Service improvements

West Sussex 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 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 (25 003 836)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 26-Jun-2025

    Summary

    Ms C complains the Council inappropriately withdrew her son’s, Mr D’s, transport to day support services. The Council is at fault for failing to properly apply its transport policy; and in the way it decided on, and reduced services to Mr D. This has caused uncertainty about whether the Council’s decision is correct. To remedy the complaint the Council has agreed to apologise to Ms C, and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review the faults identified in this complaint and produce/amend practice guidance to officers so they correctly apply paragraphs 3.4 and 4.9 when looking at how people access day support. In particular that they properly consider whether there is a suitable alternative before making the decision to remove funding for transport to day support and they are mindful of the general wellbeing principle

  • West Sussex County Council (25 003 813)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 30-Jun-2025

    Summary

    Ms C complains the Council inappropriately withdrew her daughter’s, Ms D’s, transport to day support services. The Council is at fault for failing to properly apply its transport policy; and in the way it decided on, and reduced services to Ms D. This has caused uncertainty about whether the Council’s decision is correct. To remedy the complaint the Council has agreed to apologise to Ms C, and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review the faults identified in this complaint and produce/amend practice guidance to officers so they correctly apply paragraphs 3.4 and 4.9 when looking at how people access day support. In particular that they properly consider whether there is a suitable alternative before making the decision to remove funding for transport to day support, and they are mindful of the general wellbeing principle and the impact of decisions on carers.

  • West Sussex County Council (25 000 463)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 16-Jan-2026

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council delayed completing a financial assessment for her father, Mr Y. She also complained the Council provided late and incorrect invoices and did not reassess Mr Y’s care needs when his circumstances changed. We found fault by the Council on all matters. The Council has agreed to apologise to Mrs X and Mr Y and make Mrs X a symbolic payment in recognition of the avoidable time and trouble caused to her. It also agreed to reduce the invoices for Mr Y’s care to reflect that he would likely have made different choices about his care, save for the delay in completing his financial assessment and to reflect the uncertainty about the accuracy of the invoices.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its procedures for dealing with financial assessments to ensure its assessments are completed within four weeks.The Council will provide information and training to all staff handling financial assessments to ensure the applicant's income is considered when completing an assessment.

  • West Sussex County Council (24 020 226)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to provide her son with alternative provision while he was out of school following a school placement breakdown. We find the Council at fault for failing to arrange a suitable full-time education or any alternative provision from January to July 2024. The Council has also failed to meet its statutory duty to ensure the provision set out in Ms X’s son’s Education, Health and Care Plan was delivered. This fault meant he received very limited education between January and July 2024. This caused Ms X and her son significant distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Ms X and her son, and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to review its processes to ensure it meets its S42 and S19 duties when a child is out of school and to include consideration of interim reviews.The Council has also agreed to put a system into place that allows oversight of SEND Officer's cases during unexpected or long absences.

  • West Sussex County Council (24 018 933)

    Category: Education Date: 24-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council did not provide alternative education after her child stopped attending school, only considered making amendments to her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan after giving her a decision not to amend the Plan and did not respond to some of her communication. There was some fault with how the Council considered whether to provide alternative education to Mrs X’s child, however this did not cause injustice. The Council was not at fault for discussing changes to the Plan after it decided not to amend it. The Council was at fault for not responding to Mrs X’s communication. To remedy the injustice caused the Council agreed to apologise to Mrs X, make a payment to her for the anxiety she suffered by poor communication and carry out a service improvement.

    Service improvements

    Take steps to review its procedures around communication and tell the Ombudsman what it has put in place to ensure people are updated when their cases are reallocated to new officers.

  • West Sussex County Council (24 018 646)

    Category: Education Date: 01-Sep-2025

    Summary

    The Council delayed completing Miss X’s child, Y’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan and then failed to secure the provision in the Plan. It also failed to arrange suitable alternative provision when Y was unable to attend school. This caused Y to miss out on part of their education and caused Miss X distress, uncertainty and frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and make a payment to recognise the impact of its failings. It will also review its approach to delivering alternative provision when a child cannot attend school.

    Service improvements

    The Council failed to arrange suitable alternative provision when a child was unable to attend school, due to a lack of available providers. It has agreed to review its approach to delivering section 19 alternative provision to ensure it explores all avenues to meet its section 19 duties, regardless of provider availability.

  • West Sussex County Council (24 018 275)

    Category: Other Categories Date: 08-Dec-2025

    Summary

    Miss Y complained about a support service commissioned by the Council for people in its area recovering from alcohol and drug misuse and provided to Mr X, her late father. We have found fault, causing injustice, by the service provider in failing to: follow its proper procedure in response to a suspicion Mr X had been drinking alcohol: record this procedure in writing; and ensure all staff had received training about the procedure. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by apologising to Miss Y for the distress caused and providing evidence from the service provider it has completed service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to provide us with a report from Service B confirming the action it has taken to address the failure to follow expected procedure and strengthen its processes in response to the lessons learned from Mr X’s death.

  • West Sussex County Council (24 017 495)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 17-Sep-2025

    Summary

    Ms C complains the Council failed to provide services to meet her family’s needs. The Council is at fault for failing to record actions and complete a carer’s assessment. This has caused uncertainty and frustration to Ms C. To put things right the Council will apologise to Ms C, make her a symbolic payment, reassess her needs as a carer and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    2. Within three months of the final decision the Council has agreed to:-a) review the assessment delays in this complaint and what action the Council will take to reduce future delays;2. Within three months of the final decision the Council has agreed to:-b) remind relevant staff by staff circular, team meeting or other method about the importance of properly recording what action has been taken including where a person has refused an assessment.

  • West Sussex County Council (24 016 899)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 30-Jun-2025

    Summary

    Mr X complained that the Council delayed in completing a needs assessment and then delayed in putting in place the help he needed. Mr X says this caused him stress and caused a deterioration in his mental and physical health. We find fault in the Councils actions for delay in completing the assessment and putting in place the funding for the help Mr X needed. We recommend the Council issues Mr X with an apology, pays a financial payment and completes service improvements.

    Service improvements

    In writing, remind officers to complete assessments within a reasonable time frame.

  • West Sussex County Council (24 013 239)

    Category: Education Date: 14-Aug-2025

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council failed to provide the provisions in section F of her child’s Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council is at fault for failing to monitor the provision was in place. This lack of support has caused Ms X and her child distress. The Councils complaint response was poor, causing Ms X additional distress. This is their injustice. The Council agreed a package of remedies.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to consider how to improve monitoring of annual reviews which are delegated to schools to identify potential failings at the earliest possible opportunity.

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