Case Ref: 24 001 418 Category: Planning Sub Category: Enforcement

• The Council is at fault for severe delay in deciding whether to take enforcement action. The Council has agreed to carry out a lessons learned exercise from the complaint to identify the reasons behind the severe delay in its planning enforcement. The Council will then incorporate the findings into the its existing improvement plan for Planning Enforcement and Development Management.The Council has agreed to share its progress against its planning and development improvement plan with the Ombudsman.
• The Council has agreed to share the Ombudsman's decision with the relevant overview and scrutiny committee as part of its existing planning and development improvement plan reporting and share the record of the meeting with the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 23 018 628 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• The Council were at fault because it did not update it's amended waste collection services on its electronic timetable that would allow customers to check when collections were due. It agreed it would identify any process changes it needed to put in place before it made any further changes to avoid confusion in the future.

Case Ref: 23 018 415 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour

• The Council will remind staff dealing with anti-social behaviour case reviews of the statutory guidance about keeping victims informed of updates within the anti-social behaviour case review.

Case Ref: 23 017 332 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to produce an action plan to show how the Council will meet the statutory timescales for all stages of the process, from receiving the request for an Education health care needs assessment, to issuing a final Education health and care plan

Case Ref: 23 017 134 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council should share this decision with the relevant staff.

Case Ref: 23 016 580 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Licensing

• The Council has agreed that it will update its website to advise applicants that it may take four weeks to process an application and that applications can be accepted up to six weeks in advance.

Case Ref: 23 015 115 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will remind relevant staff that they must complete adult social care needs assessments in a reasonable and proportionate timescale.

Case Ref: 23 011 801 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council has agreed to remind relevant officers of the importance of providing clear communication and responding in a timely manner.

Case Ref: 23 009 039 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Domiciliary care

• The Council has agreed to reflect on the issues raised in this decision statement and identify any areas of service improvement, particularly in respect of collaborative working between different Council departments. The Council should prepare a short report setting out what the Council intends to do to ensure similar problems do not reoccur. This report should be sent to the Ombudsman.
• The Council will provide a copy of this decision statement to complaints officers to ensure they are aware of the Council’s ongoing responsibility when commissioning statutory services.