Case Ref: 23 016 743 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will remind relevant officers and managers of the need to swiftly and properly investigate concerns raised about care being delivered by adult care providers acting on its behalf. This will help to ensure concerns are acted on in a timely and transparent manner.
• The Council will review its stance that quality alerts about adult care providers are not investigated when those receiving adult care delivered on behalf of the Council are hoping to move or have been placed out of the Council’s own area.

Case Ref: 23 016 007 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Safeguarding

• Share the decision with all staff involved in safeguarding investigations to ensure lessons are learn and similar delays do not occur in the future

Case Ref: 23 015 313 Category: Housing Sub Category: Managing council tenancies

• The Council will considerand plan how it can better communicate with landlords and manage theirexpectations about when they might receive their empty property back.

Case Ref: 23 013 539 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council agreed to develop and share with the Ombudsman an action plan to ensure it can process housing register review requests within the timescales set out in its allocations policy.
• The Council agreed to ensure all relevant staff have read our practice guidance on Medical assessments for housing application.
• The Council agreed to remind relevant staff that when making decisions about medical priority :for housingit is for the Council to make the decision about priority;decision makers should not simply accept the view of the Council’s medical adviser, but should weigh all the evidence, including any medical advice, before making their own decision; andthey should ensure there is a clear record of the issues considered and how the decision was made.

Case Ref: 23 011 292 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Safeguarding

• The Council should ensure a local adult social care provider has adequate health and safety checks in place to prevent a reoccurrence of the faults identified in this case.
• The Council should work with a local adult social care provider to ensure it has a process in place to inform Social Services when residents refuse care.
• The Council should remind its staff to consider personal remedies where it identifies, in the course of its safeguarding or complaints process, a person has experienced an injustice.

Case Ref: 23 010 319 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Friends and family carers

• The Council has agreed that it will publish a written policy on family and friends foster carers.
• The Council has also agreed to publish a leaflet for potential family and friends foster carers settingout the different options for children who cannot live with their parents andexplaining the financial implications of each for the carer.

Case Ref: 23 009 592 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Direct payments

• The Council agreed to review the information it provides to people who received direct payments for adult social care. It should ensure it provides sufficient clear, accessible information (for example, a straightforward user guide) that people can properly understand how direct payments work and what they need to do.
• The Council agreed to arrange refresher training for its social workers on how direct payments work and what people receiving them need to do to properly manage their payments.
• The Council agreed to review how its social work and direct payments teams work together to ensure that both teams understand their different responsibilities, that people are provided with consistent information, and that there are clear procedures to resolve disputes between the two teams.

Case Ref: 23 009 269 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to review its guidance to officers about the Council’s duties (as set out in paragraphs 15 & 16) to take homelessness applications and make inquiries into the applicant’s homelessness;
• The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure it does not have ‘gatekeeping’ practices in place, for example, failing to take a homelessness application at the earliest opportunity
• The Council has agreed to share the learning from this case with its officers.

Case Ref: 22 016 980 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council will review its corporate complaint handling to ensure:• It responds at both stages within the timescales set out in the Council’s complaint policy;• When upholding complaints it offers suitable remedies.

Case Ref: 23 005 701 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• Create action plan to clear housing register application backlog
• Provide applicants assessed as band 2 or higher financial remedy