Case Ref: 22 009 152 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Domiciliary care

• Ensures it asks complainants for payment details in good time to enable it to meet the agreed timescales for making payments recommended by the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 22 005 023 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Disabled facilities grants

• The Council agreed to discuss lessons from this complaint at a quarterly meeting where it reviews it adaptations service. This was to consider how it, and its partners, could further improve performance to ensure it met Government expectations on the timescales for DFG works to complete and to improve communications with landlords to prevent delays in obtaining landlord consent for works through lengthy exchanges of information.
• The Council will also complete the work of ensuring DFG applicants are kept informed of likely timescales at each stage of their journey through the process.

Case Ref: 22 004 322 Category: Education Sub Category: School admissions

• The Council will remind all school admission appeal clerking staff of the need to record the panel's reasons at both stages of the deliberations and explain them to parents/carers in the decision letter.

Case Ref: 22 003 960 Category: Education Sub Category: COVID-19

• The Council agreed to remind all school admissions appeal clerking staff of the need to record the reasons for the panel's decisions at both stages of the appeal deliberations and explain the reasons for the decisions to parents and carers in the decision letter.

Case Ref: 21 012 428 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• Within two months of my final decision, the Council will write to the Ombudsmen to explain what action it will take to ensure the care home has:- a robust process in place for managing the medication of residents to ensure all medications are properly recorded and administered. This should include a process of audit and monitoring to promptly identify any omissions; and- a clear policy and protocol for maintaining hygiene standards in the care home to prevent the spread of infection. This should incude guidance for staff on laundering dirty clothes and ensuring residents are supported to maintain personal hygiene.

Case Ref: 21 010 602 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Domiciliary care

• Reviews its procedures to ensure the Council makes reasonable adjustments for housing applicants with disabilities and complies with its duty under the Equality Act 2010.
• Ensures the care provider reviews its procedures to retrieve care records from a service user’s property in the event they have passed away
• By training or other means, ensures the care provider’s staff are aware of its procedure in the event a service user cannot be contacted.

Case Ref: 21 010 557 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Fostering

• the Council will: advise social workers to mark the date the placement plan is given to foster carers
• the Council will: introduce a target deadline of twelve weeks for when decisions about a foster carer's registration will be made.

Case Ref: 21 006 247 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Direct payments

• the Council will review its policy on direct payments to make sure the person is notified directly, in writing, of arrears on their direct payment account so that action can be taken.
• the Council will review its policy on auditing direct payment accounts to make sure accounts are properly audited at least annually (including telling the person in writing if they are in arrears), and to make sure the Council takes action itself about arrears rather than allowing them to build up.
• the Council will share this decision with appropriate managers and within appropriate team meetings so that the learning here is shared amongst staff.

Case Ref: 21 004 995 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour

• The Council agree to remind relevant staff in its planning, environmental health, community safety and complaints teams about the anti-social behaviour case review process and that they should direct complainants to the process where it might apply.

Case Ref: 21 000 188 Category: Planning Sub Category: Planning applications

• The Council will remind officers of the legal requirement to keep consultation responses on the planning file and that the Ombudsman considers it fault not to keep written records of site meetings.