Service improvements

West Sussex County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024

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 - 16 of 16 cases with service improvements

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Downloads the current filtered list of service improvement decisions for West Sussex County Council as a CSV file.

  • West Sussex County Council (23 000 130)

    Category: Education Date: 21-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Mrs Y complains about the Council’s failure to provide education for her child, D, when they stopped attending school. Mrs Y also complains the Council failed to meet statutory timescales when assessing and issuing D’s Education Health and Care Plan. The Council also failed to respond to Mrs Y’s complaint. In the parts of the complaint within our jurisdiction, we find fault which caused injustice to Mrs Y and D. The Council has agreed to implement the remedial actions listed at the end of this statement.

    Service improvements

    The Council will provide evidence of the staff training sessions and Education Other Than at School [EOTAS] process documents made available for officers. As part of ongoing training and development, the Council should remind officers of the requirement to give a right of review against any decisions to refuse a personal budget as per Section 7 of the SEN (Personal Budget) Regulations.The Council will improve the way it makes decisions about requests for alternative provision. This could be in the form of staff training or a briefing paper. As part of this, the Council will draw officers’ attention to the Section 19 duties, accompanying statutory guidance and the LGSCO’s focus report ‘Out of School, Out of Sight?’

  • West Sussex County Council (23 000 078)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 18-Oct-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complains that the Council delayed in providing a care package for her. The Council is at fault as it delayed in carrying out a Care Act assessment for Miss X which in turn delayed the provision of a care package. The Council also delayed in carrying out an occupational therapy assessment for Miss X. These faults caused distress to Miss X and meant she had to pay privately for care for longer than necessary. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by making a symbolic payment of £200 to Miss X and reimburse her for the cost of the care she paid privately for.

    Service improvements

    By training or other means, remind staff of the provisions of section 9 of the Care Act 2014 requiring the Council to carry out a Care Act assessment for a person who has the appearance of care and support needs.Draw up an action plan to reduce the excessive waiting times for occupational therapy assessments.

  • West Sussex County Council (22 016 892)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 20-Aug-2023

    Summary

    Mrs P complained about the Council’s failure to carry out a proper assessment of her adult daughter’s care needs. She said this resulted in an inadequate support plan that did not meet her needs. We have found there was fault with the assessment. It was poorly written and did not address the issues we would expect. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mrs X to acknowledge her time and trouble dealing with the matter and carry out a new assessment. It has also agreed to take action to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council should remind all assessment/review staff of its Review and Re-assessment Practice Guidance.

  • West Sussex County Council (22 012 781)

    Category: Education Date: 03-Oct-2023

    Summary

    We uphold a complaint made on behalf of Mrs C, that the Council was at fault for delay in issuing an education, care and health plan for her son and in answering a complaint. We also found fault in the Council’s approach to seeking specialist advice as part of the assessment. These faults caused uncertainty for Mrs C and impacted on her son’s education. The Council has accepted these findings. At the end of this statement, we set out the action it has agreed to take to remedy this injustice and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to brief relevant staff on the correct approach that it should take when a young person or their parent requested that it seek professional advice (such as from a speech and language therapist or occupational therapist) as part of an education, health and care needs assessment. It agreed to remind staff of the need to decide such requests promptly, to make a clear decision on whether to seek such advice and give reasons if deciding not to. Also, to ensure that if it sought advice that it was then under a duty to make sure it was received.

  • West Sussex County Council (22 012 513)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 03-Jul-2023

    Summary

    Mr and Mrs X complained the Council did not consider its duties under the Equality Act 2010 when it carried out a child and family assessment. Mr and Mrs X also complained the Council delayed investigating their complaint that the assessment was discriminatory. We found fault by the Council in its complaint handling and the Council has agreed a remedy to address the injustice identified.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff of the importance of adhering to the timeframes specified in the children’s statutory complaint process

  • West Sussex County Council (22 009 538)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 13-Apr-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about delays by the Council in confirming that it no longer included household expenses in its financial assessments. The Council was at fault for delays and for failing to properly consider household expenses as part of a financial assessment. The Council agreed to provide a suitable remedy.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its policy on contributions to care and support charges, giving consideration to how it will ensure non-dependents can contribute to household costs.The Council will review its communication around charging in this case and ensure staff are clear in future about how it allows for non-dependent’s household contributions.The Council will ensure staff clearly record the reasons for any charging decisions.

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