Case Ref: 20 004 319 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will send a reminder to officers that handovers need to take place between carer agencies and a carer assessment must be completed when a carer asks for one.

Case Ref: 20 006 260 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Domiciliary care

• Remind relevant adult social care staff of the importance of providing people using services, or a representative on their behalf, with information regarding paying for care, potential care charges, and the administrative charge where applicable. Information about the administrative charge will always be applicable where the Council is arranging care for someone who may be a full cost payer so it should ensure it draws attention to this so people can make an informed decision on whether to arrange their own care instead.

Case Ref: 20 003 690 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council agreed to issue a written briefing note to officers in the Housing Options service to remind them of: a) the need to make a written record of interviews and other significant contact with applicants; b) the legal threshold for taking a homelessness application and making inquiries; c) the duty to consider and respond to an applicant’s request for accommodation pending the outcome of a review.
• The Council will review all the letter templates currently in use to ensure they include a paragraph informing applicants of their right to request a review of homelessness decisions and the relevant timescale for doing so;

Case Ref: 19 016 743 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• Approve a procedure for the consideration of prosecutions for illegal evictions and ensure housing options and legal staff are aware of the procedure and how to use it.

Case Ref: 19 014 754 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will arrange for officers handling complaints about children’s social care to receive training in the statutory complaints process.
• Once officers have undergone training, the Council will review all complaints about children’s services received in the previous 12 months. It will consider whether it has correctly identified those which should be investigated under the statutory complaints procedure. If the Council decides it has investigated complaints under the wrong procedure, it will consider offering an independent investigation to any complainants who remain dissatisfied. It will report the findings from its review and any resulting actions to the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 19 014 457 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council is asked to tell me how it will ensure complaints are signposted to the right procedure in the future.

Case Ref: 19 010 475 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• Remind staff of the importance of promptly giving an indicative personal budget, and information to assist people in finding suitable, available social care accommodation. Remind staff that someone is not a self-funder unless they have over the current financial threshold available to fund their care, this is not the case if they have a property to sell and no other financial assets.

Case Ref: 19 009 122 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Adoption

• In conjunction with an agency that delivers adoption services on its behalf, the Council will introduce the offer of a meeting with any prospective adoptive parent whose application falls at Stage One of the process and issue a reminder to officers on the ingredients that should go into any letter sent at that point.
• In conjunction with an agency that delivers adoption services on its behalf, the Council will review the information provided about the extent of information needed from prospective adoptive parents at Stage One of the process; both in those procedures published on its website and in the information pack given to prospective adopters

Case Ref: 18 012 871 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Transition from childrens services

• The Council has agreed to review its care and support planning to ensure that all users of services to whom it provides services under the Care Act 2014 have a care and support plan on their case file. This will focus on records kept by its learning disabled adults team to ensure such documentation is on all files by the time they are next annually reviewed. The Council will also consider providing additional internal advice and training to ensure relevant staff know of their duties in this area
• The Council has also agreed to review its transitional planning when young adults are moving from one care setting to another; for example, from one residential placement to another, or from home to residential or to supported living or any combination of the above. It will consider introducing ‘action plans’ that clearly set out who will do what and by when, which can be shared with users of services so there is clarity and transparency about the process.

Case Ref: 19 009 786 Category: Planning Sub Category: Enforcement

• The Council will confirm what actions will be taken to improve planning enforcement case handling and complaint handling.