Case Ref: 24 015 141 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Provide evidence of increased staffing and resource allocation to ensure there is sufficient capacity to manage the increased demand for Education, Health and Care Plans within statutory timeframes.
• Provide evidence of enhanced monitoring and accountability to track the progress of Education, Health and Care Plans from start to finish.

Case Ref: 24 011 650 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council agreed to review its approach to assessing Disability Related Expenditure to ensure it considers each claim on its individual merits and does not apply any fixed or rigid rules, including not applying any guidance it uses rigidly.
• The Council agreed to review how it monitors outstanding care charges to ensure it does not allow debts to grow without considering taking further action, especially when it does not receive responses to its letters.

Case Ref: 24 009 633 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to issue reminders to relevant staff about its non-delegable duty under section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014, to ensure a child with an Education, Health, and Care Plan receives the special educational needs provision in their Plan. It will remind staff the Council remains liable where a school fails to deliver provision, and that it should properly investigate when concerns are raised that provision is not in place, and record any evidence about this.
• The Council agreed to issue reminders to relevant staff about its duty under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 to provide suitable alternative education when a child is out of school. It will remind staff the Council needs to properly consider whether the section 19 duty applies and record this consideration, and that the Council must make this decision, not the school.

Case Ref: 24 005 132 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• 1. Within three months of the decision, the Council should:• Review its policy and process of reviewing existing Care and Support Plans to ensure that they are reviewed in accordance with statutory guidance; • Review its policy and process of carrying out assessments and ensure they are being carried out in accordance with statutory guidance; • Remind all relevant staff of the correct policies and procedures. 2. The Council should provide us with evidence it has complied with the above actions.

Case Ref: 24 005 341 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will issue a staff briefing to remind all relevant staff of the importance of meeting statutory timescales for EHC Plan annual reviews. This will help to ensure annual reviews are completed in a timely manner without delay.

Case Ref: 24 001 065 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council agreed to issue a reminder to relevant staff, with a copy of our decision, to ensure it properly considers and records its section 19 duties to arrange suitable alternative education when a child is out of school, and keeps this under regular review.
• The Council agreed to review its process for when a child with an Education, Health, and Care Plan is out of school, to ensure it meets its duty to secure the provision in the Plan as far as possible outside a school setting. It will decide whether it needs to make any administrative changes to its processes, or deliver training to staff, to ensure this is not missed in future.
• The Council agreed to issue a reminder to relevant complaint handling staff about its two-stage complaints procedure. It should explain the importance of escalating complaints about the same issues to Stage 2 instead of reconsidering at Stage 1, so as not to delay complainants in approaching the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 23 019 550 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will provide the Ombudsman with an update on its actions to improve its Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) service, including:• recruitment of SEND staff;• the implementation of the new case management system;• timescales for introducing a portal environment for casework; and• what improvements it has implemented to improve its consultation process with schools.

Case Ref: 23 015 876 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed that it would review its current procedure for following up on actions it agrees to take where it has upheld a complaint. It should be clear to the complainant who will be taking the action agreed and by when, and the Council should have a process in place to ensure it has taken that action. In this case the Council had failed to provide such clarification or make such checks.
• The Council agreed it would provide a briefing to all its staff who respond to complaints about special education needs provision on the importance of signposting complainant to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal, where appropriate. In this case the Council, in the course of answering a complaint, had become involved in a dispute that it was more appropriate the complainant pursue through appealing to the Tribunal.
• The Council agreed to review its procedure for undertaking social care needs assessments for children not previously known to its children's social services, where it is undertaking an education, health and care needs assessment. This was to ensure it could complete the 'care assessment' element within Government timescales and that officers in both education and children's social care staff were aware of their responsibilities in this area.
• The Council agreed to circulate among managers in its complaint and children's services, a focus report issued by the Ombudsman called Equal Access. This was to raise awareness of the principles of good administrative practice necessary for underpinning a commitment to ensure reasonable adjustments for disabled users of services.

Case Ref: 23 012 673 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Child protection

• The Council agreed to remind its staff of the importance of ensuring that all relevant parties are included in the Child and Family Assessment process.

Case Ref: 23 009 964 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Complete and publish the information about what young people can expect from a person-centre approach and publish this on its SEND Information Hub (Local Offer).
• Complete and publish information in an accessible format on the Pathways through its processes on reviewing, maintaining, and amending EHC Plans and publish this on its SEND Information Hub (Local Offer).