Case Ref: 22 013 470 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• Issue reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of: The statutory guidance which says where somebody provides or intends to provide care for another adult and it appears the carer may have any needs for support, the council must carry out a carer’s assessment. A carer’s assessment must seek to find out not only the carer’s needs for support, but also the sustainability of the caring role itself. This includes the practical and emotional support the carer provides to the adult.

Case Ref: 22 011 614 Category: Education Sub Category: School admissions

• The Council will send written reminders to panel members and relevant officers to ensure they must adhere to the requirements set out in the Code and the guidance when determining applications for summer-born children to be educated outside of their normal age group.

Case Ref: 22 006 285 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure it considers its section 19/alternative education provision duty as soon as a child is reported absent from school for 15 days and seeks professional opinion on the amount and type of alternative education the child can cope with while out of school, to best meet their needs.
• The Council has agreed to review its systems for monitoring complaints to ensure it better tracks their progress, the timeliness of responses and provides regular progress updates to complainants when responses are delayed.

Case Ref: 22 003 031 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to remind its special educational needs staff of the importance of ensuring children and young people receive a suitable education while consulting with longer-term school placements.
• The Council agreed to review its approach to reviewing EHC plans following the breakdown of school places to ensure it properly considers whether to hold an early review or whether to arrange a full reassessment.
• The Council agreed to review how it monitors compliance with the statutory timescales for reviewing and issuing EHC plans follow to ensure it identifies and takes appropriate action where cases are taking longer than allowed under the rules.
• The Council agreed to share this decision with all staff in its special educational needs team with the appropriate senior officer and Council member responsible for the Council’s education services.

Case Ref: 21 017 692 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council will remind officers that they must address the issue of motivation when considering deprivation of assets cases.

Case Ref: 21 017 658 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council agreed to provide training to its housing staff to ensure they can recognise when someone is reporting a possible statutory nuisance and how to refer the complaint, or complainant, to the appropriate Council team.
• The Council agreed to review how it manages adult social care assessment to ensure it can arrange and complete these within a reasonable period of time.

Case Ref: 21 014 338 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to ensure that dates for response are agreed with complainants at the outset of the complaint process.
• The Council has agreed to ensure staff are clear about the need to record conversations and keep an accurate record of decisions.
• The Council has agreed to review, at senior level, the process by which the Council takes advice from health colleagues on discharge and puts this into practice.

Case Ref: 21 012 734 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Noise

• The Council will review its procedure for how it progresses noise nuisance investigations and actions during seasonal periods, in which an alleged nuisance does not occur, to avoid delays and missed opportunities to address the issue with the person, or business, who causes the nuisance.
• The Council will remind its Environmental Protection officers to communicate with complainants during key stages of the Council’s noise investigation, including when there are delays or an investigation is taken longer than anticipated.
• The Council will remind its staff about the expected timeframes for the Council to acknowledge and respond to the complaints it receives, and to tell complainant if there are delays in the process and when a response will be provided.

Case Ref: 20 013 525 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• A senior officer of the Council with no prior involvement in the complaint will undertake a review of the complainant's case. The review will focus on the Council’s contact responsiveness, its complaints process and the time which lapsed without a solution being made available. The review will identify improvements to be implemented by the Council in order to enhance its communications policy and timely delivery of services.

Case Ref: 20 010 797 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: COVID-19

• The Council will remind relevant staff to provide a written decision in response to requests to update business rates records.