Case Ref: 24 011 853 Category: Education Sub Category: School exclusions

• Remind staff of the need to adhere to the statutory guidance regarding independent review panel hearings; specifically that the minutes of the meeting should name all attendees, and that the clerk should make reasonable efforts to send relevant paperwork to all parties at least five school days prior to the review.

Case Ref: 24 010 821 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council has agreed to review its processes to ensure better communication and follow up between social workers and its finance team where it appears that financial assessments may be necessary and are not showing as completed for council funded care and support.

Case Ref: 24 008 973 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review why it did not begin seeking information for the child's Education, Health and Care Plan until May 2024, despite agreeing to the reassessment in March 2024. The Council should identify what steps it should take to make sure such delays do not occur again. It should send the Ombudsman details of those steps.
• The Council will remind staff that when they commission support from a specialist such as a speech and language therapist, they must ensure the package they commission is sufficient to deliver the relevant special educational provision in the child or young person's Education, Health and Care Plan.

Case Ref: 23 021 149 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Safeguarding

• •Review how it responds to safeguarding referrals to ensure that referrals are not missed.

Case Ref: 24 006 928 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council has agreed to create an action plan explaining how the Council is intending to increase its pool of personal assistants to help families in need.

Case Ref: 24 005 228 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council remind relevant Council officers of the importance of keeping clear, complete and contemporaneous records of its decision making when deciding if it has a duty to provide alternative provision to meet its duties under section 19 of the Education Act 1996.
• The Council will review its policy to only commission online provision for children who require alternative provision under section 19 of the Education Act 1996, due to illness or otherwise, and ensure the policy does not fetter its discretion to consider the individual needs of each child, in line with the legislation.

Case Ref: 24 001 618 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to provide the Ombudsman with an action plan specifically around how the Council intends to reduce mainstream Occupational Therapy wait times and a further update on its progress with the backlog three months after providing the plan.

Case Ref: 24 001 596 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• the Council will provide training to its early help team, its attendance and out of school officers and its schools about the referral process to its medical tuition team for pupils unable to attend school on health grounds.

Case Ref: 24 000 705 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind its officers responding to complaints to ensure it provides a full complaint response when it becomes aware it has omitted to respond to a point of complaint initially.

Case Ref: 23 019 884 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council will remind relevant staff to respond to parent’s concerns about their children's education within three to five working days, and to avoid drift and delay in considering whether a child should receive alternative provision under section 19 of the Education Act 1996.