Case Ref: 22 003 384 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• Review its working practices to screen Care Match bids before they are forwarded to the client or their representative to ensure (a) they meet the person’s assessed care needs and (b) the person meets any of the provider’s admissions criteria relating to age, personal or nursing care or client group;
• Review the need for written advice to staff about searching for providers not currently registered on Care Match when the client has complex needs or is in a client group known to be particularly hard to place;
• Remind officers who investigate complaints about the importance of giving accurate information to service-users when they convey decisions about a request for a change of social worker.

Case Ref: 22 003 062 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to provide an update on the action it is taking to end the use of bed and breakfast as accommodation for homeless households. If the Council has not significantly reduced the length of time homeless families are staying in bed and breakfast accommodation since it last provided an update in April 2022, it will review its action plan and tell the Ombudsman what further steps it will take to address this issue.

Case Ref: 22 002 998 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council agreed to write to all people who asked for a review of their homelessness decision since March 2021 where the Council overturned its original decision outside the allowable time to complete a review. It should apologise for the delays in completing the review and tell those affected that they can complain if they believe any delays had an impact on them.
• The Council agreed to develop a plan to complete all outstanding homelessness reviews which have been waiting more than the maximum time allowed in law. It will share its plan with the Ombudsman and keep the Ombudsman updated on the process towards completing those reviews.
• The Council agreed to review its information sharing arrangements between its choice based letting scheme and the Council's housing team. It should consider whether it can better share information about decisions made by its homelessness team which affect applicants' priorities under the choice based letting scheme so that such priority changes are made as quickly as possible and the correct priority dates are used.

Case Ref: 22 002 927 Category: Planning Sub Category: Enforcement

• Remind those involved in responding to complaints of the stage one and stage two response deadlines.
• Review its procedure for investigating alleged breaches of planning to ensure these are completed without delay.
• Review its procedure for responding to member enquiries. It should consider whether it should send responses to both the councillor and the person they are representing.

Case Ref: 22 001 700 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will create an action plan to ensure where a change of caseworker is necessary for children with education, health and care plans that decisions, reasons and actions about the plan are accurately and thoroughly recorded and followed through by the following caseworker.

Case Ref: 22 001 224 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to provide training and/or guidance to its officers about the duty to provide interim accommodation. The Council should ensure officers are aware that the legal test for having 'reason to believe' someone is or may be homeless is very low, and if the Council needs to make enquiries to establish if a person is homeless, there must be a reason to believe they may be homeless and so the interim accommodation duty applies.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant officers of the importance of clear record keeping and responding to correspondence in a timely manner.

Case Ref: 22 000 363 Category: Housing Sub Category: Other

• The Council will provide an updated action plan to show the action it has taken and continues to take to reduce delays in dealing with housing allocation applications and review requests.
• The Council will review its process for identifying cases where there is an urgent move, for example, because the applicant's accommodation is unsafe due to the risks of domestic violence, to ensure that such applications are prioritised.

Case Ref: 21 018 614 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council should explain what action it has taken to ensure service users receive continuity of care, when their social worker takes extended leave.
• The Council should (jointly with the Trust and ICB) review the ‘S117 Mental Health Aftercare Funding ApplicationProcess’ and the Memorandum of Understanding. Each organisation should ensure those policies do notcontradict each other and ensure service users receiving PHBs for their Section117 aftercare do not experience similar fault.
• The Council should ensure relevant staff are aware of the local policy to assess/review PHBs for service users receiving Section 117 aftercare.

Case Ref: 21 018 573 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Pollution

• Seek legal advice on the implications of the Environment Act 2021 for investigating complaints of smoke nuisance and consider how it should investigate such complaints in light of that advice.

Case Ref: 21 018 334 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Council tax support

• The Council has agreed to:•by training or other means remind staff of the importance of:omanaging council tax accounts in a timely and efficient manneroensuring it communicates effectively with taxpayersofollowing the Council’s complaint handling process and procedures
• •review and ensure the Council’s communication strategy(s) is clear and effective between its various departments. For instance, between Revenue Services and Benefit Services. This is to ensure taxpayers’ concerns are dealt with appropriately, effectively and in a timely manner.