Case Ref: 24 003 213 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will issue a reminder to its Special Educational Needs and Disability staff to ensure they are aware of the Council's duty to respond to personal budget requests received during the Educational, Health and Care Plan annual review period.

Case Ref: 24 010 564 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• Consider if the delay in increasing Mr X’s priority to band A caused him to miss an offer of a property during the period of delay. In doing so, the Council should consider any bids made by Mr X during this period and consider if any would have been successful but for the delay in increasing his priority to band A. If the Council finds Mr X missed an offer it should offer an appropriate remedy.
• By training or other means, remind officers of the low threshold fortriggering the Council’s duty to provide interim accommodation when anapplicant first makes their homelessness application. It should also remindofficers of the provisions of section 21.25 of the Homelessness Code ofGuidance when dealing with applicants who may be fleeing domestic abuse
• By training or other means, remind officers that they should assess thesuitability of interim accommodation offered to applicants to ensure it meetstheir needs and keep brief records of the assessment
• Establish a system for checking whether an applicant has booked intointerim accommodation in order to check whether the booking has been utilisedand to resolve any issues with the booking.
• By training or other means, remind officers that it should seekevidence from an accommodation provider to establish if an eviction wasjustified in the event the Council relies on the eviction when ending itsinterim or temporary accommodation duty.

Case Ref: 24 004 187 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review its commissioning arrangements generally to ensure they can meet current demand for occupational therapy provision.

Case Ref: 24 000 784 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind the front-line special educational needs staff and their managers of the Council’s absolute duty to ensure delivery of special educational provision included in children’s EHC Plans. The Council should provide us with evidence it has completed this action.

Case Ref: 23 019 535 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Other

• The Council will take action to ensure that relevant staff are aware of their powers to respond to vermin problems originating from private property.

Case Ref: 23 018 774 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review its procedures to ensure amended final Education Health and Care Plans are issued by the 31 March deadline for those young people transferring to post-16 college placements.

Case Ref: 23 014 602 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to review its policies and procedures in relation to suitability reviews to ensure it is correct and send a reminder to all housing staff that suitability reviews should be carried out regardless of whether the applicant has accepted the accommodation.
• The Council has agreed to remind complaint handling staff to ensure they provide complaint responses within timescales.

Case Ref: 23 012 457 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will remind the Social Housing Providers who process applications to its housing register of the importance of referring applicants to the Council’s Housing Options team where there are any indications the Council may owe a homelessness duty.

Case Ref: 23 000 304 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council did not take sufficient steps to ensure support was given in an Education, Health and Care plan when a young person was out of school in 2021-2022. The Council will share the Ombudsman's final decision with relevant staff to remind them of the need to ensure that the support in an Education, Health and Care plan is delivered whilst an alternative school is sought.
• The Council will consider what further steps it can take to reduce delays in responding to complaints about a lack of support in Education, Health and Care plans and about alternative education.

Case Ref: 22 017 458 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council has agreed provide the Ombudsman with an action plan to ensure similar delays in sending out financial assessments do not happen in future.