Service improvements

Swindon Borough 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 - 4 of 4 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for Swindon Borough Council as a CSV file.

  • Swindon Borough Council (22 005 953)

    Category: Environment and regulation Date: 10-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Mr K complains the Council has refused to deal with his reports of anti-social behaviour. Instead it told him to contact the police. But the police refused to consider the issue. The Ombudsman’s decision is the Council was at fault for not doing more to consider Mr K’s complaint. And for not having a ‘Community Trigger’ process, where Mr K could have asked the Council and its partners to review their response to his reports. The Council has agreed to our recommendations.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to introduce a Community Trigger process, policy and procedure.The Council will ensure information about antisocial behaviour procedures and the Community Trigger is available to the general public including on the Council’s website.The Council will carry out a review of its current procedures and advice to staff about how to respond to antisocial behaviour complaints, to ensure the Council is acting in line with government and local guidance and processes. It may want to consider whether a specific council policy on antisocial behaviour is required.The Council will send a reminder to its officers working in its Community Safety Partnership Team of the importance of keeping accurate and complete records.

  • Swindon Borough Council (22 001 043)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 09-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mr and Mrs X complained the Council failed to provide them with appropriate information about two children they adopted in 2019 which they say contributed to the breakdown of the placement. There was no fault in how the Council investigated Mr and Mrs X’s complaints under the statutory children’s complaints procedure or the recommendations made. It agreed to provide us with evidence it has completed them. The Council significantly delayed carrying out the complaints procedure and failed to provide Mr and Mrs X with the stage 3 report which was fault. It agreed to pay them £300 to remedy the injustice that caused.

    Service improvements

    The Council investigated a complaint under the statutory children's complaints procedure about a failure to provide appropriate information about children prior to their adoption which resulted in it agreeing to a number of recommendations. The Council agreed to provide the Ombudsman with evidence it has carried out the recommendations agreed at stages 2 and 3 of the procedure. This includesreminding staff to handle data correctly;reminding staff and relevant partners to ensure prospective adoptors are aware of support mechanisms available to them and to manage expectations around the available support;reminding duty managers to keep written logs of the calls and advice given to adopters.give scrutiny to the matching and adoption process to identify any learning.

  • Swindon Borough Council (21 012 063)

    Category: Transport and highways Date: 12-May-2022

    Summary

    Mr E complained about the Council’s delays when he reported his neighbours were using his dropped kerb. We find the Council was at fault as it delayed responding to Mr E’s communication and it also delayed responding to his complaint. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address Mr E’s injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council will issue written reminders to staff within its streetworks department to ensure they are aware they should respond to customer’s queries without unnecessary delay. If there are going to be delays, they should keep customers updated.The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of the Council’s complaints procedure and the timescales for responding to complaints.

  • Swindon Borough Council (21 010 966)

    Category: Housing Date: 19-Jun-2022

    Summary

    Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to rehouse her after placing her in an unsuitable property and about her priority banding. She also complained about harassment from her neighbour. We have found the Council to be at fault because it did not offer to carry out a review of her priority banding. To remedy the injustice to Miss X, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to her and review its practices. We did not find fault with the Council’s original offer of accommodation or how is dealt with her complaints about harassment.

    Service improvements

    The Council has also agreed to review its processes to ensure that it issues a formal decision with review rights in response to all priority decisions under its allocations policy.

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