Case Ref: 23 015 044 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council has agreed to write to the complainant to explain the actions it has taken to ensure appropriate communication takes place with families and individuals going through the safeguarding process.

Case Ref: 23 011 177 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council is reviewing the communication between its departments.

Case Ref: 23 010 728 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed that it will produce an action plan to demonstrate how it will meet statutory timescales for annual reviews in future.
• The Council will issue a reminder to relevant staff that they are aware of the Council’s duties where annual reviews are delegated to school and colleges.
• The Council has also agreed to review its processes to ensure it has monitoring arrangements in place to identify potential failings at the earliest opportunity.

Case Ref: 23 009 761 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• Within three months of the date of the final decision statement the Council agreed it will take action to ensure record keeping at the Home is in line with relevant standards, including that:i. staff completing and maintaining care plans are aware of the importance of these being accurate;ii. staff are aware of reflecting a person’s needs as set out in their care plans in daily records, even when care may be refused.

Case Ref: 23 009 143 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to review its process for when a child with an Education, Health, and Care Plan is out of school, to ensure it meets its duty to secure the provision in the Plan as far as possible outside a school setting. It will decide whether it needs to make any administrative changes to its processes, or deliver training to staff, to ensure this is not missed in future.
• The Council agreed to review its Stage 2 and Stage 3 complaint responses in this case, and our findings of fault. It will decide what steps it should take to address the faults identified with staff who respond to Special Educational Needs service complaints, to ensure:complaint responses, and improvement actions identified, are clear;details such as complainant or child names are accurate; andresponses are open and accountable.

Case Ref: 23 007 264 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to review its policy on arranging alternative education provision for children not attending school. It should ensure it formally considers all reports for children not attending their education placement, even if it receives this information outside of its formal referral process. It should also ensure it makes clear, reasoned decision in each case and keeps clear records of how it decides whether it needs to arrange alternative education.
• The Council agreed to review its process for transferring Education Health and Care plans when people move outside of its area. It should ensure that plans are transferred to the new council within the required timescales.
• The Council agreed to remined its special educational needs and education staff of the important to considering all the available evidence when making decisions and the need to keep clear records of the decisions they make, and their reasons.

Case Ref: 22 014 935 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council reminds social care staff of their responsibility under the Care Act and National Framework to provide support to all carers assessed as needing it, whether or not the person they are caring for is receiving Continuing Healthcare funding

Case Ref: 23 002 969 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Disabled children

• The Council will ask the district manager responsible for the allocated team responsible for Mrs X’s child to communicate decisions about funding to Mrs X, as soon as possible after being made, along with realistic timeframes for when payment will be received. The Council will put a note on Mrs X’s child’s records to show that this has been done. This is what the Council said it would do in its stage two adjudication of her statutory complaint.
• The Council will remind all relevant staff who deal with statutory children’s complaints, including directors, about the Council’s, and individual officer’s, duties at each stage of the process. These are set out in the statutory guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’.

Case Ref: 23 001 692 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council agreed to review its arrangement for recording and responding to contact with its special educational needs service.
• The Council agreed to review how it monitors its caseload of education health and care plan cases to ensure they are appropriately prioritised during periods of officer leave or sickness and that it keeps parents informed about any delays.

Case Ref: 23 001 686 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council agreed to review its arrangement for recording and responding to contact with its special educational needs service.
• The Council agreed to review its procedures for planning and arranging reviews of education health and care plans for transfers to post-16 education. It should ensure it identifies relevant young people and arranges for reviews to take place in enough time to issue amended plans by the required dates.
• The Council agreed to review how it monitors its caseload of education health and care plan cases to ensure they are appropriately prioritised during periods of officer leave or sickness and that it keeps parents informed about any delays.