Case Ref: 25 002 549 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review its Annual Review process to ensure there are no unnecessary delays in dealing with the review documents sent by the schools.
• The Council will ensure there is a system in place to prevent parents of the children with EHC Plans being negatively affected by the changes in the SEND staff.

Case Ref: 25 002 457 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Disabled children

• Remind relevant staff of the types of complaints that should be considered under the statutory procedure (section 2.2 of the statutory guidance 'Getting the best from complaints' details this)

Case Ref: 24 021 651 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Drainage

• The Council will review its record keeping to ensure all communication and decisions are recorded on the central system.
• The Council will remind its staff responding to the flooding reports of the importance to provide updates to people who have been affected. If the Council does not intend to take any action, it should communicate it clearly, providing its reasons.

Case Ref: 24 017 816 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council will review and amend its adult social care non-residential charging policy and any associated disability related expenditure (DRE) documentation or guidance issued to officers. It will do this to reflect there should be no DRE limit equivalent to the amount of disability related benefit a person receives when it writes off DRE in its financial assessments. This will help to ensure it does not fetter its discretion by adopting such a limit.

Case Ref: 24 017 188 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Child protection

• The Council failed to follow its complaint procedure. The Council has agreed to review why this happened and take steps to ensure staff follow the procedure in future.

Case Ref: 24 017 097 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Safeguarding

• Ask the Agency to remind staff of the regulations and policies regarding record keeping in care provision and medication.

Case Ref: 24 016 532 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Direct payments

• The Council has agreed to remind relevant officers of the Council’s duties including: clearly recording eligible needs, identifying any eligible needs being met by a carer, recording the number of hours of care, reviewing care plans in line with the statutory guidance.

Case Ref: 24 016 531 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Fostering

• The Council has agreed to remind relevant complaint handling staff of the guidance linked to the children's statutory complaints procedure (The Children Act 1989) 'Getting the Best from Complaints' particularly around 'who may complain' and 'what may be complained about'. This will help to ensure Council staff are fully aware of the statutory procedure and how this differs from its corporate complaints process.
• The Council has agreed to share the Ombudsman's good practice guidance on the children's statutory complaints procedure (The Children Act 1989) with relevant staff. This will help to ensure staff understand when the statutory procedure should be used to handle children's services complaints, rather than the corporate complaint process.

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.