Case Ref: 22 013 602 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will provide guidance to staff working in Adult Social Care to ensure they understand the Council’s duty to meet eligible care needs unless a carer is willing and able to do so.

Case Ref: 22 012 077 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review its processes to ensure relevant staff are reminded to keeps parents appropriately informed as to the progress of Education, Health, Care needs assessments.
• The Council will review its processes to ensure it issues final Education, Health, and Care Plans within statutory timescales and minimises delays, sending guidance to appropriate staff members.

Case Ref: 22 011 432 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to provide training / reminders to relevant staff of the need to to keep the suitability of accommodation under review and to respond to relevant changes in circumstances which may affect the suitability. Staff should be reminded of the need to document reviews and record decisions.

Case Ref: 22 002 278 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to remind its officers of the timescales set out in the Homelessness Code of Guidance for making homelessness enquiries and ending the relief housing duty.
• The Council will remind officers it has an onging duty to consider whether temporary accommodation provided to homeless individuals remains suitable for their needs, accounting for any changes in the person's circumstances.
• The Council will remind officers that offers of temporary accommodation, made under the main housing duty, are decisions that should be made in writing. It will also remind officers these decision letters should clearly set out the applicant's right to appeal.

Case Ref: 22 001 023 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Provide training to all relevant staff about the Council’s duties in relation to s19 alternative education provision and their responsibilities in respect of this, including awareness of issues around neuro diversity, autism/PDA and ADHD.

Case Ref: 21 015 477 Category: Housing Sub Category: COVID-19

• The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to keep a proper record of how they consider whether an applicant is in priority need, including whether they are vulnerable.
• The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to make appropriate enquiries with children's social care where an applicant is seeking to add a child to their housing application so it can consider whether to make an exception to its usual position that it will not do so unless the parent is the child's primary carer. If it declines to make an exception it should set out its reasons in writing.
• The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to issue formal decision letters with appropriate information about rights of review and appeal, in line with relevant law and guidance.

Case Ref: 22 005 826 Category: Housing Sub Category: Other

• The Council should tell the Ombudsman what action it will take to avoid repeated failures in this case.
• Remind relevant officers of the importance of record keeping, PHP reviews and communication of decisions in writing with review rights included.
• • Remind relevant officers of the importance of record keeping, PHP reviews and communication of decisions in writing with review rights included.

Case Ref: 22 003 938 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council should review decisions to exclude people from its register for the past three months to see if anyone has been wrongly excluded for not having a fixed address.
• The Council should advise staff dealing with complaints that they should pass complaints which canbe dealt with as review requests (e.g. homelessness or housing allocations) tothe appropriate team for action.

Case Ref: 22 003 470 Category: Planning Sub Category: Enforcement

• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the statutory time limits involved with planning applications and the need to keep affected parties informed when there are delays in both the planning and enforcement processes.

Case Ref: 22 002 575 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council will provide relevant staff with guidance on recognising and appropriately responding to complaints.
• The Council will remind staff to properly consider all the available information when considering appeals against decisions it has made about emergency priority for housing applications.