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.

Case Ref: 23 000 503 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council is making service improvements to respond to the increased demand of Education Health and Care Plan assessments and a shortage of Educational Psychologists.

Case Ref: 23 000 061 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Provide the Ombudsman with further update on the outcome of the SEND Co ordination and Oversight Groups consideration of the issues and actions it proposes to take to address its complaint handling and communication difficulties.
• Provide the Ombudsman with a further update on the Council's progress as set out in its action plan on how it will meet statutory timescales for EHC Plan annual review process and issuing final EHC Plans.

Case Ref: 22 017 537 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Parking and other penalties

• The Council will remind all staff who may receive or deal with a request about disabled parking bays of its policy with specific reference to how it considers exceptional circumstances to ensure it is providing a full explanation and not fettering its discretion.

Case Ref: 22 015 198 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to consider any training needs of officers completing or overseeing needs assessments under the Care Act.

Case Ref: 22 014 668 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Direct payments

• The Council will remind staff they must review a person's direct payments and care and support plan every 12 months.
• The Council will remind staff of the information they should provide to people considering direct payments, as set out in the Care and Support Statutory Guidance.

Case Ref: 22 012 659 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they provide applicants with sufficiently detailed reasons for rejecting a home to school transport application.
• The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure when an applicant asks about escalating their case from stage one tostage two during the home to school transport appeals process, they are made aware they can make their case orally as well as in writing.

Case Ref: 22 010 764 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council should send written reminders to staff involved in complaints handling to ensure they signpost complainants to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman when it has finished its consideration of complaints. Any relevant templates should be updated to reflect this.
• The Council should establish clear guidelines for practitioners to consider the provision of independent Educational Psychologists within its EHC assessment process sooner, to include how and when to do this. This should be sent to all relevant staff.
• The Council should update us on the action it has said it has taken to try and resolve the delays with the availability of Educational Psychologists (EPs). This should include what effect it has had on the number of children and young people waiting for EP input in an EHC needs assessment and average waiting times.

Case Ref: 22 008 381 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Review and ensure the Council’s decision letters about assessment / re assessment requests are clear. For instance, the decision letter should clearly set out and explain there is a separate right of appeal when requests for statutory re-assessments are made.
• By training or other means remind staff of the importance of adhering to the statutory guidelines and timescales in completing EHCP annual review processes. Explain to the Ombudsman how the Council will monitor performance against timescales.
• By training or other means remind staff of the importance of following the Council’s complaint procedure timescales.
• •review and monitor the Council’s EHCP annual review process. Provide the Ombudsman with an action plan to demonstrate how the Council will meet statutory timescales for EHCP annual review process and issuing final EHCPs.

Case Ref: 22 002 320 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council has agreed to provide us with a report on its progress in carrying out the steps its own report identified as recommendations in relation to cultural awareness.