• Provide guidance to staff to consider any action required under the Council’s statutory duties when it becomes aware of non-attendance at schools, and to record all actions, communication and decision making as part of this consideration.

The Council will provide relevant staff training in making and recording decision-making and the importance of writing decision letters to ensure they give clear reasons for the decisions made. This will help to ensure it provides detailed reasons to people about the decisions it makes so there is a clear understanding about how the decision was reached.The Council will remind relevant staff of the importance of signposting to the Ombudsman at the end of the appeals procedure. This will help to ensure people know how they can escalate the matter further if they are unhappy.

The Council will consider the reasons for the delay in implementing the provision set out in the EHC plans and produce an action plan to ensure the issues are not repeated.The Council will consider the reasons for the delay in dealing with the complaint and produce an action plan to ensure the issues are not repeated.

The Council was at fault for failing to have suitable oversight of how it funded a young person's education and in how it decided to reduce the young person's funding. The Council will put the Ombudsman's decision to its family and children's services overview and scrutiny committee. This will allow the committee to consider the impact of poor oversight in this case, which led to the complainant misspending a large sum of money allocated for the education of a young person with special educational needs. The committee will also consider what steps are necessary to prevent the faults the Ombudsman identified from happening again. The Council will send the Ombudsman an action plan setting out the steps it will take as a result of the committee's consideration.