Case Ref: 24 003 027 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• Within three months of the decision, the Council will review the causes of the delays identified and produce a plan to avoid a recurrence.

Case Ref: 24 000 559 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will remind social workers and their managers of the Council’s duties for people who are placed in the community settings and who lack mental capacity to make decisions about their care arrangements.

Case Ref: 23 021 071 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to review its procedures for withdrawing a personal budget and ensure that clear notification is given to a service user when the Council intends to withdraw a personal budget with full substantiated reasons and a right of review or appeal.

Case Ref: 23 019 868 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to provide training or guidance to relevant staff on the expectations of Chapter 21of the Homelessness Code of Guidance relating to gathering evidence and making inquiries about domestic abuse.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that the Homelessness Code of Guidance explicitly directs that the council should not approach alleged perpetrators of domestic abuse.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that if they are departing from the Code of Guidance, they should record detailed reasons for doing so in a particular case.

Case Ref: 23 019 552 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council will apologise to the 46 housing register applicants whose reviews of its priority decision were delayed between January and July 2024. The apologies should meet the standards set out in the Ombudsman's guidance on remedies.
• The Council will backdate the priority banding of the three housing register applicants whose reviews of the it's priority banding decision was delayed between January and July 2024 and ultimately upheld.
• The Council will review the template letter it uses for medical priority decisions and review outcomes. The review letter should ensure that where staff are refusing an application, they are prompted to explain, in enough detail, how they considered medical information and why the information was either discounted or insufficient to demonstrate a need for medical priority. The Council may want to consider the Ombudsman's recent focus report 'Medical assessments for housing applicants' as part of the review.
• The Council will remind housing staff that when a housing applicant says their health is being affected by disrepair in their property, they should share the details of its Environmental Services team, who can carry out hazard inspections.
• The Council will send the Ombudsman an action plan setting out how it will reduce the wait time for housing register priority banding reviews. The plan should set out the steps the Council will take, who will complete them and by when.

Case Ref: 23 018 987 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Transport

• The Council will remind staff in its parking and mobility services about the importance of sending all relevant evidence to the Council’s expert assessors for blue badge applications.

Case Ref: 23 017 744 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Disabled children

• The Council agreed to complete a review of the standard letters used by council officers when reviewing blue badge appeals and amend the standard wording to ensure that they are all clear, accurate and complete.

Case Ref: 23 015 732 Category: Other Categories Sub Category: Leisure and culture

• The Council will remind staff members working in its youth clubs to ensure notes are kept of meetings with parents, particularly where follow-up actions are agreed.
• The Council will remind officers dealing with complaints of the need to ensure the timescales set out in the Council’s complaints procedure are adhered to and that complainants are kept up to date when any delays occur.
• The Council will introduce a formal behavioural policy or review the existing risk assessment to include behavioural issues, how they will be managed, the options available and the means of challenging any decisions to exclude children for a period of time. When that is introduced the Council should carry out a training session for those working with young people in its youth centres.
• The Council will introduce a process to ensure the needs of children with special educational needs who access the Council’s youth services are recorded and to ensure a record is made of any reasonable adjustments required.

Case Ref: 23 015 396 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that refuge accommodation is not reasonable to continueto occupy beyond the short term and that therefore people living in refuges arehomeless for the purposes of part 7 of the Housing Act 1996.
• The Council has agreed to ensure any changes in allocated housing officer are communicated to theapplicant promptly, including contact details for the new officer.

Case Ref: 23 013 246 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• The Council will share the final decision with staff dealing with bin requests to highlight the need to properly communicate with service users and keep them informed of reasons for any delays.