Service improvements

Surrey County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026

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 12 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 (25 005 021)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Mar-2026

    Summary

    Mrs K complains the Council delayed acting after a Tribunal order. It did not provide her daughter with the contents of her Education, Health and Care Plan and did not provide alternative provision when she could not attend school. The Council has still not met all of the Education Otherwise Than At School provision for her daughter. We uphold the complaint. The Council delayed reviewing the Education, Health and Care Plan, putting educational provision in place, paying invoices and making remedies. This led to avoidable distress for Mrs K and her daughter missing provision. The Council has agreed to our recommendations for remedies and a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    A Council officer (at a sufficiently senior level to make recommendations) should review what happened in this complaint. They should focus on whether there are any lessons to be learned about supporting the parents of children receiving Education Other than at School.

  • Surrey County Council (25 004 311)

    Category: Education Date: 28-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the way the Council dealt with her daughter, Y’s education. The Council was at fault for failing to properly consider its section 19 duties, delaying in issuing Y’s Education, Health and Care plan and poorly responding to Mrs X’s complaints. This caused distress, frustration and uncertainty to Mrs X and Y. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to recognise the injustice caused and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to send us an action plan which sets out how, in future, it will avoid similar failures to consider its section 19 duties to children out of school.

  • Surrey County Council (25 003 208)

    Category: Education Date: 23-Sep-2025

    Summary

    We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to award travel assistance to Miss X’s child Y. This is because the Council has remedied any injustice Miss X experienced by providing her with a personal travel budget, which she has accepted.

    Service improvements

    The Council has awarded a backdated personal travel budget.

  • Surrey County Council (25 002 580)

    Category: Education Date: 05-Jan-2026

    Summary

    There was fault by the Council. There were delays organising annual reviews and delay sending the final Education, Health and Care plan after the 2025 annual review. There was delay paying the personal budget but the Council remedied this when considering the complaint during it’s complaints procedure, along with making a payment to remedy its failure to provide the Occupational Therapy in the Education, Health and Care Plan. An additional payment for further failure to provide therapy in the Education, Health and Care plan, along with an apology and a review of procedures remedies the injustice of loss of educational provision and uncertainty to Mrs X and Mr Y.

    Service improvements

    Provide details of the measures it has put in place to update its personal budget processes to prevent delays in making payments in the future.Provide details of the measures it has put in place to prevent delays in the annual review process in the future.

  • Surrey County Council (24 021 698)

    Category: Education Date: 10-Nov-2025

    Summary

    Ms B complained the Council failed to provide her child the provision detailed in their Education, Health and Care Plan. We find the Council at fault for failing to provide the special educational provision detailed in the Education, Health and Care Plan. This has caused Ms B distress, frustration and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment, consider reimbursement of Ms B’s costs and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue a written reminder to its relevant special educational needs and disability staff about the Council's section 42 duty to secure special educational provision.The Council will ensure it has a system in place to check the special educational provision is in place when a new or amended Education, Health and Care Plan is issued or there is a change in educational placement.The Council will ensure it has a system in place to check the special educational provision at least annually during the Education, Health and Care Plan review process.The Council will ensure it has a system in place to quickly investigate and act on complaints or concerns raised that the special educational provision is not in place at any time.

  • Surrey County Council (24 019 139)

    Category: Education Date: 21-Sep-2025

    Summary

    The Council failed to consult sufficient school placements for Ms X’s child, Y, when they stopped attending school. The Council also failed to properly consider whether the alternative provision it offered Y was reasonably accessible to them and failed to ensure Y received key therapies in their Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council’s faults have caused Y and Ms X uncertainty and caused Y to avoidably miss out on special educational provision for eleven months. The Council has paid Ms X £3,250 to recognise the injustice caused by these faults. We have also recommended that the Council make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to share this decision with its education team and highlight it as a learning case in terms of failure to consult schools when it said it would, failure to arrange suitable alternative provision and failure to arrange the provision in a child's Education, Health and Care Plan.The Council has agreed to send the Ombudsman an action plan to demonstrate how it will prevent recurrence of these faults in future.

  • Surrey County Council (24 015 469)

    Category: Education Date: 11-Jun-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained that the Council unfairly restricted communication with him. The Council accepts it did not follow the correct process when it did this. We found the Council at fault. The Council has apologised and lifted the restrictions in response to Mr X's complaint. It has also agreed to carry out some service improvements.

    Service improvements

    Within one month of the decision, the Council will remind all relevant staff of the importance of following the Council’s process correctly to ensure communication restrictions are not imposed unfairly.

  • Surrey County Council (24 014 984)

    Category: Education Date: 02-Mar-2026

    Summary

    Mrs H complained the Council’s Adult Social Care and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Teams have not worked well together in providing her son with the support he needs. There has been delay, inaccuracies and a refusal to increase support. We uphold the complaint due to delays in assessments, approving direct payments, joint working and providing overnight respite. The Council has agreed to our recommendations for ways to remedy the injustice.

    Service improvements

    The complaint has highlighted poor joint working between the Council’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Transitions Teams. A council officer (at a sufficiently senior level to make recommendations) should review what happened in this complaint. They should focus on whether there are any lessons to be learned about how Council teams work together in making decisions about meeting needs.

  • Surrey County Council (24 012 666)

    Category: Education Date: 18-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the Council’s handling of her son’s Education, Health and Care annual review and alternative provision after he stopped attending school in summer 2024. We found the Council delayed proper assessment of its section 19 duties after June 2024 and delayed putting alternative provision in place for the child. The Council also failed to consult special schools and was late to issue a final amended EHC Plan following and annual review in June 2024. This caused Mrs X and her son frustration and delayed support the Council agreed to in December 2024. The Council agreed to remedy the injustice its actions caused them.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to issue a reminder to staff about the importance of checking if the Council had completed its own recommendations made as part of the corporate complaint process and about the importance of assessing and documenting the Council’s decision in relation to its section 19 duties.

  • Surrey County Council (24 010 959)

    Category: Education Date: 27-May-2025

    Summary

    Miss B complained the Council’s Education, Health and Care Plan process failed her son, X. Miss B says X has been placed in an unsuitable placement and is receiving little to no education. We found the Council at fault for a delay in issuing a final Education, Health and Care Plan following an annual review and failing to consider its section 42 duty once it was aware X was not attending school. This has caused distress, frustration and uncertainty to Miss B and X. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and complete service improvements to remedy the injustice caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue a reminder to the schools in its area, explaining the annual review process and timeframes for sending the annual review paperwork following the annual review meeting.

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