Service improvements

West Sussex County Council

Showing service improvements between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025

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 26 cases with service improvements

Export results (CSV)

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

  • West Sussex County Council (23 020 411)

    Category: Education Date: 13-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained about the Council’s delay in dealing with the transfer of his children’s Education, Health and Care Plans and failure to respond to his stage 2 complaint. We found there was fault by the Council which caused Mr X distress and led to the loss of educational provision for his children. To put matters right, the Council agreed to apologise to Mr X and make a symbolic payment of £500.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to provide training to all relevant staff about transferring Education, Health and Care Plans between councils and its procedures for handling such transfers.

  • West Sussex County Council (23 020 341)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 04-Dec-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complains on behalf of Mr Y. He complains that the Council failed to arrange a care provider for Mrs Z to enable her to live in her own home and delayed in carrying out a care assessment. The Council was at fault as it delayed in carrying out a care needs assessment for Mrs Z and did not explore where she wanted to live when it eventually carried out the assessment. As a result, Mrs Z was prevented from returning home with a care package. The fault also caused distress and uncertainty to Mr Y which the Council has agreed to remedy by apologising and making a symbolic payment of £500 to him.

    Service improvements

    Provide or draw up an action plan with timescales to show how the Council is or tackling the excessive times in carrying out care needs assessments. This is to reduce the time service users are waiting for their care needs to be assessed.By training or other means, remind staff carrying out care needs assessments that such assessments should be person centred and fully involve the service user in decisions about their care

  • West Sussex County Council (23 020 172)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Feb-2025

    Summary

    Mr A complained that the Council, took too long to issue an Education and Health Care plan for his son. He also complained his son was not provided with education during the period he was waiting for the updated Plan. We found there was significant delay, a failure to establish what a suitable education was for S. We recommended the Council apologised, made a payment to Mr A and S and reviewed progress on improving its practice.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to share this decision with officers involved in issuing final EHC Plans to remind them the importance of timely issuing of amended EHC Plans following annual reviews.

  • West Sussex County Council (23 019 984)

    Category: Education Date: 20-Feb-2025

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council delayed completing her son, Y’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment and failed to put in alternative provision in place when he stopped attending school in January 2023. The Council delayed completing Y’s EHC needs assessment which caused a subsequent delay in issuing his final Plan. The Council agreed to make a payment to recognise the frustration and delayed appeal rights. The Council did not properly consider at the time whether it had a duty to provide alternative provision, however Y’s school did offer appropriate support and a reintegration plan and so any fault did not cause an injustice. The Council will carry out service improvements around its communication and record keeping.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind SEND officers: to make a record of its consideration of whether it owes a Section 19 duty to provide children not attending school with alternative provision, at the time it becomes aware;to record that where a school is providing support and alternative provision that the Council has considered whether that provision is suitable; andkeep oversight of children receiving alternative provision from schools to ensure arrangements remain appropriate or whether it needs to step in and make arrangements itself.The Council will review its communication and information sharing processes between departments to ensure that where there is evidence that a child is not attending school that it is communicated to the relevant officers so a decision can be made, at the time, whether a Section 19 duty is owed to provide the child with alternative provision.The Council will review its communication process with schools to ensure information about children not attending school is passed to the Council at the earliest opportunity.

  • West Sussex County Council (23 019 530)

    Category: Education Date: 28-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mr X complained the Council failed to comply with the statutory timeframe for issuing an Education, Health and Care Plan. He also complained the Council failed to communicate effectively throughout the process. Mr X said the delays will have a negative impact in his child’s educational outcomes. We have found fault with the Council for the delay in issuing a final Education, Health and Care Plan and delays in the complaints process. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a symbolic payment and complete service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will complete a review of the stage two complaint delay and provide an action plan to ensure any backlog of complaints is cleared and its complaints policy timeframes can be adhered to.The Council will make sure there is a process in place for its special educational needs and disability team to ensure the education, health and care needs assessment process is not impacted by staff absence.

  • West Sussex County Council (23 019 373)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 08-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Before our involvement, the Council accepted that it was at fault for a number of ways in which it failed to properly support Mr B while he was in care. It has already offered him an apology and a symbolic financial remedy. It has also agreed to assist him to apply to correct his birth certificate – which it failed to do for the five years he was in care – and will take steps to improve its service.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to send us an action plan which sets out what it has done, and what it will do, to avoid future failings similar to those identified in Mr B’s complaint (relating to social work practice when working with children in care).

  • West Sussex County Council (23 017 969)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 29-Nov-2024

    Summary

    There was fault in the way the Council reviewed and changed a care plan. This has caused uncertainty about what the outcome would have been had all relevant matters been considered. The Council will apologise, make a symbolic payment and make service improvements. The Council has also agreed to carry out a reassessment.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind officers how ‘best value’ is to be determined and that this must not just be the cheapest option but be determined with consideration of he relevant matters set out in the Care Act and Guidance.

  • West Sussex County Council (23 016 015)

    Category: Education Date: 28-Aug-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complains the Council failed to provide her child, Y, with a suitable education and it failed to communicate with her effectively. The Council acknowledges it was at fault. The fault caused loss of provision and avoidable distress. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to remedy this injustice.

    Service improvements

    Remind relevant staff of the Council's duty to secure education and EHCPprovision for children not able to attend school.

  • West Sussex County Council (23 014 091)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 02-Jul-2024

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the Council’s decision to charge her mother, Mrs Y, for her care and support, after first saying there would be nothing to pay. We did not find the Council said Mrs Y would not have to pay for her care and support. However, we found the Council was at fault for not providing clear charging information in writing at the start, and for significant delays completing a financial assessment. But we found no fault in the way the Council completed Mrs Y’s financial assessment.

    Service improvements

    The Council will give staff in its adult social care service refresher training or guidance on giving clear information about charging for adult social care. It will also remind staff that verbal advice should be confirmed in writing.The Council will review its adult social care financial assessment practice to identify any systemic issues leading to delays and consider ways to reduce wait times.

  • West Sussex County Council (23 013 322)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 15-Jul-2024

    Summary

    Mrs F complained that both Councils failed to agree adaptations to the family home needed by her husband and children. We upheld the complaint, finding both Councils acted with fault contributing to an impasse where no application for grant funding had been made. This caused distress. The Councils accepted our findings and at this statement, we set out the action they have agreed to take to remedy this injustice and improve services.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed that it would brief all Councils who are party to the West Sussex Disabled Facilities Grants Policy on the approach to be taken if proposed adaptations for grant works exceed the total price of grants available. This is to ensure potential recipients of grants are properly consulted on their views and that decisions to limit recommendations are based on need and not driven by financial considerations.The Council also agreed that it would modify the letter it sends out when its Occupational Therapists copy their final recommendations to potential applicants for Disabled Facilities Grants. This is to reflect that applicants may not agree the recommendations and can make representations, with the final decision on what adaptations to approve resting with the local District Council.

LGO logogram

Review your privacy settings

Required cookies

These cookies enable the website to function properly. You can only disable these by changing your browser preferences, but this will affect how the website performs.

View required cookies

Analytical cookies

Google Analytics cookies help us improve the performance of the website by understanding how visitors use the site.
We recommend you set these 'ON'.

View analytical cookies

In using Google Analytics, we do not collect or store personal information that could identify you (for example your name or address). We do not allow Google to use or share our analytics data. Google has developed a tool to help you opt out of Google Analytics cookies.

Privacy settings