Case Ref: 22 010 826 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council agreed to provide a copy of the action plan it agreed to do on a reported case (22 007 276) by June 2023. The action plan will be based on learning from that case and a wider review of the homelessness service of how it will ensure it can meet its statutory duties to homeless applicants.
• The Council agreed to identify why the review request sent in November 2021 was not located for about five months and act to ensure this cannot happen on future cases.
• The Council agreed to review why failings in the complaints process happened and act to ensure these cannot happen on future cases.

Case Ref: 22 010 472 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Look at what went wrong in this case and why there were significant delays in amending the child's Education, Health and Care plan. The Council should consider what steps it will put in place to prevent delays like this occurring in the future. The Council should report back to the Ombudsman what measures it intends to introduce.

Case Ref: 22 005 821 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• the Council has agreed to review its policies and procedures for deciding whether it is required to make alternative provision where it knows a child is no longer able to attend school and making the alterative provision promptly.
• the Council has agreed to review its policies and procedures for ensuring annual reviews are completed within the required timescalesand its SEN officers are aware of these timescales and their importance.

Case Ref: 22 005 213 Category: Housing Sub Category: Private housing

• The Council will remind relevant officers in its Tenancy Sustainment Team of their responsibilities to seek evidence when tenants contact them to advise of properties that they say have poor conditions. Officers need to consider if further investigation is needed into whether the conditions were such that the property might be unfit for human habitation. They should routinely follow up enquiries and liaise as needed with, for example, the tenant, the Council’s Private Sector Housing Team and homelessness team.
• The Council will remind relevant officers in its Private Sector Housing Team of the need for accurate, complete and contemporaneous records. And the need to consider whether any advice or support needs a written confirmation or follow-up.

Case Ref: 22 004 656 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will review its direct payment process to ensure agreements are properly completed with the relevant financial information before signing.
• The Council will put in place arrangements to regularly review direct payment agreements to ensure they are being correctly managed and take prompt action as may be appropriate if this is not the case.
• The Council will review its financial assessment procedures to ensure assessments are regularly reviewed, a proper record is kept of all assessments and any client contribution is properly notified.
• The Council will review its systems to identify how a failure to pay an assessed client contribution was not highlighted for several years and take such action as necessary to ensure this does not recur.

Case Ref: 22 013 056 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• Investigate why its service failure continued after its complaint response acknowledging fault and provide a report to the Ombudsman detailing the outcomes, together with any service improvement actions it proposes to take.

Case Ref: 22 008 234 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to demonstrate that it has reminded Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) staff of the deadlines around Education Health and Care needs assessments and issuing draft and final Education Health and Care Plans.
• The Council's communication and complaint handling was poor when considering an Education Health and Care Plan. The Council has agreed to show its complaint handling team this case and remind complaint handling staff that their complaint responses should assess what has gone wrong, explain what has gone wrong to complainants and seek to remedy any injustice caused by the Council where possible.

Case Ref: 22 006 830 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• Prepare a briefing for relevant staff on the Equality Act, the public sector equality duty, and the need to consider and make reasonable adjustments.

Case Ref: 22 001 497 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to consider whether previous domestic abuse means a housing applicant is vulnerable, and record how it has considered this.

Case Ref: 22 000 866 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to ensure its managing agents have arrangements in place for individual billing of utilities when placing residents in temporary accommodation with communal areas.