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: 24 006 454 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.

Case Ref: 23 014 461 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will share the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation and a copy of our focus report Out of school, out of sight? with relevant officers. This is to emphasise the Council's Section 19 duty to secure suitable alternative education provision when a child is out of school for health reasons. The Council will also use the Ombudsman's findings to identify wider points of learning.

Case Ref: 23 010 626 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council review its approach to free school meals taking into account recent Government Guidance that addresses children unable to attend school. Free school meals: guidance for schools and local authorities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
• The Council ensure officers have sufficient training and guidance to intervene when they become aware a child is receiving less than fulltime education and understand their s.19 Education Act duty.
• The Council review whether it has robust processes to complete EHC needs applications on time and how to deal with cases where delay may lead a child to miss education. Where a disabled child will be out of school for an extended period the Council should also consider the holistic needs of the family and consider signposting parents to other sources of advice, for example a Parent Carer Needs Assessment via social care.

Case Ref: 23 008 538 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council is already reviewing and improving its section 117 aftercare processes. This includes updating the process for recording section 117 aftercare plans, staff training and updating its computerised records system. The Council will send us copies of its action plan for these improvements. We have therefore not made further recommendations for service improvements in this area.