Case Ref: 21 007 033 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to identify learning points to take forward to prevent delays in complaint handling where a parent has ongoing Special Educational Needs and Disability tribunal appeals which are unrelated to the matters subject to the complaint.

Case Ref: 21 005 214 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will establish a clear policy relating to personalbudgets and direct payments. This will include clear and simple statements ofeligibility criteria and the decision-making processes. The policy will bepublished as part of the Council's Local Offer and made accessible to the public inaccordance with statutory guidance.
• The Council will provide formal training to all officers who are (i)responsible for making personal budget decisions and; (ii) responsible forrecording written decisions relating to personal budgets. The training willfocus on the new policy established and how decisions are to be properlymade and recorded to demonstrate good administrative practice in the future.
• At a senior level, the Council will review its systems and practiceswith respect to conducting reviews of personal budget decisions. Specifically,the Council will produce a template document informing parents of a personalbudget outcome. This will contain information relating to a right of review.Further, the Council will develop a robust review process. This will includethe timetable for completing a review and how the decision will be reviewed.The Council will implement a practice of sending parents an outcome letter ofthe review exercise which fully explains how the decision was reached. TheCouncil will adopt further measures it considers appropriate following a fullreview.

Case Ref: 21 001 931 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Provide guidance to staff to ensure that EHCP processes are managed to ensure, as far as practicable, that mediation and appeal rights are not compromised. Where it is foreseeable that this may occur, it should ensure letters about mediation and appeal rights include a warning about this to enable recipients to make informed decisions about how to proceed; and
• Provide guidance to staff to ensure that the Council follows its complaints policy in relation to acknowledging complaints and providing information about delays

Case Ref: 21 011 993 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will review itsHome to School Travel and Transport policy to ensure it provides clear information about: the tests it must apply when deciding whether to pay for transport/provide travel assistance; and where the Council decides the parental choice school is incompatible with the efficient use of resources, it will name both schools in the EHC plan along with the condition that the parent will pay for the transport costs tothe preferred school.
• The Council will review all transport appeal decisions, issued within the past 12 months, to check whetherthe same fault has occurred in other cases. If the Council identifies cases with the same fault, the Council should take appropriate steps to remedy the injustice caused by the faults identified. The Council will provide details tothe Ombudsman outlining the cases it has identified and a brief outline of the remedy provided.

Case Ref: 21 009 310 Category: Other Categories Sub Category: Other

• The Council will provide evidence it has: updated the Coroner's office operating procedures with mandatory tasks relating to communication with and disclosure of documents to families; developed staff training for all staff on case management, information sharing and updating bereaved families; and revised its complaint handling procedures within the Coroner's office and recruited additional staff for complaint handling.

Case Ref: 21 008 922 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will provide training or guidance to all staff who handle reviews of Education, Health and Care Plans to ensure they are aware of the need to meet timescales, avoid undue delay and decide on the parent’s preferred setting in line with the statutory guidance.

Case Ref: 21 007 850 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will arrange a training session for staff involved in this case (including members of the learning disability and autism team and information governance team about the Council's duties under the Human Rights Act 1998.

Case Ref: 21 006 640 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Looked after children

• The Council will amend its Children's Services policy to include a timescale for sending its records of supervised contact between parents and their children when the children are in foster care.

Case Ref: 21 001 012 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will identify why it cannot provide records of contacts with a complainant and if appropriate, take action to prevent recurrence. It will inform the Ombudsman of the outcome and any action taken.
• The Council will provide training or guidance to the officers that liaised with the complainant, to ensure they understand the Council’s duty to secure Education, Health and Care Plan provision and to act when made aware this is not being met.

Case Ref: 20 013 133 Category: Planning Sub Category: Enforcement

• The Council has agreed to amend its Planning Enforcement Policy as necessary so that its description of monitoring accurately reflects its practice.