Case Ref: 20 001 885 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Council tax

• The Council agreed to: review its processes and advise staff of the incident and its consequences and make the training/reference material more robust; target requests for detailed council tax reduction calculations and send them to a specific priority workstream so they are treated urgently and do not get mixed up with general correspondence; change the wording on council tax bills from a passive statement to request information to a more informed statement that it is a right to have it should you so wish, something akin to ‘You are entitled to a written statement setting out the reasons for the reduction decision or, details of the appeals procedure. Please contact us within one month to request this … which will be in bold to stand out on the page.’

Case Ref: 20 000 712 Category: Planning Sub Category: Planning applications

• The Council should produce a joint working agreement to ensure effective communication and cooperation between the Council and Northampton Partnership Homes on complaints.
• The Council should review information sharing arrangements between the Council and Northampton Partnership Homes so that information about complaints can be shared easily.
• The Council should arrange complaint handling training for all senior staff and staff responsible for responding to complaints at Northampton Partnership Homes and the Council.

Case Ref: 19 018 143 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Cemeteries and crematoria

• The Council has altered its procedure to ensure a baby will no longer be interred in the head of adult graves. When the Council becomes part of the new unitary authority it intends to adopt a policy to ensure babies are buried either in the baby section or in a full grave.