Case Ref: 23 018 882 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council should send written reminders to relevant staff of the Council’s responsibilities under Section 19 of the Education Act when it is made aware a child is not attending school. With these reminders, it should share a copy of our “Out of school, out of sight? focus report, highlighting key points to ensure officers are aware of the factors they should consider when a request for alternative provision is made.

Case Ref: 23 016 795 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Council tax

• Explain what it will do to ensure that correct exemptions and discounts are applied at the earliest convenience.

Case Ref: 23 013 772 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to remind staff of the guidance for closing cases due to non-engagement
• The Council will remind staff of its responsibility to provide interim accommodation at the outset, and when 'homeless at home' arrangements may be suitable for an applicant and the correct process to follow, if there is reason to believe an application may be in priority need.

Case Ref: 23 013 280 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council has committed to create a transport policy for adult social care uses and remind officers to complete annual reviews and transport assessments when needed.

Case Ref: 23 011 982 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• Within three months of the date of my final decision statement the Council agreed to:Review its market shaping and commissioning procedures for community adult social care providers to minimise delays in sourcing care providers. It will ensure it has processes in place to meet its duties as set out in the Care Act 2014 and associated statutory guidance.

Case Ref: 23 004 931 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to review its record keeping procedures to ensure officers keep a clear record of their decisions about whether education provision is accessible to a child out of school and whether it owes a duty under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to make alternative education provision.

Case Ref: 23 006 942 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Consider what went wrong in this case and whether there are any changes the Council could make to its procedures to ensure it takes steps sooner to put in place the provision in an Education, Health and Care plan following a decision from the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability).

Case Ref: 23 004 544 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will remind all officers who carry out and sit at 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: 23 003 459 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind officers dealing with reviews of EHCPs of the need to follow the process set out in the code of practice even if there is an outstanding appeal in relation to an earlier EHCP.
• The Council will remind officers dealing with special educational needs complaints of the need to comply with complaint timescales, particularly when it does not intend to pursue the complaint further due to an appeal. The Council should also remind those officers to check if there are separable parts of the complaint, unrelated to an appeal, which can be dealt with under the Council’s complaints procedure.

Case Ref: 22 017 779 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Safeguarding

• The Council agreed to review its administrative processes for handling adult safeguarding concerns to establish why it failed to consider one of the safeguarding concerns raised in this case. It will then issue internal guidance to relevant staff to prevent reoccurrence of this issue.
• The Council agreed to share our final decision with relevant adult safeguarding staff to ensure they are aware of the Ombudsman’s findings in this case. It will ensure staff are aware of the Council’s learning points from our decision and the importance of:clear and accurate record-keeping, including recording decision reasons;keeping to timescales, monitoring delays, and keeping the subject of the safeguarding concern and/or their representative(s) informed; communicating outcomes to the subject and/or their representative(s); andproperly checking Council records when responding to complaints about adult safeguarding to ensure Council complaint responses are accurate based on its records and evidence.