Case Ref: 24 014 685 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to issue a reminder to staff in its Special Educational Needs and Disability Service, about the statutory timescales for completing reviews of Education, Health, and Care Plans.

Case Ref: 24 012 196 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to provide guidance or training to relevant officers within Adult Social Care to ensure that complaint responses are comprehensive enough to address the concerns raised and provide a clear explanation of the findings and recommendations of the complaint investigation.

Case Ref: 24 012 011 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to amend the template for letters offering temporary accommodation to ensure theCouncil explains why it considers the offered property is suitable withreference to the needs and circumstances of the household. The Council will provide training orguidance to relevant staff as necessary.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that the Council has a duty to keep the suitability oftemporary accommodation under review and that it should make a new decision,with new review rights, in response to a change in circumstances or other newevidence.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the definition of a complaint and a service requestand that when deciding a matter is a service request, the Council should setout how the individual can complain if they remain unhappy.

Case Ref: 24 010 372 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council failed to consider a child's individual circumstances for travel assistance to and from college. It also failed to consider their Education, Health and Care Plan and disability when it made its decision and it did not properly explain its reasons for refusing travel assistance. The Council did not follow its appeal process. The Council will review and amend its procedures, appeal records and decision letters.
• The Council's travel assistance policy for post-16 is unclear and its wait time for an assessment for independent travel training is not reasonable.The Council will review and amend its travel assistance policy for post-16 so that it clearly explains independent travel training is not an offer of travel assistance; and it provides examples of what exceptional circumstances it would consider when assessing an application for travel assistance.

Case Ref: 24 009 734 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will remind those dealing with school transport cases of the need to ensure parents/carers are given the opportunity to attend stage two appeal panel hearings should they wish to and that decisions following appeals should explain the Council’s reasoning, addressing the points the parents/carers have raised.
• The Council will amend its school transport policy to make clear parents/carers should be given an opportunity to attend a stage two panel hearing to put their case in person.

Case Ref: 24 004 652 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will create an action plan in relation to the shortage of staff within special educational needs and disability. The action plan will have target dates and specify the steps the Council intends on carrying out to prevent delays to provision and lack of provision.
• The Council will remind staff to adhere to its complaints procedure to ensure they are effectively communicating with parents.

Case Ref: 24 010 566 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council has agreed to remind relevant complaint handling staff of the guidance linked to the children's statutory complaints procedure (The Children Act 1989) ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’ particularly around ‘who may complain’ and ‘what may be complained about’. This will help to ensure Council staff are fully aware of the statutory procedure and how this differs from its corporate complaints process.
• The Council has agreed to share the Ombudsman’s good practice guidance on the children’s statutory complaints procedure (The Children Act 1989) with relevant staff. This will help to ensure staff understand when the statutory procedure should be used to handle children's services complaints, rather than the corporate complaint process.

Case Ref: 24 009 410 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council agreed to remind relevant staff about the types of complaints which fall under the statutory children's complaints procedure and that the Council must follow that procedure when it applies.

Case Ref: 24 004 690 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• Remind line managers of departing caseworkers to notify customers of their departure and re-allocate their cases accordingly.
• Demonstrate how it will ensure that officers always carry out a suitability assessment to identify the household’s needs before making a placement in interim or temporary accommodation.

Case Ref: 24 004 223 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will ensure officers dealing with homeless applications check for relevant related cases or information as part of initial inquiries.
• The Council will identify and implement a process to ensure the Council acts on court orders affecting homeless applications in a timely way.