Case Ref: 22 005 725 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Friends and family carers

• The Council agreed to remind relevant officers who sit on review panels for Special Guardianship Allowance payments to ensure their reports and conclusions accurately reflect the evidence submitted by appellants and explain their reasons.

Case Ref: 22 005 552 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council has agreed to ensure clear information, in writing, is provided about the potential for future care charges by the Council’s hospital based social workers when patients are discharged into residential care from hospital.
• The Council has agreed to ensure the factsheet on charging for residential care is provided at the same time as the Council carries out a needs assessment for residential care so that people are made aware of the potential charges as soon as possible.

Case Ref: 22 002 850 Category: Education Sub Category: School admissions

• The Council has agreed to:•by training or other means remind panels of the need to consider and satisfy themselves at stage 1 that the admission arrangements were correctly applied, in line with statutory guidance
• •by training or other means remind clerks of the need to record robust and clear reasons for the panel’s decision at both stages of the appeal process.

Case Ref: 21 019 049 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council has agreed to:•provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the Council’s implementation of its new online financial assessments after its introduction in April 2023 (next financial year)
• •provide the Ombudsman with an explanation and evidence of how the Council will monitor the performance of its new online financial assessment process to ensure service users are notified of any changes in their care fees contributions in a timely manner.

Case Ref: 21 014 061 Category: Housing Sub Category: Private housing

• the Council has also agreed to circulate a reminder to relevant staff about ensuring people are routinely asked or prompted about any reasonable adjustments. The service should not wait for the person to tell them what adjustments they require. This reminder should include information on how the Council expects decisions on reasonable adjustments to be communicated to the individual.

Case Ref: 21 012 182 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council has reviewed its school transport policy, which now complies with Government guidance.

Case Ref: 21 010 361 Category: Planning Sub Category: Planning applications

• The Council will provide additional training and support to all officers with material involvement in the planning application’s determination. The training and support provided should focus on the areas of fault identified in the final decision statement.

Case Ref: 21 008 663 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council's transport appeal arrangements are not in line with Government Guidance, the Council should consider this as part of its current review of its home to school transport policy.

Case Ref: 21 007 640 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council should ensure relevant staff are aware of the importance of effective communication with service users and carers, regarding decisions about their care and support.

Case Ref: 21 005 240 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Council tax support

• The Council will remind staff of its council tax reduction published process and the need to give clear reasons for the decisions they make.