Case Ref: 22 005 213 Category: Housing Sub Category: Private housing

• The Council will remind relevant officers in its Tenancy Sustainment Team of their responsibilities to seek evidence when tenants contact them to advise of properties that they say have poor conditions. Officers need to consider if further investigation is needed into whether the conditions were such that the property might be unfit for human habitation. They should routinely follow up enquiries and liaise as needed with, for example, the tenant, the Council’s Private Sector Housing Team and homelessness team.
• The Council will remind relevant officers in its Private Sector Housing Team of the need for accurate, complete and contemporaneous records. And the need to consider whether any advice or support needs a written confirmation or follow-up.

Case Ref: 22 004 656 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will review its direct payment process to ensure agreements are properly completed with the relevant financial information before signing.
• The Council will put in place arrangements to regularly review direct payment agreements to ensure they are being correctly managed and take prompt action as may be appropriate if this is not the case.
• The Council will review its financial assessment procedures to ensure assessments are regularly reviewed, a proper record is kept of all assessments and any client contribution is properly notified.
• The Council will review its systems to identify how a failure to pay an assessed client contribution was not highlighted for several years and take such action as necessary to ensure this does not recur.

Case Ref: 22 013 056 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• Investigate why its service failure continued after its complaint response acknowledging fault and provide a report to the Ombudsman detailing the outcomes, together with any service improvement actions it proposes to take.

Case Ref: 22 008 234 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to demonstrate that it has reminded Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) staff of the deadlines around Education Health and Care needs assessments and issuing draft and final Education Health and Care Plans.
• The Council's communication and complaint handling was poor when considering an Education Health and Care Plan. The Council has agreed to show its complaint handling team this case and remind complaint handling staff that their complaint responses should assess what has gone wrong, explain what has gone wrong to complainants and seek to remedy any injustice caused by the Council where possible.

Case Ref: 22 006 830 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• Prepare a briefing for relevant staff on the Equality Act, the public sector equality duty, and the need to consider and make reasonable adjustments.

Case Ref: 22 001 497 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to consider whether previous domestic abuse means a housing applicant is vulnerable, and record how it has considered this.

Case Ref: 22 000 866 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to ensure its managing agents have arrangements in place for individual billing of utilities when placing residents in temporary accommodation with communal areas.

Case Ref: 22 000 662 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• • Present this case to the relevant committee to consider how the service failure in relation to supply of temporary accommodation can be addressed

Case Ref: 22 000 354 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to ensure it notifies applicants of the right to request a review of decisions made about the allocations scheme.
• The Council has agreed to ensure all housing staff are aware of the need to provide complete and accurate advice about homelessness, including the requirement to take a homeless application where they have reason to believe a person may be homeless.

Case Ref: 21 016 956 Category: Other Categories Sub Category: Other

• The Council should review its procedures for maintaining records of its executive key decisions and non-key decisions.
• The Council should review its guidance to officers and councillors about the requirement to have regard to the principle of transparency and openness in the decision-making process and its communications with parties affected by proposed decisions.