Case Ref: 22 002 119 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will complete its review of the policy and practiceof direct payments.

Case Ref: 22 001 375 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will provide training for Special Educational Needs Service staff involved with personal budgets.
• The Council will ensure its annual review documents have a dedicated section for personal budgets.
• The Council has agreed to develop a process to ensure it can complete Education Health and Care Plans (including details of any personal budget) in time, when faced with changes in staff.

Case Ref: 22 001 001 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review its processes to ensure it issues final EHC plans within statutory timescales and minimises delays, providing evidence this guidance has been sent to appropriate staff members.
• The Council will review its processes on how it takes action when professionals miss deadlines in providing advice for the EHCP assessment process, providing evidence this guidance has been sent to appropriate staff members.
• The Council will identify what key steps it will take to ensure it improves its complaints handling, providing evidence of this.

Case Ref: 22 000 603 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to remind its staff responsible for Education, Health and Care plans of the importance of fully considering comments on draft plans, adequately recording their consideration of comments and explaining to parents why it intends to make, or not make, changes as a result of any comments.

Case Ref: 22 000 324 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will establish a clear policy relating to personal budgets and direct payments. This will include clear and simple statements of eligibility criteria and the decision-making processes. The policy will be published as part of the Council's Local Offer and made accessible to the public in accordance 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 referred to above and how decisions are to be properlymade and recorded to demonstrate good administrative practice in the future.
• a) 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 personal budget 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 ful lreview.

Case Ref: 22 000 291 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of the Councils duty to decide whether to keep, cease or amend the EHC plan within four weeks of the review meeting, and to notify the parents in writing.

Case Ref: 22 000 263 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council should take action, at a senior level, to address the delays experienced by the complainant and review its complaints’ handling processes linked to education-related complaints. The Council should provide a report to the Ombudsman to confirm what it proposes to do.

Case Ref: 22 000 046 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• •Review its procedures to ensure recommendations made in its own complaint responses are regularly monitored to ensure timely and full compliance.
• •Review its EHCP annual review procedure to ensure it follows the statutory four-week timeframes set out in the SEND regulations. Ensure decisions about maintaining, amending or discontinuing plans are communicated clearly and promptly to the young person and their family to enable appeal rights to be engaged.

Case Ref: 21 018 132 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will share the learning identified during its investigation into her complaint about childrens services under the childrens statutory complaints procedure and remind staff of the importance of keeping proper and appropriate records of decision making by the childrens service resource panel.
• The Council will produce a printable or downloadable leaflet about parent carer assessments and make this publicly available.
• The council will complete improvements to information about parent carer assessments on its website.

Case Ref: 21 018 043 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council will review its arrangements for responding to complaints to see if further staffing resources are needed in the complaints team or in other service areas if staff there are responsible for complaint handling.