Case Ref: 23 008 968 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council was at fault in the way it dealt with a request for a review of an Education, Health, and Care Plan. It was also at fault in how it considered a request for elective home education of a child. It has agreed it will share our decision statement with its caseworkers to improve their awareness of the Council's policy.

Case Ref: 23 008 648 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will remind social care staff members to review care plans issued with a supervision order, in line with the arrangements specified in the care plan.
• The Council will remind social care staff of the importance of keeping clear, accurate and contemporaneous records of its decision making.
• The Council will remind officers responding to complaints of the importance of apologising where it identifies fault in its actions, and identifying any injustice caused to the complainant and any appropriate remedies. The Council will share our Guidance on Effective Complaint Handling with relevant staff members.

Case Ref: 23 007 234 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council should write and distribute a briefing note for all staff dealing with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHC Plans) to remind them of the Councils obligations to carry out Annual Reviews of plans and the correct process to follow to consult families and relevant professionals before issuing EHC Plans.

Case Ref: 23 005 344 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Remind relevant staff of the importance of effective complaint handling.
• Remind relevant staff of the importance of accurately recording information.

Case Ref: 23 001 581 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• Remind relevant staff of the importance of providing accurate information when writing to people.

Case Ref: 23 000 691 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Housing benefit and council tax benefit

• The Council will remind staff who consider Discretionary Housing Payment (DHP) applications and reviews to provide appropriate and consistent explanations to support decisions to refuse DHP applications. It should also remind staff to consider using discretion at each stage of the application process.

Case Ref: 23 000 664 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council agreed to review and amend its policy for children out of school with medical or health needs. It will ensure that:as part of the review, it completes an Equalities Impact Assessment for the policy, and gives due regard to reflecting equality considerations in the design of its policies and processes for accessing alternative education when out of school;the amended policy allows it to consider discretion about medical evidence requirements on a case-by-case basis; andthe amended policy makes clear that where a child is not approved for support from the Council’s Home and Hospital Tuition Service, and remains out of school, the Council must arrange other suitable alternative education, in line with its duty under section 19 of the Education Act 1996.
• The Council agreed to share a copy of our final decision with all staff across its teams that deal with children with special educational needs, or children out of school/ with attendance issues. It will draw its staff's attention to the:Council’s duties to provide suitable alternative education for a child out of school for any reason under section 19 of the Education Act 1996;Council’s duties under the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty;Council’s duties under the Human Rights Act 1998 to give due regard to respecting and protecting an individual’s rights;requirement to comply with statutory timescales for carrying out Education, Health, and Care needs assessments;importance of responding to queries in good time and keeping families updated; and complaint handling timescales set out in the Council’s complaints procedure.

Case Ref: 23 000 369 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• By training or other means remind staff of the importance of completing care and support assessments and carers assessments in a timely manner, using the appropriate assessment method(s) and in line with the Care Act. This is to ensure care and support needs are identified and met.
• Remind front-line staff about the importance of keeping service users’ cases moving and dealing with the cases in a timely manner.
• Remind relevant staff of the need to provide responses to complaints within the appropriate timescales in line with the Council’s complaint handling procedure.

Case Ref: 22 016 360 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Provide training to all staff regarding the Council’s responsibilities relating to section 19 alternative education provision;
• Provide guidance to staff relating to the EHCP process and their responsibilities to adhere to timescales set out in SENCOP.

Case Ref: 22 015 686 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council will remind staff dealing with housing register applications of the need to consider if there is reason to believe an applicant may be homeless or at risk of homelessness, and if so that the Council considers whether it owes a homeless duty and writes to the applicant with its decision and relevant rights of review and appeal.
• The Council will provide guidance to relevant staff about when an Occupational Therapy assessment to understand complex housing needs may be needed and remind them of the importance of recording how this is considered.
• The Council will remind relevant staff to consider, and document its consideration, whether a case should be dealt with outside of the housing allocations policy; and remind officers responding to complaints to clearly communicate what the next step in the complaint process is and to respond to all communications within the timescales set out in the complaints policy.