Case Ref: 21 014 747 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• the care provider has agreed to review with its senior managers:its systems for monitoring compliance of all staff with its policies and procedures;its policies and procedures for first aid training and checking staff competency in first aid and emergency procedures, and its system for ensuring all staff know at all times who to call, as the on-duty qualified first aider, to provide immediate basic life-saving first aid;its procedures, guidance and training for staff about monitoring, and testing, blood sugar levels of service users with diabetes and when to seek medical intervention;its policies and procedures form an agreement oversight of the day-to day care of individual service users and monitoring of daily logs and care records; andits policies and procedures for training and guidance to staff about the assessment of risk to service users’ health and well-being, responsibility for the escalation of concerns and seeking medical intervention.
• the Council and the ICB have agreed to:make its quality monitoring teams aware of this decision;if it has any service users at the care provider, take appropriate steps to satisfy itself the provider is providing a suitable level of care; andmonitor the care provider’s response to our recommendations.

Case Ref: 22 009 552 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• Remind the Home of the importance of appropriate record keeping and the importance of alerting relevant staff if the care plan is not being followed and needs to be amended.

Case Ref: 22 008 901 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Council tax

• The Council has agreed to consider what steps it can take to improve its procedures to enable the Council to respond to complaints in accordance withits published complaints procedure.

Case Ref: 22 001 734 Category: Planning Sub Category: Enforcement

• The Council will take action to ensure it has a process in place to inform planning enforcement complainants of any significant delays in casework, to manage expectations.
• The Council will take action to ensure it has a process in place to monitor service complaint outcomes; that is to ensure agreed actions are completed.
• The Council will publish its complaints policy on its website.

Case Ref: 22 001 561 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will make arrangements to actively monitor all cases where families are in Bed and Breakfast to find alternative accommodation before the six week limit is reached.

Case Ref: 21 019 077 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Child protection

• Remind staff of the need to consider exercising discretion when considering historic matters which fall within the remit of the statutory children’s complaints process.

Case Ref: 21 018 143 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• the Council has also agreed to review its Home to School/College and Adult Learner Transport Policy to ensure it is clear to staff that the cost and suitability assessment of school transport arrangements should be clearly recorded. There should be clear guidance on the statutory guidance’s requirement that for travel arrangements to be suitable, Council staff must be satisfied the travel arrangement is “safe and reasonably stress free, to enable the child to arrive at school ready for a day of study”.

Case Ref: 21 017 734 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• Reviews its housing allocations policy to:•ensure applicants are aware that registered providers may have their own occupancy and eligibility criteria and the Council can skip a bid if an applicant does not meet the registered providers eligibility criteria;•ensure it operates in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 and address the potential discrimination risk to applicants with medical priority who may not be considered for all the properties they bid on due to registered providers’ eligibility criteria.

Case Ref: 21 017 233 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind relevant staff of the government guidance in considering and responding to school travel assistance requests and appeals, including telling the applicant about the factors the Council considered and how it made its decision.
• The Council will provide training to relevant staff about Special Educational Needs travel eligibility where the qualifying school is named on an Education, Health and Care plan.
• The Council will review all Special Educational Needs transport requests it has declined since September 2021 and identify if it has declined travel assistance to schools named on Education, Health and Care plans. If any are identified the Council will take appropriate steps to remedy any injustice caused by that decision.

Case Ref: 21 012 086 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Council tax

• The Council agreed to tell officers to place a minimum 28 day hold on recovery action on council tax accounts when it received a resident's council tax appeal. The Council also agreed to a senior officer reviewing such cases before removing a hold on recovery action from a council tax account.