Case Ref: 24 003 489 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council will review its policy and/or training to relevant staff with consideration on how to improve the provision of timely information about the potential cost of a placement prior to undertaking its financial assessment process.
• The Council will review its processes so that it can identify when complaint responses have become delayed, and ensure complainants are kept informed on progress.

Case Ref: 23 020 194 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to reflect on the issues raised in this decision statement and identify any areas of service improvement, specifically around vulnerability assessments, case progression and suitability assessments. The Council should prepare a short report setting out what the Council intends to do to ensure similar problems do not reoccur. This report should be sent to the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 23 020 054 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• Provide guidance to staff to ensure reviews of assessments are carried out at the appropriate time intervals specified in them.
• Review the Care Provider’s action plan and this complaint to identify any other learning and share this with staff.

Case Ref: 23 018 365 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council should use this complaint as a case study to review its processes of how it deals with persistent or recurring disrepair reported by complainants. It should explore ways of improving liaison, information sharing and performance monitoring to ensure its managing agents meet the timescales and standards in its service level agreement. It should share a copy of any steps or action plan it makes from this.

Case Ref: 23 016 329 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will review its procedures to ensure complaints about interim accommodation are put through its complaints procedure.

Case Ref: 23 014 207 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Parking and other penalties

• Review its policy on footway crossings to make clear that all applications will be considered on their merits and the Council may disapply any of the requirements where there are good reasons for it to do so.
• Provide guidance to staff that reasoning for decisions about applications must be recorded and decision outcome letters must make this reasoning clear to applicants.

Case Ref: 23 013 511 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council agreed to review why it took so long to issue a Personal Housing Plan and act to ensure they are issued sooner in the future.
• The Council agreed to review what impact the steps it said it took, and is taking, to improve the number of properties available has, and is having, on homeless applicants known to be living in unsuitable accommodation.

Case Ref: 23 010 040 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council will review the record keeping for its service users on the social housing register to ensure the record keeping is orderly and the documents are easily accessible.
• The Council will promote a better understanding of the COuncil's duty to make reasonable adjustments for its service users by ensuring the staff from the Council's housing and complaint teams review our Focus Report 'Equal access: Getting it right for people with disabilities' issued in May 2022.

Case Ref: 23 009 398 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour

• The Council will send a reminder to officers dealing with antisocial behaviour and noise to remind them: a)of the need to follow the Council’s noise procedure when deciding whether to visit the person that has complained; and b)about the need to notify those who have complained about the ASB review process where more than three complaints of antisocial behaviour have been received within six months;
• The Council will send a reminder to officers dealing with complaints of the need to ensure complaint responses cover all the issues raised by the person that has complained.

Case Ref: 23 005 337 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council agreed to ensure its new policy for considering review of ongoing suitability of temporary accommodation sets out:the factors the Council will take into account when deciding whether to carry out a suitability review;how the Council will record its consideration of applications for a review of ongoing suitability;that the Council should provide a clear explanation of its decisions to those applying; andany decision should explain how an applicant can challenge the Council’s decision, including through its complaints policy, if they believe the Council has not considered their application properly.
• The Council agreed to review its policy on the protection of belongings for people for whom it has a duty, or a power, to take reasonable steps to protect belongings under the Housing Act 1996 and arrange suitable