Case Ref: 20 007 920 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Direct payments

• The Council has agreed to remind staff of the need for transparency in determining support hours and to disclose the support hours tools calculations where requested.
• The Council has agreed to explain what action it has taken to prevent unnecessary delays in carrying out reassessments and agreeing and implementing revised budgets.
• The Council has agreed to review the practice of how and when direct payments are increased to determine if they should be raised annually in line with inflation or to recognise the requirement of the living/minimum wage.

Case Ref: 20 007 731 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Review its procedures for dealing with EHC plans to ensure they are in accordance with the SEND Code. The review should include procedures to: • ensure the delays experienced by Mr Y in issuing his EHC plan do not recur • ensure officers consider if they should hold an interim review in the event of a child/young person’s change of circumstances. • ensure provision set out in section F is delivered; • improve the Council’s record keeping by ensuring it has an audit trail of how it has dealt with a child’s/young person’s EHC plan including records of the annual reviews. The Council should provide a copy of its revised procedures to the Ombudsman and explain how it will improve its practice in this area.

Case Ref: 20 007 415 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to remind its officers to consider the planned move process when households are facing eviction and bed and breakfast accommodation is clearly not suitable, even on a short-term basis.
• The Council has agreed to remind its officers that where homeless families and vulnerable individuals are owed a section 188 interim accommodation duty or section 193(2) main housing duty, it should ensure they are not evicted through the enforcement of an order for possession as a result of a failure by the authority to make suitable accommodation available to them.
• The Council has confirmed that it will review the priority it awards to foster carers when it reviews its housing allocations policy.

Case Ref: 20 006 959 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind Special Educational Needs officers the legal duty to secure special educational provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan rests with the Council and cannot be delegated to settings.

Case Ref: 20 005 883 Category: Education Sub Category: COVID-19

• The Council will review its processes for a) checking it sends new and amended Education Health and Care Plans to education settings and that provision is being delivered; and b) ensuring Annual Review are completed on time, especially at key stages in the young person's education.

Case Ref: 20 005 601 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to: • by training or other means remind staff of the importance of meeting the Council’s complaint procedure timescales.

Case Ref: 20 005 579 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Parking and other penalties

• Remove reference from its policy and PCNs that it will not accept representationsto a PCN if a person pays the charge owed within the 14-day discounted period

Case Ref: 20 004 111 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will review its commissioning arrangements for Forward Carers and the Carer’s Hub to ensure mechanisms are in place to monitor whether statutory requirements under the Care Act 2014 are being met; andthere is an escalation procedure that alerts the Council if statutory requirements are not being met.

Case Ref: 20 002 950 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council was at fault for the way its Housing department dealt with an allegation of fraud and poor complaint handling. The Council has agreed to provide guidance to officers on how to deal with future allegations made by people with a vested interest in the outcome of an investigation, remind relevant officers of the need to provide written decisions about housing applications and that this should be accompanied by an explanation of the applicant's review rights; and remind relevant officers to provide responses to complaints in line with the Council’s complaints procedure including reference to a right to complain to the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 20 001 161 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• • Review how it approaches cases where a child is not attending school but is on roll.
• • It should show this decision to council officers dealing with cases of this nature and emphasise the importance of always taking appropriate action without delay when a child is out of education.