Case Ref: 23 014 145 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Rights of way

• The Council will complete a review of its handling of a report of an obstruction on a public right of way. It will explain what action it will take to prevent a recurrence of the delays identified in this complaint.

Case Ref: 23 013 768 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• Provide a list of alternative education providers that can be considered in the future to ensure that ‘lack of placements’ is not a reason for not delivering alternative provision.

Case Ref: 23 013 763 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Domiciliary care

• The Council has agreed to remind officers they should consider complaints regarding commissioned local adult care providers in accordance with the Council’s policy.
• The Council has agreed to remind officers they should make referrals to the safeguarding team for consideration when a person reports neglect by a local adult care provider.

Case Ref: 23 012 033 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Safeguarding

• The Council should:-a) remind staff either by a staff circular or team meetings about the importance of reviewing care packages within the statutory periods, or more regularly if needed;
• b) remind staff either by a staff circular or team meetings about the duty to offer suitable alternative accommodation when it has identified both relief and main housing duties.

Case Ref: 23 009 624 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will share the findings the Ombudsman's investigation and our focus report Out of school, out of sight? with relevant officers. This is to emphasise the Council's Section 19 responsibilities and identify wider points of learning.
• The Council will remind relevant officers of the timescales that apply when the SEND Tribunal decides the Council must complete an Education, Health and Care needs assessment.
• The Council will review the processes it has in place for seeking Occupational Therapy assessments for Education, Health and Care Plans, to identify and address any avoidable delays in these procedures.

Case Ref: 23 009 328 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed that it will issue a reminder to relevant staff of the need to ensure there are contemporaneous written records of the reasons for decisions on the suitability of education and whether it is reasonably available and accessible to the child.

Case Ref: 23 003 073 Category: Planning Sub Category: Enforcement

• The Council was at fault for delay in beginning planning enforcement action and referring nuisance issues to environmental health officers. To reduce the chances of the fault happening again the Council agreed to review its service provision, practices and policy. It will review the adequacy of its enforcement policy and consider setting clear expectations and guidance to inform the public and its officers on how it will prioritise individual cases.

Case Ref: 23 001 505 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council will remind officers of the importance of keeping proper, suitable records. It will ask its officers to review the Ombudsman's Principles of Good Administrative Practice when issuing this reminder.
• The Council will remind relevant officers the Council may engage the relief housing duty immediately, if it believes an applicant cannot reasonably remain in occupation in their current accommodation.
• The Council has agreed to review the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation at senior officer level, to identify wider points of learning.
• The Council will update its published housing allocations scheme document to reflect the change in priority banding it introduced in 2022 for applicants owed the main housing duty. This will bring the published scheme in line with updated information published on the Council's website.

Case Ref: 22 014 215 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council will review its practice to make sure there is a written record of the Council telling parents of the consequences of deregistering their child from the school roll. The Council should get parents to sign this to prove the Council has explained this.