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.

Case Ref: 23 004 795 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to speak with Kumari Care to seek assurances that its care staff will record medication administration clearly in its care records in future, and show that managers have communicated this to the organisation’s frontline care workers.
• The Council has agreed to remind its adult social care staff of the importance of best interests decisions being carried out promptly where recommended following mental capacity assessments and these decisions being properly considered and recorded, in line with Section 4 of the Mental Capacity Act.
• The Council has agreed to hold a lessons learned meeting to establish why best interests decisions were frequently not carried out in this case, and put learning in place to ensure against this happening in future.
• The Council has agreed to remind its adult social care staff that care needs assessments should be carried out promptly in response to significant, new circumstances which change a person’s care needs.
• The Council has agreed to demonstrate what steps it has taken or intends to take, to reduce its adult social care complaint backlog and ensure it is able to investigate these complaints within reasonable timeframes.

Case Ref: 23 008 905 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Housing benefit and council tax benefit

• Review its auto-generated benefit decision notices to ensure that they clearly identify the nature and specific details of the decision they are intended to advise a claimant about; and
• Provide guidance to staff to consider whether or not claims should be flagged as vulnerable where there is knowledge or evidence that a claimant has required support in the past.