council (23 021 496)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the Council’s delay in finalising her child’s education, health and care plan within the required statutory timescales and failing to provide her child with a suitable education when they were unable to attend school due to health needs. The Council is at fault and it has agreed to remedy the injustice caused by apologising to Mrs X and providing her with a symbolic remedy payment for the delay.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the service improvements it said it had made as a result of the experience the complainant had received.

  • Surrey County Council (23 021 144)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Nov-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about how the Council dealt with her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan and its alleged failure to provide her child with Occupational Therapy provision as specified in the Plan. There was fault by the Council which caused injustice to Y and Mrs X. The Council will take action to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    Remind relevant staff of the importance of ensuring all specialist provision/therapy in Section F of Education, Health and Care Plans are secured and delivered to the child/young person to meet their special educational needs.Remind relevant staff of the importance of providing people with updates about any outstanding Education, Health and Care Plan matters. The Council should communicate information effectively and in a timely manner to prevent complaints.

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