Case Ref: 22 011 889 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Other

• The Council will consider the appropriateness of whether to provide information about the Community Trigger process on its online support for anti-social behaviour. The Council will provide the Ombudsman with an outcome of its review and its reasons for any decision it makes.

Case Ref: 22 011 782 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Council tax

• The Council will remind council tax andcomplaint officers that the Council should consider using discretion to reducecouncil tax bills when asked to do so, even if the request does not refer tothe relevant legislation.

Case Ref: 22 008 774 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will remind its Adult Social Care staff and managers to only issue warning letters about a person’s or their representative’s behavior, or obstructions, if this is evidence and justified in the circumstances.
• The Council will remind its Adult Social Care staff and Complaints Team to respond to stage two complaint requests within the timescales set out in the Council’s Complaints Policy. This includes sharing its decisions not to investigate complaints under stage two without delay.

Case Ref: 22 007 121 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour

• The Council will carry out a training session for officers dealing with antisocial behaviour complaints to ensure they are aware of the community trigger process.

Case Ref: 22 009 421 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council will remind staff to give proper scrutiny to any relevant supporting evidence and the need to explain their reasons for not relying on the evidence where they decide not to.
• The Council will remind staff of its policy for social need and hardship points. This includes the importance of considering all the factors listed in the policy and ensuring the decision reasons are recorded in full.

Case Ref: 22 004 833 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will review its school transport policy to ensure that it clarifies the 75-minute journey time referred to is for a one-way journey and not for both legs of the journey combined.
• The Council will provide guidance to all staff considering applications and appeals for free school travel passes to make sure they are applying the 75-minute journey time and the nearest qualifying school criterion correctly.

Case Ref: 22 001 475 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Child protection

• The Council has agreed to review the operation of its three stage complaints process to identify where it can make changes to prevent delays.

Case Ref: 22 000 368 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to establish a responsive repairs schedule classifying categories of repairs andtime scales to repair with Managing Agent B. This should provide clear guidance to Council officers on how to handle reports of persistent disrepair issues with Managing Agent B from homeless applicants, including details of when to consider inspecting the property. The Council should consider publishing this repairs policy on its website so it is easily accessible to relevant homeless applicants and report back on this.
• The Council has agreed to circulate a reminder to relevant staff on the need to retain robust records of suitability assessments of temporary accommodation, including with regards to affordability.
• The Council has agreed to circulate a reminder to relevant staff on the duty to keep the suitability of temporary accommodation under review and to respond to suitability review requests in writing with clear reasons for any decision that is made. This reminder should clearly set out the circumstances when the Council must notify the applicant of their right to request a section 202 review of a suitability decision.

Case Ref: 22 000 208 Category: Other Categories Sub Category: Other

• The Council should explain what it will do to improve its record keeping and internal sharing of information, in light of the inaccurate findings in its stage 2 review.
• The Council should amend its decision template letter to clearly give complainants their appeal rights, or to sign post directly to where the appeal rights can be found.

Case Ref: 21 013 025 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Noise

• The Council confirmed it reminded officers of the need to fully respond to queries raised in noise reports by members of the public.
• The Council confirmed it reviewed the initial warnings, and the first warning letters it sends out, so they now give examples of the person’s behaviour the Council is concerned about.
• The Council confirmed it accepts dealing with complaints was severely impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic but, work was done by the complainant's ward councillor and a service manager to resolve the complainant's concerns.
• The Council confirmed it introduced a new case management system for logging and processing complaints which has improved its complains handling from January 2022.