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 11 - 20 of 23 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 (22 000 291)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Oct-2022

    Summary

    Mrs Y complained about the significant delays by the Council in finalising her sons Education, Health and Care plan and consulting with schools. She said the Council failed to send its intention letter following the annual review and failed to provide her son with a suitable education. We find the Council was at fault. This led to Mrs Y’s son regressing significantly in mainstream school. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address this injustice.

    Service improvements

    Issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of the Councils duty to decide whether to keep, cease or amend the EHC plan within four weeks of the review meeting, and to notify the parents in writing.

  • Surrey County Council (22 000 263)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s delays in finalising her son’s Education, Health and Care Plan in 2019 and in sourcing a new school for him. We have found the Council to be at fault because it took too long to find a new school and in the way it handled Miss X’s complaints. Miss X and her son suffered avoidable frustration and distress because it took over a year to find a suitable school. To remedy the injustice caused by this fault, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Miss X and review its procedures.

    Service improvements

    The Council should take action, at a senior level, to address the delays experienced by the complainant and review its complaints’ handling processes linked to education-related complaints. The Council should provide a report to the Ombudsman to confirm what it proposes to do.

  • Surrey County Council (22 000 046)

    Category: Education Date: 27-Sep-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to provide Occupational Therapy (OT) services specified in her son, Y’s, Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). Miss X complained the Council has not completed all the recommendations of its stage two investigation. Miss X says the delay in implementing the OT provision has resulted in further delay in Y’s developing skills and she has been put to time and trouble to complain. There was fault in the way the Council conducted the annual review and did not communicate its decision to amend or maintain the plan with the family. This failure has caused Miss X and Y an injustice as he did not receive the OT provision, the Council has acknowledged he should have.

    Service improvements

    •Review its procedures to ensure recommendations made in its own complaint responses are regularly monitored to ensure timely and full compliance.•Review its EHCP annual review procedure to ensure it follows the statutory four-week timeframes set out in the SEND regulations. Ensure decisions about maintaining, amending or discontinuing plans are communicated clearly and promptly to the young person and their family to enable appeal rights to be engaged.

  • Surrey County Council (21 018 043)

    Category: Education Date: 07-Jun-2022

    Summary

    We upheld Miss X’s complaint about a delay in identifying and agreeing a college placement for her daughter Miss Y. There was also an unacceptable delay in amending Miss Y’s Education, Health and Care plan and poor communication. The Council will make payments to both and take other action described in this statement.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its arrangements for responding to complaints to see if further staffing resources are needed in the complaints team or in other service areas if staff there are responsible for complaint handling.

  • Surrey County Council (21 017 836)

    Category: Education Date: 15-Sep-2022

    Summary

    Ms X complained about delays and poor practice throughout the EHC process for her son. We have concluded our investigation having made a finding of fault by the Council. We found that that there were delays in the EHC process. Further to this, we found fault in the Council’s actions to undertake an OT assessment without the consent of Ms X. Although the Council has provided a remedy and made several service improvements, it has agreed to the further recommendations we have proposed.

    Service improvements

    Explain what measures it will put in place to ensure that any assessments it has scheduled are undertaken with the appropriate consent in place firstExplain what measures it will put in place to ensure any applicable reports are sent to the relevant people as soon as available to do so.

  • Surrey County Council (21 014 162)

    Category: Education Date: 05-Jun-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the alternative education the Council arranged for his son, Y. There was fault with how the Council arranged alternative provision for Y when he could not attend his agreed school place. The Council agree to apologise to Mr X, pay him a financial remedy and review how it arranges alternative provision.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review how it arranges alternative education provision for children unable to arrange school to ensure is provides full-time education or, where it decides this is not in the interests of a child, it records its reasons for that decision.

  • Surrey County Council (21 013 381)

    Category: Education Date: 26-Apr-2022

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to ensure her son received suitable education after he stopped attending school, resulting in loss of education, costs to the family, distress, time and trouble. We have found the Council at fault. We recommended it apologise to Ms X, make payments for time and trouble (£300), distress (£500), missed education (£2000), costs incurred (£7498), take action to ensure Y receives education and provide training to staff to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide training to staff involved in this complaint and to any staff responsible for school attendance, to ensure they are aware of the Ombudsman's decision in this case and the Council’s duties under s19 of the Education Act to provide education to children who would not otherwise receive it.

  • Surrey County Council (21 012 317)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Oct-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council has failed to provide an education for his daughter, Y, when she became too anxious to attend school in September 2021. We find the Council at fault, which caused Y to miss out on educational provision and put Mr X to avoidable time and trouble. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X and Y, to make them several payments and to review its procedures.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its processes for considering requests for alternative educational provision to ensure that its decisions are in accordance with Section 19 (1) of The Education Act 1996.

  • Surrey County Council (21 012 246)

    Category: Education Date: 31-May-2022

    Summary

    Mrs K complained the Council failed to ensure her son received an education and his special educational needs provision during the summer term 2021. We found the Council at fault for failing to ensure her son received a suitable education and School Y had funding to provide his education. It also failed to provide some of her son’s SEN provision. The Council proposed remedies to acknowledge the injustice this caused the family. It also agreed to make payment for the distress Mrs K experienced and the costs she had to provide special educational needs provision for her son.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review how it monitors children who are due to attend a new school to ensure they are on roll, including in year placements.The Council will remind its Officers of the Council’s duties to place a child on roll in the named school set out in an EHC plan, and hold a meeting with School Y to ensure it also understands the School’s duty to do so.The Council will arrange a debriefing session with professionals involved with Child B, and for the Speech and Language service to discuss Child B’s sessions with Mrs K for the Autumn 2021 term.

  • Surrey County Council (21 008 578)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Oct-2022

    Summary

    Mrs C complained that the Council would not pay the full cost of her taking her adult son to college, despite agreeing that transport was necessary. The Council was at fault in not paying Mrs C’s full transport costs or properly considering her appeal. It has agreed the Ombudsman’s recommendations that it reimburse Mrs C’s additional costs plus interest and make a payment for inconvenience and distress. It has also agreed to review its school transport policy and consider whether other parents have been similarly affected.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind officers involved in school transport of the correct process for dealing with school transport appeals.The Council will review its Home to School/College Travel and Transport Policy June 2020 to address the concerns about clarity identified by the Council’s second stage complaint investigation and ensure that its policy reflects its duties in respect of transport for relevant young adults set out in the Act.The Council will review whether other parents’/carers’ mileage arrangements have been similarly affected since September 2020 and provide us with an action plan to address such cases.

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