Case Ref: 22 004 080 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• Council will provide the Ombudsman with details of how it will expedite complaint responses.

Case Ref: 22 000 730 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to provide a briefing for its staff who work in providing education for pupils with special educational needs to cover three matters. First, the triaging of cases where pupils move into the area from those parts of the United Kingdom outside England. Second, to set out our expectation that when Government guidance places a requirement on the Council to act (for example with use of words like must or shall) that it should be able to demonstrate it has done all that might be reasonably expected to fulfil that expectation. Third, to cover circumstances when it is appropriate to refer to its unreasonable customer behaviour policy, taking account of commentary in the decision statement on this point.
• The Council agreed to review its current policy to support pupils with special educational needs who are not enrolledin school through its Individual Pupil Support service. This was to address our concern the present arrangements wereunlikely to provide for a full-time education or equivalent for such pupils andso fall short of the legal requirement the Council has when providingalternative provision. In particular, the Council agreed to review how it canbe more flexible about reviewing an initial commitment to only offer three hours of one-to-one provision if a child engages with that. It should not have anypolicy that it only reviews that offer after six weeks.

Case Ref: 21 019 099 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council has agreed to complete a review into its financial assessment processes and provide evidence of the implementation of the outcome of this review within its service to the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 21 016 612 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• This Council has agreed to remind its staff of the Council’s Section 19 duty to arrange suitable education at school or elsewhere for pupils who are out of school because of exclusion, illness or for other reasons, if they would not receive suitable education without such arrangements and whether or not they are on the roll of a school.
• The Council has agreed to remind its staff of the importance of removing children, if appropriate, from a school’s roll so it can refer them to temporary educational services.
• The Council has agreed to remind staff of the need for timely consultations with educational providers, particularly when the child is, or there is a risk of, the child being out of education.
• The Council has agreed to investigate the reasons why a final EHC Plan was issued more than 17 weeks late and produce an action plan to outline how it can prevent this kind of delay occurring in future.

Case Ref: 21 013 700 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Drainage

• The Council agreed to review why Highways failed to properly respond and take action on the complainant's reports.
• The Council agreed to remind officers of the need to make and retain contact and evidence of liaison with the water board on future cases

Case Ref: 21 012 426 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Adoption

• Consider what improvements the Council can make to its guidance to ensure prospective adopters are adequately informed about the process for carrying out viability assessments. The Council should report its findings back to the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 21 011 082 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will identify everyone in its area receiving section 117 aftercare services who is paying top-ups for aftercare services. It will then produce an action plan for checking the top-up payments are in line with the law and guidance, and reimbursing people who have been charged top-ups incorrectly.
• The Council will ensure relevant staff are aware of the law and guidance that applies to section 117 aftercare top-ups and that these cannot be used for aftercare in a person's own home.

Case Ref: 21 005 827 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council has agreed to carry out a lessons-learned exercise regarding what a panel should do when it does not have evidence to back up its views about the flexibility of working parents, and how it should seek that evidence.
• The Council has agreed to review appeal decisions issued for the school year September 2021 where the panel refused sixth-form age transport to identify any parents who missed the opportunity of making verbal representations and offer them the opportunity of a reassessment with the chance to speak to the panel. If the panel then agrees transport, a remedy should be offered for the missed provision.

Case Ref: 21 002 898 Category: Education Sub Category: COVID-19

• The Council will review its systems for checking special educational needs provision is in place when amended final education, health and care plans are issued

Case Ref: 20 012 515 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Safeguarding

• The Council has agreed to share the lessons learned with those involved in investigating adult safeguarding concerns
• The Council has agreed to review its safeguarding process, to ensure it will always consider and record whether those involved in investigating the concerns are sufficiently independent.