Case Ref: 23 017 736 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to review the faults identified in this case and produce an action plan for steps it will take to ensure it:carries out Education, Health, and Care (EHC) needs assessments within statutory timescales, including where it concedes an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) about its decision not to carry out an assessment;properly considers its duty under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to provide alternative education as soon as it is aware a child is out of school, properly records its considerations, and keeps arrangements under review;meets its duty to immediately secure the special educational needs (SEN) provision in a final EHC Plan. This includes proper consideration of to what extent it can deliver the Plan where a child is out of school; andcommunicates properly with families of SEN children where they raise concerns and queries, and responds in good time.
• The Council agreed to issue a reminder to staff that respond to complaints about its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) service, about the importance of apologising to complainants where the Council accepts fault.

Case Ref: 23 010 996 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to provide training / reminders to relevant staff of the need to provide clear advice and explanations of the process to be followed when an increased care package is requested. And of the need to fully document the advice given.

Case Ref: 22 017 466 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council failed to identify a school for a child, failed to ensure the child received the provision in their Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan, and has failed to issue a final Plan following the child's annual review. The Council has agreed to review this case and prepare an action plan setting out how it will ensure: annual reviews are carried out on time and, where it decides to amend an EHC Plan, the final Plan is issued within 12 weeks of an annual review meeting; andit retains oversight of children out of school not receiving education.

Case Ref: 22 017 137 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• In this case a hospital referred an elderly patient to the Council to consider what support he might need when he left hospital. We found the Council closed its case too soon, without having suitable discussions with the family about the available options and the financial implications of each. The Council agreed it would share the learning from this case with all of its staff that are involved in hospital discharge planning.

Case Ref: 23 006 153 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council failed to investigate a complaint about the level of care being provided by a care home. The Council will discuss this with the monitoring team and establish what action is required to address the failings by the care home and will follow this up with monitoring visits.
• The Council will consider lessons learned in respect of complaint investigation.

Case Ref: 23 003 205 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• By training or other means, remind officers that they should review the homelessness duty owed in the event of a change of circumstances to decide if an applicant has become homeless and the Council owes a different duty.
• Review its procedures to ensure officers consider identifying and offering interim or temporary accommodation to applicants with pets that can accommodate their pet. This is to ensure the Council complies with paragraph 17.67 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance.

Case Ref: 23 001 344 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council agreed to brief relevant social care staff on the importance of taking account of information provided by third parties when assessing a client's social care needs and showing it has done so. For example, information that might be provided by a relative or a care agency supporting the client.

Case Ref: 23 001 178 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Fostering

• The Council has agreed to reflect on the issues raised in this decision statement and identify any areas of service improvement in complaint handling, particularly around making appropriate enquiries where there is a conflict of evidence. The Council should prepare a short report setting out what the Council intends to do to ensure similar problems do not reoccur. This report should be sent to the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 22 017 101 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Safeguarding

• When the Council investigated this complaint it accepted there had been failings and said it had given feedback to staff with the intention of improving performance and preventing recurrences. The Council should complete proportionate work to check whether there have been improvements in these areas.

Case Ref: 22 016 722 Category: Planning Sub Category: Building control

• We found fault in that the Council did not have evidence to show it tested a drain connection or keep proper records of its Building Regulations inspection. The Council agreed to review practices and procedures and use of document management systems to avoid recurrence of the fault.The Council agreed to report the findings of its review to the Ombudsman and the relevant scrutiny committee.