Case Ref: 24 004 159 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• Issue a reminder to all staff about the Council's recording policy and the need to respond to emails in a timely manner.

Case Ref: 24 002 523 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review its process for securing special educational provision, such as speech and language therapy and occupational therapy, which cannot be delivered within a mainstream school setting and ensure there is a system in place to secure provision and funding without delay.

Case Ref: 24 000 853 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to carry out a lessons learned review to understand why there were such significant delays in finalising a child's Education Health and Care Plan, implementing the funding for their teaching assistant, and in consulting specialist school placements.
• The Council has agreed, following its lessons learned review, to make an action plan setting out what steps will be taken to prevent these delays occurring for children and parents in future.

Case Ref: 23 021 496 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the service improvements it said it had made as a result of the experience the complainant had received.

Case Ref: 23 021 144 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Remind relevant staff of the importance of ensuring all specialist provision/therapy in Section F of Education, Health and Care Plans are secured and delivered to the child/young person to meet their special educational needs.
• Remind relevant staff of the importance of providing people with updates about any outstanding Education, Health and Care Plan matters. The Council should communicate information effectively and in a timely manner to prevent complaints.

Case Ref: 23 021 046 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind relevant staff that they do not need a parent's consent to consider and act on safeguarding concerns about a child or young person.

Case Ref: 23 020 951 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to remind officers they should ensure the correct right of appeal information is provided in decision letters following Panel decisions on Education, Health and Care Plans.

Case Ref: 23 019 879 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Provide training and guidance to staff about the importance of adhering to the statutory timescales in completing EHC Plan reviews and issuing the relevant notification letters as part of this process.
• Provide training to staff about the importance of accurate record keeping. The Council should also remind its Occupational Therapist teams and Physiotherapist teams about the importance of keeping records of the lengths of visits where timescales are specified in the EHC Plan.

Case Ref: 23 019 472 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to provide guidance to relevant staff regarding unofficial exclusions and off-site directions. It will include details of the actions they should take if they become aware that a school has unofficially excluded a pupil or is not following the guidance in relation to off-site directions.
• The Council has agreed to remind members of the EHC Plan Governance Board to fully explain the reasons for its decisions.
• The Council has agreed to provide guidance to staff on what they should do if none of the schools it consults will offer a child a place.
• The Council has agreed to ensure reasons are provided when staff write to parents with the Council’s decision to not amend an EHC Plan, against the recommendation of the school.

Case Ref: 23 019 324 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will ensure consultations are sent to parental preference schools and decisions with reasons are issued to parents in a timely manner in accordance with the requirements in the Act.