Case Ref: 22 013 678 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will send written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of the Council’s duties under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to provide provision or suitable education for children of compulsory age who cannot attend school because of exclusion, medical reasons or otherwise.
• The Council will send written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of the statutory timescales to finalise an EHC plan after an annual review.
• The Council will send written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of the Council’s legal and non-delegable duty to secure the specified special educational provision in an EHC plan for the child or young person.

Case Ref: 22 010 138 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council will pass W’s case to a senior officer not previously involved with the decision to refuse provision. The officer will review the case and decide, in accordance with the law and guidance, which steps the Council will now take to ensure W’s attendance at school or otherwise. The Council will draw up a plan, to be shared with us, showing how it will deal with this case.
• The Council will improve the way it makes decisions about requests for alternative provision. This could be in the form of staff training or a briefing paper. As part of this, the Council will draw officers’ attention to the Section 19 duties, accompanying statutory guidance and the LGSCO’s focus report as referenced in paragraph 11 of this statement.
• The Council will set out a clear pathway for officers to follow when considering cases like W’s. The pathway will include how officers will take timely action to decide whether to take enforcement action for non-attendance, plan for re-integration into school, seek an alternative placement or alternative provision for medical or other reasons.

Case Ref: 22 011 913 Category: Planning Sub Category: Planning applications

• The Council could not provide evidence to show it had considered some of the main issues in a planning application. To remedy recurrence of the fault we found, the Council agreed to correct its records and record keeping practices by: uploading missing case officer reports referred to in our final decision to its planning website;ensure it has a system in place to check records, including case officer reports for accuracy and completeness; andensure case officer reports are available for the public to view on its website.

Case Ref: 22 002 184 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will advise staff in social care not to make blanket statements about the Council not funding 24-hour live-in care.

Case Ref: 21 017 771 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• Train all staff in the preparing for adulthood team on domestic abuse and the Council’s safeguarding responsibilities to those with eligible needs under the Care Act and their carers.
• Develop and disseminate a safeguarding procedure for the preparing for adulthood team. This should include making enquiries of other departments and agencies.

Case Ref: 21 016 005 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has also agreed to provide reminders / training to relevant staff regarding the appropriate officers to consider each stage of a formal complaint.

Case Ref: 21 009 799 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Housing benefit and council tax benefit

• The Council will review the information available on its website about the Discretionary Housing Payment scheme and provide clear information about the way it prioritises applications and handles the appeals process.
• The Council will instruct officers responsible for Discretionary Housing Payment awards to provide applicants with a written explanation of how they considered a person's circumstances when refusing an application or appeal.

Case Ref: 21 001 811 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Local welfare payments

• Take steps to ensure it can show how it has considered applications for discretionary housing payments.

Case Ref: 21 001 407 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Housing benefit and council tax benefit

• the Council has agreed to make the following service improvement: circulate guidance to staff on handling DHP applications that clearly explains: its change in practice following the reduction in Government funding and its referral process to the Housing Options team. This should include advice on the application of the DWP’s Good Practice Guidance (contained in Annex A) and guidance on decision-making when the applicant has a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. The Council should carry out an appropriate impact assessment, such as an Equality Impact Assessment, to inform this guidance and show how it has assessed the impact of any changes of practice on groups with protected characteristics.
• the Council has agreed to make the following service improvement: share this decision with relevant staff.