Case Ref: 24 019 966 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Carry out a review of B’s case to identify what led to the failure to fulfil its duty to organise alternative provision for B.
• Remind staff of its duty to provide alternative provision when a child of statutory school age is out of school for health reasons, exclusion, or otherwise. The Council should consider sharing a copy of our focus report ‘Out of school…. Out of sight?’ and our final decision with the reminder.
• Provide evidence the Council has delivered the annual training to its staff, about its section 19 duties (Education Act, 1996). Should this not be complete, organise the training to be delivered within the next 12 weeks.

Case Ref: 24 018 578 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council will send us a copy of a written report of a quality monitoring visit to the care home. The report should set out an action plan for improvements to the care home's service in the areas where we found fault.

Case Ref: 24 014 498 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Remind relevant staff of the importance of effective complaint handling, adhering to timescales and ensuring a complainant is offered the option to escalate their complaint.

Case Ref: 24 013 800 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council was at fault for its poor communication and three month delay in issuing an Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council will remind Special Educational Needs and Disability officers to contact parents/carers the autumn term the year before the transfer to discuss the phase transfer process with them.
• The Council will update its website to include information about phase transfers so parents/carers are informed about what this is, when it should be carried out and the relevant timescales.

Case Ref: 24 010 440 Category: Education Sub Category: Other

• • Share this decision outcome with other Free Early Education Entitlement nurseries/providers in its borough to remind them of its expectations in terms of charging compulsory top-up fees in line with statutory guidance. Invoices and receipts should itemise all charges so parents can see they have received their child’s free entitlement and understand that in all cases, all chargeable extras must not be a condition of taking up a free place at nurseries.
• • Provide the Ombudsman with evidence to show the Council has put in place increased annual audits of nurseries in its borough to ensure they comply with Early Education and Childcare statutory guidance.

Case Ref: 24 006 454 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Domiciliary care

• The Council has agreed to work with the care provider to improve its records keeping, including the need to record significant conversations with family members and to help it understand the need to provide accurate information when responding to complaints.

Case Ref: 24 005 830 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to review thirteen cases in the past two years where we found fault with its duty under section 19 of The Education Act 1996, to provide alternative education to a child out of school. It will:produce a dated action plan of how it will avoid recurrence of the same faults by making changes to practice and procedure or staff training; andreport this review outcome and action plan to its relevant scrutiny and oversight committee, so it can decide how progress against the plan should be monitored.

Case Ref: 24 004 019 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to send us an action plan which sets out how, in future, it will overcome similar problems in delivering education to young people who have moved into its area.

Case Ref: 24 002 176 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council has agreed to demonstrate that it has taken steps to improve its timeliness for progressing annual reviews of Education, Health and Care Plans.
• The Council has agreed to remind officers working in its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities team of the importance of submitting up to date information to the internal panel, when seeking specialist education placements for children, and consider whether officers should have access to a basic checklist of what the panel requires, for officers to use before submitting requests.
• The Council has agreed to demonstrate that it has investigated what led to the delays in arranging alternative education provision for Ms X's child after the Council became aware that no education was being provided and has taken steps to prevent such delays in future.

Case Ref: 23 016 452 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to by training or other means ensure the relevant officers are aware of the Council's complaints policy which sets out the timescales for responding to complaints.