Case Ref: 19 013 381 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will ask its operator to remind its staff of the need to let the customer know when a contractor is on their way where the customer is not able to wait at home, and not to cancel calls without contacting the customer first.

Case Ref: 19 013 092 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Housing benefit and council tax benefit

• The Council will remind officers to classify notes regarding authorisations to discuss housing benefit claims as “important” so it is clear if someone has authorisation if they call the Council.

Case Ref: 19 012 992 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Responding to this investigation the Council said that it has now put in place robust mechanisms to ensure statutory timescales associated with EHC Plans are now met. It has agreed to provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the service improvements made to address the failings in process highlighted by this complaint, and to do so within three months.

Case Ref: 19 012 319 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council should review other cases where it took longer than eight weeks to review and then overturned original decisions. It should offer suitable remedies to those people along the same lines as the remedy for this complaint. It should provide a report to the Ombudsman setting out the work done.
• The Council should review its complaint-handling so it upholds and remedies such complaints itself.

Case Ref: 19 010 683 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind staff of the need to consider an emergency review of Education Health and Care plans if there is a significant change in young person’s circumstances.

Case Ref: 19 009 354 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council agreed it would remind staff of the requirement to send adult social care financial assessments to representatives who hold power of attorney for clients.

Case Ref: 19 008 737 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Highway repair and maintenance

• Issue a reminder to staff of the timescales for progressing highway defect reports and complaints about the service.

Case Ref: 19 008 715 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to remind staff of the need to keep contemporaneous records of all meetings.

Case Ref: 19 008 352 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council has agreed to provide a reminder to the care home staff about the importance of accurate record keeping.

Case Ref: 19 007 164 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council audits any upheld ASC complaints concluded over the previous 12 months which have not been escalated to the LGSCO, to ensure any recommendations have been properly implemented within two months of the date of the decision on the complaint.
• The Council puts in procedures to ensure that recommendations resulting from its own investigations are implemented fully and in a timely way within two months of the date of the decision on the complaint.