Case Ref: 23 009 190 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will remind adult social care staff dealing with Mental Capacity Assessments and Care and Support Needs Assessments of the importance of keeping proper records of their decisions.

Case Ref: 23 009 090 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Other

• The Council failed to offeradvice and support about securing a new tenancy when the person was at risk ofviolence. The Council will share the decision with staff in its allocations anddiscretionary housing payments teams so they can learn from what went wrong inthis case and prevent a recurrence of the failure of the teams to worksufficiently closely.
• The Council will remind all staff of the importance of considering reasonable adjustments where service users have a disability, and of recording how this has been considered, particularly where a request for adjustments has been made.

Case Ref: 23 009 052 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to update its ‘3 Conversations’ care assessment guidance to ensure the adult social care team are aware of its anticipatory duty to provide reasonable adjustments.
• The Council has agreed to review its procedure to ensure adult social care service users are routinely asked or prompted to decide whether reasonable adjustments are necessary and correctly record them once reasonable adjustments are agreed.

Case Ref: 23 008 929 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Council tax

• The Council will consider the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman's Effective apology guidance and ensure the complaints team are aware of this guidance.

Case Ref: 23 008 848 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• Review its Safe Working Procedure to ensure it reflects current safe working practices.

Case Ref: 23 007 017 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• Remind all officers who carry out stage 1 appeals and stage 2 school transport appeal panels, and those who send decision letters of the requirement to consider all of the evidence presented and properly record and evidence how it reached the decision, in line with statutory guidance.

Case Ref: 23 005 066 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• Ask its commissioned alternative provider(s) to inform the Council when its placement reaches full capacity. This is to ensure the Council retains sufficient oversight of its commissioned alternative provision.
• Review and monitor the Council’s alternative provision process. Provide the Ombudsman with an action plan to demonstrate how the Council will meet statutory timescales for providing children who are unable to attend school with alternative provision in line with section 19 of the Education Act 1996
• Finalise the Council’s draft policy on ‘Education for pupils unable to attend school for medical reasons’. The Council should publish the final copy of the policy on its website and send a copy to the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 23 003 615 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Other

• The Council will remind officers they should provide the correct reasons for refusal for a footway crossing when sending a decision to an applicant.

Case Ref: 23 003 569 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Direct payments

• The Council has agreed to take action to ensure officers make complete and accurate records in future.
• The Council has agreed to consider what action to take to make the process of recruiting a PA more streamlined and less bureaucratic.
• The Council has agreed to identify the action it is going to take to ensure communication between it and the support agency is improved and that the recruitment of PAs is not delayed in the way it was for Mr Y.

Case Ref: 23 003 084 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council failed to offer advice and support about securing a new tenancy when the person was at risk of violence. The Council will share the decision with staff in its allocations and discretionary housing payments teams so they can learn from what went wrong in this case and prevent a recurrence of the failure of the teams to work sufficiently closely.