Case Ref: 23 008 214 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• Review its case note procedures in children's services to ensure there are clear records of decision-making following safeguarding referrals.

Case Ref: 23 003 047 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will review its processes to ensure in future it acts rationally, follows agreed procedures which are explained to the family and gives clear and logical reasons for its decisions when considering requests for social care support for children.

Case Ref: 23 000 694 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed that it would deliver a briefing to all its Special Educational Needs Caseworkers, responsible for drawing up Education, Care and Health plans for children of pre-school age. This would set out its expectations, taking account of Government guidance and fault found in this case, for naming schools on those plans. This would be to avoid a repeat of the situation where a child could not begin school in reception, because the Council had not yet named a primary school on the plan.

Case Ref: 23 000 046 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Disabled children

• The Council should review the information available to service users and their representatives about the process for finding supported accommodation, the possible funding options and the differences in benefits payable in these circumstances.

Case Ref: 22 017 724 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will review its explanatory notes that are sent to parents with the transport referral form. I recommend the notes on section two make it clear to parents that the Council’s normal practice is to add and remove students from school transport vehicles without consultation with parents.
• The Council will remind staff that they must not make presumptions about what may or may not affect a child (when making decisions about school transport). If there is any doubt at all, they must contact the parent/guardian for clarity or confirmation.
• The Council will share a copy of this decision with relevant staff and management, and discuss it at a team meeting or relevant meeting of staff.

Case Ref: 22 016 964 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• Share the learning from this decision with its SEN team and those officers responsible for making decisions about and arranging alternative provision; and
• Review its guidance, and remind its officers, about the Council’s statutory duty to provide a suitable education for children who for whatever reason cannot attend school, even when they are still on the school’s roll.

Case Ref: 22 015 572 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council will remind staff of its duties to check any school provided provisions to determine it is suitable when a child cannot attend for medical reasons or otherwise. And that it is the Council's duty to provide provision when the school's is deemed unsuitable.
• The Council will remind staff about it’s Emotional Wellbeing and Behaviour policy with respect to children who are at risk of being out of education.
• The Council will remind staff of the important of sharing information between departments. Such as sharing decisions between the attendance team and the education support for medical absence team.

Case Ref: 22 011 747 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council agreed to review its processes for arranging alternative education for children out of school, and issue reminders to relevant staff, to ensure it:arranges suitable alternative education without delay, in line with statutory timescales;properly considers and records whether the alternative education arranged is suitable for the child’s age, ability, aptitude, and special educational needs; andensures the child receives the provision set out in their Education, Health, and Care plan while accessing the alternative education.
• The Council agreed to issue reminders to its complaints staff that:complaints should be responded to in line with the timescales set out in its complaints procedure; andwhere a complainant expresses dissatisfaction with the Council’s Stage 1 complaints response, this should be considered and responded to as a request to escalate the complaint to Stage 2.

Case Ref: 22 011 513 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• As a result of this complaint the Council agreed that it would write to us and explain what action it was taking to identify all cases where a child had an education, care and health plan and that plan said the Council must review the child or young person's education provision regularly through the academic year (as distinct from the annual review process set out in law). Further, that it would ensure all relevant staff knew whose responsibility it was, within the education service, to carry out those periodic reviews. Also, that it would ensure it had a system in place to flag if those reviews were not being carried out so those cases can be prioritised for action.

Case Ref: 22 010 147 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to review its procedures for Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plans and issue reminders to relevant staff to ensure:when reviewing EHC plans it does so without delay, and issues amendment notices and final amended plans within the correct statutory timescales following the review meeting;when re-assessing EHC needs it issues a final amended plan as soon as is practicable, and within a maximum of 14 weeks from the decision to reassess;when it requires professional assessments to inform the EHC plan process and there are delays, it properly considers whether it should commission private assessments to meet statutory timescales. It should keep records of this consideration and any attempts to commission private assessments; and it keeps families updated, responds to their queries, and follows up on any agreed actions in good time.
• The Council agreed to provide an update to the Ombudsman about its progress with staffing its Special Educational Needs and Disability service, training new officers, and clearing the email backlog within the service.
• The Council agreed to review its process for responding to emails within its Special Educational Needs and Disability service, to ensure when staff members are absent or leave the Council’s employment, emails are responded to in good time by other appropriate staff.