Case Ref: 23 014 021 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to review how it responds to reports of disrepair made by residents in temporary accommodation and remind its housing staff that this is an important part of keeping the suitability of the temporary accommodation it provides under review.

Case Ref: 23 013 891 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• Provide guidance to staff to ensure consent is obtained prior to being accompanied on visits to service users.

Case Ref: 23 007 100 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Highway repair and maintenance

• The Council will show the Ombudsman that it has reviewed its highways and maintenance policy, to demonstrate how it has considered its duties under the Equality Act 2010 and assessed risks to protected groups under that Act.

Case Ref: 23 006 249 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• We identified recurrent fault by the Council in failing to use the statutory complaints procedure for children’s social care services when it should have. The Council agreed to:ensure a copy of our final decision is considered by the relevant scrutiny committee and cabinet member; andshare a copy of our final decision with all staff dealing with complaints about children’s social care services, to discuss and identify learning.

Case Ref: 23 002 732 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Rights of way

• Provide guidance to its highways maintenance service contractor and Council staff handling complaints, regarding effective complaint handling, as listed on the Ombudsman’s website.

Case Ref: 22 010 094 Category: Planning Sub Category: Enforcement

• The Council agreed to review how it deals with planning casework information received and held on individual officers’ email accounts. The aim of the review being to ensure the Council has effective procedures for ensuring such information is: • quickly moved to the appropriate case record and so available to all relevant officers, and or • readily accessible should any officer leave the Council’s employment or be absent for any significant time.

Case Ref: 22 010 406 Category: Other Categories Sub Category: Other

• The Council will remind staff:Of the Council's duty to make reasonable adjustments to a disabled person who would otherwise be placed at a disadvantage in accessing the Council's services.Where the Council does not consider a request to be reasonable, the Council should keep records showing clear consideration for how and why it made its decision.The Council should write to individuals to outline its decision, and reasons, on whether it agrees to the requested adjustments.

Case Ref: 22 002 689 Category: Planning Sub Category: Planning applications

• The Council will issue clear guidance to staff on the approach it expects them to take when a certificate accompanying a planning application is effectively challenged due to land ownership claims which must involve a degree of scrutiny and decision making by the Council and include keeping an audit trail of the same.
• The Council will review its complaint procedure to ensure complainants receive a timely response at each stage and are kept informed when this is not possible.

Case Ref: 22 002 110 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council made a commitment to the representative, who is the mother of the complainant who lacks capacity to make decisions in her own interest, that it would move the complainant to a care home nearer the family home when one became available. It should not have made this commitment as there would have to be a best interests decision before any move could occur. The Council has agreed to inform all staff that they should not make similar commitments in future.

Case Ref: 21 018 286 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will provide its staff dealing with the Children's Services complaint with the training on the statutory children's complaint procedure. The Council will send us a signed statement from the relevant members of staff with the confirmation they have reviewed the Council's 'Children's representations and complaints policy'.