Case Ref: 23 015 732 Category: Other Categories Sub Category: Leisure and culture

• The Council will remind staff members working in its youth clubs to ensure notes are kept of meetings with parents, particularly where follow-up actions are agreed.
• The Council will remind officers dealing with complaints of the need to ensure the timescales set out in the Council’s complaints procedure are adhered to and that complainants are kept up to date when any delays occur.
• The Council will introduce a formal behavioural policy or review the existing risk assessment to include behavioural issues, how they will be managed, the options available and the means of challenging any decisions to exclude children for a period of time. When that is introduced the Council should carry out a training session for those working with young people in its youth centres.
• The Council will introduce a process to ensure the needs of children with special educational needs who access the Council’s youth services are recorded and to ensure a record is made of any reasonable adjustments required.

Case Ref: 23 015 396 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that refuge accommodation is not reasonable to continueto occupy beyond the short term and that therefore people living in refuges arehomeless for the purposes of part 7 of the Housing Act 1996.
• The Council has agreed to ensure any changes in allocated housing officer are communicated to theapplicant promptly, including contact details for the new officer.

Case Ref: 23 013 246 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• The Council will share the final decision with staff dealing with bin requests to highlight the need to properly communicate with service users and keep them informed of reasons for any delays.

Case Ref: 23 012 966 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to identify and implement a way of ensuring the actions agreed in an Ombudsman investigation are progressed promptly following a final decision.
• The Council has agreed to ensure the Council tells the Ombudsman in response to draft decisions if it will not be able to complete any recommended actions within the suggested timeframe.

Case Ref: 23 012 109 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will arrange for its Adult Social Care team to review this case to establish how it can prevent delays in the Adult Social Care assessment process such as: 1.considering reasonable adjustments in its triage process and ensuring its staff are familiar with any adjustments which has been agreed; 2.avoiding unnecessary delays to allocate social workers; and 3.avoiding unnecessary delays when it intends to quality review assessments or seek legal advice: and 4.updating policies and procedures as relevant and provide training to staff in its Adult Social Care to ensure existing and amended policies and processes are clear and followed without unnecessary delay

Case Ref: 23 010 172 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Traffic management

• Remind staff:•the Council’s website states parking in front of a dropped kerb for a footway is not allowed at any time•the London Councils Code of Practice on Civil Parking Enforcement says vehicles identified as persistent evaders that are not parked in a parking place, may be removed immediately after the issue of a Penalty Charge Notice•the Council’s complaints policy states officers should offer assistance to anyone who might have difficulties in writing their complaint, and that complaints can be submitted by webform, email, telephone or by letter•of the importance of keeping proper and appropriate records, including details of contacts from other professional bodies
• Share this decision with Members and remind Members and Council staff of the Council’s duty to consider reasonable adjustments when people with disabilities request adjustments to enable them to access services.
• Remind Members of the need to include the resident’s consent in the initial contact when making a Member’s Enquiry.
• Review the Member’s Enquiry policy with regard to the Equality Act 2010 and Public Sector Equality Duty, to include details of how service users can request reasonable adjustments, and how the Council will consider these requests.

Case Ref: 23 008 946 Category: Planning Sub Category: Other

• The Council will share the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation with relevant officers, along with a copy of the Ombudsman's focus report Equal access: Getting it right for people with disabilities. This is to provide officers with wider examples of faults and good practice concerning reasonable adjustments in service delivery and complaints handling.

Case Ref: 23 008 184 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure:it is able to respond to changes in circumstance which may affect an applicant’s housing priority within eight weeks; andit provides written notification if it is suspending a person from the housing register giving clear reasons why and a right of review.

Case Ref: 23 007 281 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will review and amend any internal policy documents, which say people should not be allowed to view any temporary accommodation (as opposed to interim accommodation) properties in advance of accepting them.
• The Council will review and amend any internal policy documents it has about the checks that should take place to ensure properties are in a reasonable condition before being offered to tenants.
• The Council will also carry out a review, to establish what went wrong in this case inrespect of the complaint handling. It should provide the Ombudsman with a report setting out what action it will take to ensure complaints are dealt with properly.

Case Ref: 23 006 138 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to remedy complaints from others affected by the delay making a main housing duty decision in line with our published guidance on remedies and the approach n this decision.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that the suitability of accommodation provided to homeless applicants must be kept under review and records kept showing decision making.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that the suitability of interim and temporary accommodation includes more than medical suitability and should consider all the relevant needs and circumstances of the applicant
• The Council has agreed to provide a report to the Ombudsman showing the Council’s progress to address the backlog of cases waiting for a main housing duty decision, including the extent of the backlog. The Council will also share this decision and a copy of the report with the relevant cabinet member or scrutiny committee.