Case Ref: 25 005 166 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council initially failed to accept responsibility for a complaint. It should review its handling of the case (either individually or with an NHS Trust it works in partnership with) as a learning tool. The Council should look for specific, measurable and realistic serviceimprovements to the way it considers and addresses complaints about integratedservices.

Case Ref: 24 022 868 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• remind officers that housing decision letters should set out what evidence has been considered

Case Ref: 24 020 246 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review how it completes reviews of Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans and identify any improvements it needs to make to that process to ensure it is still able to complete reviews within the legal time frames when a parent or young person makes a request for Education Other Than At School during the EHC Plan review process. It will provide us with a copy of a timebound action place to make any improvements it has identified.

Case Ref: 24 017 980 Category: Planning Sub Category: Building control

• Remind relevant staff of the importance of providing timely updates to complainants.

Case Ref: 23 018 073 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to identify the action it is going to take to ensure people are not charged for support they are not yet receiving, and people do not have to wait months for their support to be put in place.

Case Ref: 23 017 268 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Council tax

• The Council will provide feedback to its council tax team on how it can improve the way it deals with vulnerable customers
• The Council has agreed to ensure that enforcement action for council tax debts is placed on hold in future when there is a complaint ongoing

Case Ref: 23 009 086 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council should review its process for dealing with disagreements about financial assessment outcomes to make any changes needed.
• The Council should inform adult social care staff of the process for dealing with financial assessment disagreements, including how they should inform service users of the process available.

Case Ref: 23 003 789 Category: Education Sub Category: School admissions

• The Council has agreed that it will issue a reminder to clerks that they must take detailed notes of the hearing and of the panel’s decision-making including the reasons for the panel’s decision at each stage of the process.

Case Ref: 22 017 136 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Housing benefit and council tax benefit

• The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure it complies with the Housing Benefit Tribunal rules.
• The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure it processes all housing benefit appeals in a timely manner.

Case Ref: 22 006 278 Category: Planning Sub Category: Enforcement

• Remind staff to adhere to the Council’s enforcement policy, specifically regarding notifying informants when the Council decides there is no breach of planning permission
• Remind staff to adhere to the Council’s complaints policy timescales
• Remind staff to maintain clear and appropriate records to demonstrate clearly the rationale for their decisions