Case Ref: 21 009 789 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will remind the school transport appeal panel that its decision notice needs to include reference to all the evidence considered.

Case Ref: 21 007 520 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council has agreed to review how stage three investigations make recommendations at the end of the investigation. The Council should review how it will address parts complaints that are upheld and ensure there are actions to ensure these are addressed.
• The Council has also agreed to share the final decision with the stage three panel.
• The Council has agreed to review whether further visits were recorded that did not take place, and audit other cases where the social worker may have populated visits. If the Council finds that other visits were recorded, it should consider whether a referral to the appropriate regulatory body is necessary. The Council should tell the Ombudsman of the result of this audit.
• The Council has agreed to review how and when it communicates with parents about health concerns and developments for children, and consider providing further training to staff in this area.

Case Ref: 21 003 003 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• Training for all relevant staff about the Council's public sector equality duty and the importance of asking about and making reasonable adjustments
• written guidance for all relevant staff on reasonable adjustments, including how to seek information and examples of adjustments that can be made
• review and amend existing staff procedures and applications forms to ensure questions about reasonable adjustments are imbedded in the process when a person approaches the Council as homeless or in need of housing. Revised procedures should include methods for ensuring any reasonable adjustments are clearly recorded and consistently provided.

Case Ref: 21 000 853 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to look at why there was a failure to deal with the complaint sent in April 2021 properly and promptly.

Case Ref: 21 000 037 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Noise

• The Council agreed to take steps to ensure it knows why there are gaps in the evidence it provided in support of its response to our enquiries.
• The Council agreed to ensure officers are reminded of the need to have a proper record of their consideration of, and their decision on, evidence provided privately by a complainant, such as an acoustic report.
• The Council agreed to ensure officers are reminded of the need to have clear records of reviews, and decisions taken on those reviews, after witnessing, or having monitoring equipment evidence, a breach of an abatement notice.
• The Council agreed to give officers clear updated guidance about the noise procedure it expects them to follow, especially following breaches of abatement notices.

Case Ref: 21 004 877 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Other

• The Council should review its policy on abandoned vehicles, considering whether it should update its policy to include contacting the police when prescribed by the relevant law and amending the number of days it provides for notice to registered keepers.

Case Ref: 21 001 107 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to review the way it plans, records and monitors (refresher) training of adult social care staff who are responsible for carrying out needs assessments.

Case Ref: 20 000 246 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council will draw up an action plan to address the faults identified in this statement (or provide evidence its practice development programme does so). That action plan should include: consideration of how to keep the service user/vulnerable adult at the centre of the planning rather than being deflected by what the family's wishes are; carrying out mental capacity assessments where a person's mental capacity is questioned and arranging a best interests meeting as soon as possible following that if the person is assessed as not having capacity; the need to fully complete the record from the best interests meeting to show the options considered and the final decision reached; consideration of the circumstances in which advocacy should be considered and/or some type of mediation where there is a difference of opinion or a person wants to return home and the partner disagrees; and consideration of progressing a safeguarding referral where a family has requested it be put on hold.

Case Ref: 19 018 849 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has acknowledged that cannot show how it considered all the information it had when it decided the complaint's housing priority. The Council will consider whether there are any lessons to be learned from its review of how it considered the complainant's housing priority. It will write to the Ombudsman and the complainant about this.

Case Ref: 19 015 370 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council should review why it took so long to produce support plans for the care of young adults in their home, and specifically consider the actions of staff on the ‘front line’, along with line management and any other relevant oversight arrangements. The review should attempt to establish whether any shortcomings were specific to this case or evidence of more systemic issues. Finally, the Council should produce an action plan to address any issues its review identifies, with the aim of preventing recurrences.