Case Ref: 23 007 958 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will review all the complaints considered at stage two of the children's statutory complaint procedure for more than 13 weeks and:identify reasons for the delays in completing the stage two investigation;prepare a plan of action with the timescales to ensure the stage two investigations are completed without any further delay.The Council will provide us with evidence of completing this actions.

Case Ref: 23 007 358 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review why there was such excessive delay in the handling of this complaint and the EHC plan review process and consider if this part of a wider systemic problem. It will advise the Ombudsman what actions it intends to take to improve timeliness of annual reviews and complaint handling.

Case Ref: 23 006 298 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council will take steps to ensure that Primecare has taken action to ensure that the faults found cannot recur.
• The Council will provide evidence to show it has taken steps to ensure Primecare has in place an effective and accessible complaint process.
• The Council will ensure that it has in place guidance for staff to ensure it is clear how complaints about adult social care service providers are considered and that it has been drawn to the attention of staff dealing with such complaints.

Case Ref: 23 005 361 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council will review its process of registering referrals for financial assessments to ensure theCouncil records any requests for a financial assessment and the date of sending financial assessments with all the attached documents to the service user.
• The Council will review its Deferred Payment Agreement process to ensure:a) service users receive detailed information tailored to their individual circumstances at the beginning of the process;b) the Council makes a decision on eligibility without delay;c) service users have clarity what documents they have to provide for a DPA;
• The Council will improve communication between various teams providing Adult Social Care services to ensure there is an exchange of information and communications without involving service users;
• The Council will train its staff dealing with Adult Social Care complaints to ensure the compliance with the Council’s Complaints and Representations Policy 2022.

Case Ref: 23 004 613 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• As a result of this complaint, the Council recognised that it needed better communications with parents when education, health and care plans were subject to delay. It agreed that it would consider policy options for how it could improve these, including providing parents with regular updates (say at four or six weeks) when assessments were delayed waiting for education psychology advice or once the 16 week limit had passed for saying if it would issue an education, care and health plan.

Case Ref: 23 004 198 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to circulate guidance to all relevant staff, to remind them a decision to refuse a personal budget request carries a formal right of review, and the statutory guidance requires them to inform a requestor of this right, when writing to inform them of the Council’s decision.

Case Ref: 23 002 999 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Highway repair and maintenance

• The Council will review the wording on its website to be clearer in what type of photo and map evidence is required to make an insurance claim for vehicle damage. This will help to ensure that those making a claim are fully aware of the type of evidence required.
• The Council will share the Ombudsman’s report “Equal Access” with relevant senior managers. This will help to promote good practice when considering how it deals with requests for reasonable adjustments to be made.
• The Council will issue written reminders to relevant officers regarding the Equality Act 2010. This will help to ensure that officers understand their obligations to provide reasonable adjustments.

Case Ref: 23 001 990 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Share with staff the Ombudsman’s focus report ‘Equal Access: Getting it right for people with disabilities’, and remind them of the Council’s anticipatory duty to make reasonable adjustments.
• Share this decision with the relevant staff.

Case Ref: 23 001 498 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• confirm if/how many other service users have been similarly affected and the action taken to remedy any injustice caused.

Case Ref: 23 001 123 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Look at what went wrong in this case and why there were significant delays and produce an action plan to demonstrate how the Council will meet statutory timescales for annual reviews.