Assessment Manual

7. Early Decisions – Cases forwarded for Investigation

All cases forwarded for investigation will be in jurisdiction. N&A will explain why we should start an Investigation, and any discretionary decisions made at that stage (e.g. 12-month discretion). Assessment staff should be explicit about any jurisdictional discretions they have exercised i.e. “s26B discretion exercised”. They also have the option of not making a decision, but noting “s26B discretion to be kept under review”.

This need not be a detailed analysis and is not intended to be a ‘screening’ note: but it should be sufficient to make sure the Investigation team receiving the complaint:

  • is clear about any formal decisions the investigator has made; and

  • can understand why the case has been passed for investigation.

We should not forward cases to IU which we could decide in AT with an extra document or two, the answer to a single question, or where the discretionary tests are not met. We must already have the BinJ’s responses to the original complaint in full, at the very least. And we should not pass cases to IU simply because we have a lot of information  which might take time to read; we should be able to skim it quickly and fillet what we need to reach a decision. We do not need to investigate because a complainant thinks we should or tries to insist on it; a complaint we pass to IU must pass the tests in the Assessment Code.

Once a case is with IU, there is significantly more work involved in deciding it properly, and we should avoid thinking marginal cases represent a ‘quick win’ for IU. We should decide cases in the appropriate LGSCO phase even if that means missing our published time target on occasion.

Some cases may involve wider public interest issues including injustice to other people if not to the complainant, or faults other than those in the complaint itself. For guidance on the use of our powers under s26D of the Act, and ‘A N Other’ complaints, see Casework Policy Forum guidance statement on 26D.

  • We must tell the complainant if we decide to investigate their complaint and record it in N&A.
  • We must also tell the BinJ; even if we have not already been in touch with it, the complainant may have, so it’s better that both parties know the status of the complaint here.
  • If we have been able to decide to forward the case to IU without any extra information, we should also use the template email or letter to ask the BinJ to send key documents such as:
  • full copies of complaints and responses
  • copies of Officer/Committee report for planning application (or link to the relevant website)
  • Planning or Environmental Health Enforcement policy and record of any enforcement visits
  • for Children Act statutory complaints procedure the Stage 2 IO and IP reports and Stage 3 panel meeting documents
  • The most recent Education Health and Care plans, any appeal applications, tribunal decisions or consent orders
  • Adult Social Care Assessments (inc Financial where relevant), Care and support plans, and case notes
  • Homelessness and/or housing applications, decisions and review requests and decisions.
  • However, if the case is urgent (see ‘out of turn allocations’ above), and we think it needs allocating more quickly in IU than the current usual time:
    • Mark ‘Urgent’ in ECHO (see below)
    • Set an immediate task for the AO/ITC to consider out of turn allocation
    • Do not request any documents when forwarding the case to IU as it will be allocated quickly and the investigator will make enquiries with a shorter reply date than usual. 
  • We should not chase BinJ responses, however, and should simply put any documents received onto the case file with the carrier email suitably named. If we receive an encrypted email or link from the BinJ, simply rename and transfer it to the case and task the relevant ITC to deal with access and downloading. Conversely if we have sent the enquiry by encrypted email and the BinJ has a problem handling it, the sender should take the necessary action in response. 
  • We should flag up cases which are suitable for new investigators by setting or adding a task (see below); they will generally be less complex, with reasonably clear issues of fault, injustice and remedy.
  • After forwarding a case to IU, if we receive new information which shows a case is actually premature, please set a task for the relevant ITC and AO so they can decide quickly how to proceed. 

 

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