Case Ref: 24 000 438 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they understand the Council’s legal and non-delegable duty to provide a child or young person with the special educational provision set out in section F of an EHC Plan.
• The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they understand the Council’s duty to provide full-time education where a child cannot attend school because of exclusion, medical reasons or otherwise.

Case Ref: 23 021 195 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to remind officers of the importance of notifying homelessness applicants of the correct homelessness duty and ensuring the Council accepts and ends the correct duties at relevant times.
• The Council has agreed to remind housing officers of the importance of making the main housing duty after 56 days, only extending this in the specific circumstances in line with the Homelessness Code of guidance.
• The Council has agreed to review its processes to ensure Personalised Housing Plans are reviewed in a timely manner and appropriate oversight is maintained of homelessness cases where the relief duty extends over 56 days.

Case Ref: 23 018 496 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• Remind relevant staff of the importance of effective complaint handling.
• Remind staff of the importance of keeping records of all actions, including property inspections.
• Provide training or guidance to all relevant staff of the Council’s responsibilities to homeless applicants and those in insanitary private rented accommodation.

Case Ref: 23 011 115 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will remind relevant officers of the need to check that measurements for non-emergency property repairs have been submitted and that this information is checked when residents ask for progress updates. This will help to ensure that any errors in submitting measurements are identified quickly.
• The Council will remind relevant officers and managers they can exercise discretion to speed up non-emergency property repairs if the reason for any delay is down to error by the Council. This will help to ensure repairs are completed as quickly as possible.

Case Ref: 23 010 491 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council will issue written reminders to relevant officers to ensure they fully address all the issues raised in a complaint within the timescales set out in the complaints policy.

Case Ref: 23 009 245 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour

• Review its policy to ensure it makes reference to a right of appeal, as set out the ASB case review guidance.

Case Ref: 23 008 825 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to share a copy of this decision with staff in the relevant departments toidentify learning from this complaint.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff to check for and respond to duty to refer forms.
• The Council has agreed to provide training or guidance to relevant staff on the duty to make inquiries andaccept any resulting homelessness duty regardless of the applicant’s existingtenure if it has reason to believe they might be homeless or threatened withhomelessness.
• The Council has agreed to produce information or guidance for homeless applicants who are also securetenants in social housing setting out their housing options and theimplications for their tenancy of pursuing a homeless application.

Case Ref: 23 007 708 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to remind its housing staff that where they decide to depart from a legal duty, such as treating an applicant as not in priority need for housing when it has reason to believe they are, that it send this decision to the applicant in writing and seek their agreement.
• The Council has agreed to remind its housing staff to record notes from its phone conversations with housing applicants on the same day as the conversation occurs to ensure reliability.
• The Council has agreed to demonstrate it has taken steps to improve its capacity to respond promptly to homeless applicants and ensure it does not miss important information through messages.
• The Council has agreed to demonstrate that it has looked into what led to its delays in the following areas and considered how to prevent these occurring in future:• processing the initial homelessness application;• deciding it owed a relief duty; and• deciding it owed a main housing duty.

Case Ref: 23 007 488 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council will review how it deals with requests to review housing priority decisions. It should provide an updated action plan showing the actions it is taking to reduce delays and how this will be monitored.

Case Ref: 23 006 728 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council should review its housing allocations process to ensure measures are in place for progressing medical assessments in a timely manner and for ways to deal with any delays.