Service improvements

Worcestershire 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 1 - 4 of 4 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 (23 008 082)

    Category: Education Date: 05-Dec-2023

    Summary

    Miss X complained the Council failed to amend her son, Y’s Education, Health and Care plan, to provide an appropriate school placement, and to deliver the content of his plan since March 2022. There was fault in the Council’s actions. The Council agreed to pay Miss X £11,300 to recognise the four and a half terms of education and specialist provision Y has missed and to remedy the frustration and distress caused to her and Y.

    Service improvements

    The Council will remind relevant staff that it must issue a final amended Education, Health and Care plan within eight weeks of a review, in line with the statutory guidance.The Council will review how it consults schools where a child needs a change of placement to ensure it makes sufficient and timely consultations. The Council will produce an action plan with timescales for any improvements it identifies.The Council will present the Ombudmsan's investigation that found it had failed to provide education and specialist provision to a child, and its complaints policy not to provide a financial payment to remedy lost education or provision, at a relevant scrutiny committee meeting for discussion.

  • Worcestershire County Council (23 003 935)

    Category: Education Date: 28-Feb-2024

    Summary

    Ms X complained the Council took her son, Z, off roll at his school despite failing to arrange any alternative provision for him. Ms X also said the Council’s communication with her was poor. The Council was at fault. This fault caused Ms X and Z a period of distress and significant uncertainty regarding whether Z could have had a better educational experience than he did between July 2022 and May 2023. In recognition of the injustice caused, the Council has agreed to apologise, pay Ms X and Z £600 and carry out service improvements.

    Service improvements

    The Council has agreed to remind its Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) staff that they must send their proposed changes to Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans for comments within 4 weeks of the annual review meeting.The Council has agreed to remind its SEND staff that EHC plans should be finalised within 12 weeks of annual review meetings.The Council has agreed to remind its SEND staff of the importance of carrying out the actions it says it will take following annual reviews.The Council has agreed to remind its SEND staff that where parents need advice regarding processes that are new to them such as personal budgets and Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS), this advice should be provided to them.

  • Worcestershire County Council (22 018 099)

    Category: Education Date: 28-Nov-2023

    Summary

    There was a five month delay in the Council completing an assessment for an Education, Health and Care plan, which in turn delayed when a child could start at their specialist school. There was also a failure to provide suitable fulltime alternative education promptly, at the right level, or to carry out reviews to increase the education on offer. This caused loss of education as well as distress, frustration, inconvenience, time and trouble. The Council will apologise and make symbolic payments to the child and parent carer.

    Service improvements

    The Council will consider recent statutory guidance on school attendance and absence due to mental health reasons and consider if changes to its guidance, training or approach are required to reflect this.

  • Worcestershire County Council (22 015 567)

    Category: Education Date: 09-Nov-2023

    Summary

    Mrs X complained about the Council’s failure to provide her son with suitable education after his exclusion from school in April 2022. We have found fault because the Council failed to deliver suitable education. Mrs X has suffered avoidable frustration and distress in getting the issues resolved and her son missed out on education he should have received. To remedy the injustice caused by the fault, the Council has agreed to apologise, make a payment to Mrs X and provide guidance to relevant officers.

    Service improvements

    The Council will share the Ombudsman’s guidance on the principles of good administrative practice with Special Educational Needs team officers. This will remind them of the need for accurate and timely record keeping as a future evidence base and to communicate in a timely and effective manner with those concerned.The Council will remind officers dealing with Special Educaiotnal Needs complaints of the need to handle these in line with the Council’s published policy and timescales and share the Ombudsman’s guidance on effective complaint handling for local authorities with them. This will help to ensure complaints are dealt with in a timely, accurate and effective manner.

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