Service improvements

Worcestershire 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 1 - 10 of 11 cases with service improvements

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

  • Worcestershire County Council (22 005 421)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 02-Feb-2023

    Summary

    Mr X and Ms Y complained on behalf of their sister, Miss Z, about the Council’s handling of its investigation into complaints about adult social care provision. Mr X and Ms Y say the Council’s actions caused avoidable stress and anxiety to the family. We found fault by the Council and the Council has agreed a remedy to address the injustice identified.

    Service improvements

    Remind staff to provide progress updates to service users with complaints considered under the statutory complaints process as far as is reasonably practicable, in line with the Regulations.

  • Worcestershire County Council (22 004 736)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 08-Mar-2023

    Summary

    Mr X complained about how the Council assessed his father’s contribution to his care costs. There was fault in how the Council considered some of the costs claimed on behalf of his father, explained its decisions, considered his appeal, and handled the complaint. The Council agreed to apologise, review the decision, pay a financial remedy and review its policy.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review how it considers expenses related to disregarded properties in care and support financial assessments. It should ensure it fully considers individual circumstances when deciding if it is reasonable for someone to contribute to the costs of their former home.The Council agreed to remind its staff making financial assessment decisions of the need to fully explain their decisions, including their consideration of any evidence.The Council agreed to review how it considers appeals against financial assessments for care and support. It should ensure that its policy clearly explains the process for considering appeals and that there is enough independence from the original decision maker.The Council agreed to review its procedures for placing holds on outgoing debt recovery mail to ensure these are effective in preventing further correspondence being generated and sent.

  • Worcestershire County Council (22 004 577)

    Category: Education Date: 16-Oct-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council failed to ensure Y received suitable education while out of school, resulting in missed education and distress to Y and his family. We found the Council at fault. We recommended it provide an apology to Mrs X, pay £300 for distress, pay £7200 for missed education and act to prevent recurrence.

    Service improvements

    The Council will consider what action it can take to improve access to alternative provision in its area and inform the Ombudsman of its findings.The Council will issue a memorandum to complaint handling staff, drawing their attention to the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies and our expectations as to a suitable remedy where we find fault resulting in a child missing education.

  • Worcestershire County Council (22 003 365)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 08-Aug-2022

    Summary

    Mrs X complained the Council delayed considering her complaint at stage three of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. She says the delay has caused frustration and distress. The Council was at fault when it did not hold the stage three panel within the statutory timescales. The Council has agreed to hold the panel hearing within 30 working days and pay Mrs X £100 to acknowledge the frustration caused by the delay.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant officers that stage three panels of the children's statutory complaints procedure should be conducted within 30 working days of a request, and if officer availability is causing undue delay, the panel chair has discretion to decide to proceed without them.

  • Worcestershire County Council (22 003 220)

    Category: Education Date: 09-Jan-2023

    Summary

    Miss B complains the Council delayed in putting in place an Education Health and Care Plan (“EHCP”) for her child, Y, following a tribunal decision. She says the Council has not ensured Y receives the services set out in the EHCP since that point, meaning she has not been able to access education. We find the Council is at fault for the delay in finalising Y’s EHCP and for not ensuring alternative education provision was available and accessible.

    Service improvements

    Circulate a reminder to staff that the duty to arrange s19 alternative provision lies with the Council and cannot be delegated to schools. Also, that regardless of whether an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) provides for support in school, the 1996 Education Act Section 19 duty will exist if the child is not attending that school.

  • Worcestershire County Council (21 018 677)

    Category: Education Date: 06-Jan-2023

    Summary

    There was delay by the Council in consulting new school placements and in updating an EHC plan. However, it is not possible to say that without this fault Y would have started his new school or moved to residential provision sooner. There was poor communication by the Council with parents which led to a mismanagement of parents’ expectations. The Council will apologise, make a remedy payment and make service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its processes to avoid delay in future cases in identifying and allocating special school places.The Council will review how it advises parents considering residential school options to ensure clear information is given at an early stage, including about the roles of Education and Social Care and the ways placements are funded.

  • Worcestershire County Council (21 018 572)

    Category: Children's care services Date: 10-Jul-2022

    Summary

    The Council accepts it failed to facilitate indirect letterbox contact between Mr X and his grandchildren, who are in care. The Council has apologised to Mr X for this. It has also agreed to pay Mr X £1000, tell the children the reason for the delays, and act to improve its services.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff they should cooperate with statutory complaintinvestigations in a timely manner.The Council has agreed to identify and implement a way to facilitate indirect contact between children in careand their families that is resilient to changes in staffing.

  • Worcestershire County Council (21 018 357)

    Category: Education Date: 14-Nov-2022

    Summary

    Mr and Mrs D complained the Council failed to provide their son with the education and specialist provision set out in his Education, Health and Care plan. They also say the Council failed to provide adequate alternative education when their son was no longer able to attend school. We find the Council was at fault for failing to provide full-time education for Mr and Mrs D’s son when he was out of school or record the reasons part-time provision was suitable for him. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

    Service improvements

    The Council will review its approach to arranging alternative education to ensure that it provides full-time provision or clearly records its reasons for deciding that a part-time timetable will provide a suitable education for the child. The record should include an assessment of how much the child can manage where they are too unwell to access a full-time education.

  • Worcestershire County Council (21 016 577)

    Category: Adult care services Date: 18-Aug-2022

    Summary

    Mr X complained about how the Council managed the finances related to his son, Mr Y’s, social care needs. There was no fault in how the Council assessed Mr Y’s contribution to his care or managed his direct payment. There was fault in how the Council explained a change in 2019 and how it failed to respond to Mr X’s stage two complaint. This caused Mr X avoidable frustration, for which the Council agreed to apologise.

    Service improvements

    The Council agreed to review how it records and monitors complaints to ensure that it properly records and responds to all requests for escalation to the second stage of its complaints procedure.

  • Worcestershire County Council (21 014 866)

    Category: Education Date: 29-Aug-2022

    Summary

    Mr C complained about the home to school travel arrangements made by the Council for his son to get to school. He said the Council had not considered the safety of the route between his home and bus stops his son must use for the journey. We upheld the complaint, finding several flaws in how the Council dealt with this matter; most significantly in denying Mr C a right of appeal. He therefore suffered a missed opportunity to appeal and was put to unnecessary time and trouble. The Council accepts these findings and has agreed action to remedy this injustice.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to carry out a review of two clauses in its home to school transport policy. The first is to ensure it removes a reference that the Council cannot consider the safety of the route from home to designated bus drop-off and collection points as part of an appeal against a school transport offer. The second is to consider the role of its Customer Relations Officers in screening requests for home to school transport appeals at the second stage of that procedure. As matters stand both clauses appear incompatible with statutory Government guidance.The Council will revise its online appeal form for parents who want to appeal a home to school transport decision. This is to make clear they can appeal a decision about the transport offer made.The Council agreed to brief all relevant staff within the school transport service and its corporate complaints team on the procedural improvements agreed as a result of this investigation.

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