Case Ref: 19 013 811 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council will review the guidance and training for its Finance and Benefits Assessment Team, to ensure that financial assessments are carried out promptly and the client is provided with all the required information promptly.
• The Council will organise a workshop for its Adult Social Care complaints team about ensuring a resolution focus to complaints handling.
• The Council has agreed to provide a report to the Ombudsman with the findings from the review it will carry out of its policy guidance around charging and financial assessments to ensure it is fully compliant with the Care Act 2014.

Case Ref: 19 013 017 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to identify the action it needs to take to ensure that when a care package is not approved it does not prevent the completion of a care and support plan.

Case Ref: 19 012 628 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• For the Council to consider whether its processes are robust enough to enable it to take prompt action when it has a Section 19 duty under the Education Act 1996 (i.e. to provide education for children who are not in school because of illness, exclusion or otherwise) or when it needs to take truancy action.
• For the Council to consider whether it needs to remind schools when Annual Reviews are due and whether it could periodically check implementation of provision in Education, Health and Care Plans by schools.

Case Ref: 19 010 267 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council has agreed to review and revise the discretionary disregard report form it uses, which collects all the information it needs to inform a subsequent decision as to whether it should apply its discretion to disregard a property as part of a financial assessment.
• The Council will remind its adult social care and finance staff of the importance to ensure they provide enough information about charging, as early as possible, to ensure a client is able to understand any contributions they may, or will be asked, to pay, so they can make informed decisions.

Case Ref: 19 007 535 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will remind its officers of good practice when referral are received such as contacting the referrer for more information.

Case Ref: 19 006 599 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Other

• The Council should review its guidance for officers about updating records when responding to highway extent queries. It should ensure officers are clear about the need to properly record any decision about the highway extent.

Case Ref: 19 001 556 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will include the lessons learned from this case as part of a review of its staff guidance on how to carry out mental capacity assessments, as well as its staff training provision on this topic.

Case Ref: 18 015 271 Category: Other Categories Sub Category: Commercial and contracts

• The Council has agreed to review its procurement procedures to try to identify ways to avoid a recurrence of the errors in this case, including any steps that might be taken to: ensure that the potential implications of third-party contracts are considered when setting bidding criteria; and identify non-compliance with the specification before awarding a contract.

Case Ref: 18 014 161 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Disabled children

• Review its children’s social care complaints procedures to ensure they reflect the statutory guidance on progressing to Stage Two where complainants are unhappy with the Stage One response, and on engaging in alternative dispute resolution methods following Stage Two rather than Stage One.