The Council will highlight to staff that section J of a child or young person's Education, Health and Care Plan must include the information required by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Code. If the Council becomes aware that section J of a final Education, Health and Care Plan is not suitable, it must amend the Plan.The Council will amend its policy on Education, Health and Care Plan personal budgets and direct payments to reflect that it is responsible for deciding whether to agree direct payments. The Council will also amend the policy to represent the restriction created by clause 9 of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 more accurately.

The Council has agreed to remind staff of the need to consider mental capacity assessments and Best Interest decisions when there is a change in a person’s presentation.

The Council agreed that it would review its current practice and procedure for communicating with those waiting for social care needs assessment. It agreed this would cover providing information on likely waiting times, giving periodic updates and providing contact details in the event of any change in circumstances potentially making an assessment more urgent.The Council agreed it would review its current practice and procedures when social work staff were unexpectedly absent from work. It needed to ensure it had a process in place to respond to urgent contacts from users of the service, and non-urgent contacts where staff were absent for more than five working days.

The Council has agreed to remind its social care officers and managers of its duty (under paragraph 19.77 of the care and support statutory guidance) to continue delivering care to someone while a dispute about their ordinary residence is being resolved, if it was delivering care to them on the date the dispute arose.

The Council agreed to remind the relevant officers to ensure an estimated personal budget is shared with the person at the start of the care and support planning process.The Council agreed to review how it ensures care visits are charged in line with what is recorded within the support plan

Review and, where necessary, update its guidance and procedures to ensure recovery action is paused while discount/exemption applications are under consideration, that any court costs are reviewed promptly where later decisions extinguish or reduce liability, and that these steps are clearly communicated to taxpayers.

By training or otherwise, remind relevant staff of the Council’s overarching responsibility of providing temporary accommodation to applicants under the main housing duty. This includes having oversight of the management of the properties where the Council secures the temporary accommodation through a registered provider / property letting agency.Ensure the Council issues formal offer letters including details of the right to seek suitability review of the accommodation, when the Council has to move an applicant from temporary accommodation to new temporary accommodation even in an emergency.Ensure the Council discharges its duty by completing suitability assessments before interim or temporary accommodation is offered to an applicant.•remind relevant staff that where the Council owes or has owed the main housing duty to an applicant, the Council has a duty to protect the applicant’s personal belongings if there is a risk it may be lost or damaged in situations.

The Council will review how it manages and oversees transfers in Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans for children and young people moving to its area to ensure it complies with Section 15 of the SEND regulations 2014, and how it communicates with young people and their parents or carers about important decisions within the EHC process and subsequent appeal rights. The Council will identify a timebound action plan to complete any improvements that are required to avoid the same faults occurring in the future.The Council will consider a decision we made which found fault in how it handled a young person's Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan over a period of two years at a relevant scrutiny committee and decide if there are any further actions the Council intends to take in relation to the identified faults.

The Council will ensure all officers responding to complaints are aware of our Complaint Handling Code, with specific reference to section 5.4 which states: the person responding to a complaint should clarify with the complainant any parts of the complaint they are unclear about, and give the complainant a fair chance to set out their position.

Produce an action plan to demonstrate how the council will ensure that it is following the relevant legislation and guidance in relation to Electively Home Educated children and children with Education, Health and Care Plans. This action plan should provide details about how it will meet the following outcomes:a) Ensuring relevant staff are aware that a child’s Education, Health and Care Plan needs to be updated when they become Electively Home Educated and put in place a process to ensure this is completed. b) Ensuring relevant staff are aware that the Council has a duty to consider whether it is appropriate to continue to fund a child’s Education, Health and Care Plan provision when they become Electively Home Educated and put in place a process to ensure this is completed.c) Ensuring relevant staff are aware of the Council’s duty to either find a suitable school placement or provide education for a child when a parent confirms they no longer wish to Electively Home Educate their child. d) Show how it intends to address delays with Education, Health and Care Plan annual reviews and production of Education, Health and Care Plans within the statutory timescales.e) Ensuring relevantstaff are aware of the statutory requirement and timescales in issuingnotification letters following a child’s annual review meeting includingproviding information about a person’s right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal.