Service improvements

Surrey County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023

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 - 5 of 5 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 (22 009 683)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 17-Mar-2023

    Summary

    The Council has acknowledged that it took too long to consider Mrs B’s request for changes to respite care when she could not recruit a personal assistant. It has apologised to her, and agreed to her request. It has backdated payments to cover care Mrs B funded herself, and offered to pay Mrs B in recognition of the impact on her. In response to my recommendation, the Council has agreed to also make a further payment and remind staff of the correct process.

    Service improvements

    The Council should share this decision with relevant staff and remind them of procedures for agreeing changes to care packages outside of the funding panel

  • Surrey County Council (22 007 478)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 15-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about delays in how the Council considered her complaint about its adoption service. The Council was at fault for significant delays in arranging an independent stage three panel. This caused Mrs X frustration and meant she had to go to avoidable time and trouble. The Council will pay Mrs X £300 in recognition of that injustice. It will also promptly arrange the stage three panel hearing and carry out staff training.

    Service improvements

    The Council will carry out training with the relevant staff on its duties under the statutory children's complaints procedure, including when a complaint is eligible for early referral to the Ombudsman.

  • Surrey County Council (22 003 724)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 21-Feb-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complains about how the Council investigated her complaint under the statutory complaints process. She complains the Council failed to consider its actions and the impact this had on her family. The Ombudsman finds fault with how the Council considered Miss X’s complaint at stage two. The Council has agreed to reinvestigate Miss X’s complaint at stage two and pay Miss X a financial remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to share a copy of the decision with those it commissions for the statutory complaints process. This should include communication about lessons learnt and how failing to fully investigate hinders the complaints process.The Council has agreed to review whether staff need further training about the Council’s responsibility to be proactive about its duty to consider reasonable adjustments.

  • Surrey County Council (22 002 119)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 17-Feb-2023

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to carry out the agreed actions in a Child in Need plan it put in place for her daughter, C. The Council failed to undertake actions agreed in the plan. The Council has agreed to take action to prevent the fault reoccurring and make a payment to recognise the frustration caused and loss of respite.

    Service improvements

    The Council will complete its review of the policy and practiceof direct payments.

  • Surrey County Council (21 018 132)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 19-Oct-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council has not completed some of the agreed remedy actions after it upheld her complaints following an investigation under the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council is at fault. It has not completed some of the actions agreed. There was also poor record keeping which has caused uncertainty about how the decision to refuse Mrs X support as a parent carer was reached. The Council will apologise to Mrs X for the frustration and uncertainty caused and improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share the learning identified during its investigation into her complaint about childrens services under the childrens statutory complaints procedure and remind staff of the importance of keeping proper and appropriate records of decision making by the childrens service resource panel.The Council will produce a printable or downloadable leaflet about parent carer assessments and make this publicly available.The council will complete improvements to information about parent carer assessments on its website.

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