Case Ref: 24 000 454 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Issue a reminder to staff that the duty to provide suitable alternative educational provision under Section 19 remains with the Council.

Case Ref: 23 007 164 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• Review its Appointeeship Policy to clarify when best interest decisions should be taken.

Case Ref: 23 001 890 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to identify the action it will take to ensure the relevant parties are properly informed when contributing to best interest decisions, and to ensure that reasons for best interests decisions are recorded, especially when the decision is disputed.

Case Ref: 23 001 704 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council failed to complete stage two of the complaint procedurein line with the statutory timescales. It has already taken action to improveits services. It will provide the Ombudsman with evidence it has improvedtimeliness in its stage two response in the children’s statutory complaintprocedure as a result of its service improvements.

Case Ref: 22 013 828 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will send a reminder to its social workers and other officers working on assessments that, when there are delays in meeting care and support needs, we would usually expect to see evidence of the assessor revisiting the plan with the service user and, for example, considering interim measures.

Case Ref: 22 013 591 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Direct payments

• The Council will provide staff training on the Council's duties to meet needs identified in Care Act assessments, and the need to consider alternatives to direct payments when it becomes clear these are not working.

Case Ref: 22 004 958 Category: Planning Sub Category: Planning applications

• Review its policy for leasing properties to ensure it checks properties have the correct planning permissions for their proposed use and meet the relevant building regulations.

Case Ref: 22 006 598 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council is updating its policy on safe walking routes for home to school transport to ensure it is compliant with statutory guidance and Road Safety GB guidelines and to ensure officers conduct assessments of the whole route, including large roads and road crossings, which to date have wrongly been excluded from its policy.
• The Council will revisit how it handles school transport appeals to ensure they are conducted fairly and impartially in line with statutory guidance and each case is considered on its own merits.

Case Ref: 22 002 667 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will remind staff to ensure a receiving care home confirms it has received sufficient information about a potential resident, and has agreed it can meet their needs, before confirming a placement.
• The Council will remind staff to ensure that representatives are involved in decisions about future care home placements and that this is noted in the case records, particularly in cases where there is a Lasting Power of Attorney in place for a person who lacks capacity.

Case Ref: 22 002 147 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to ensure staff are trained in autism in accordance with the guidance to the Autism Act 2009.