Case Ref: 21 002 921 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• To ensure that the delays in the statutory complaint handling identified in this complaint do not occur in the handling of future complaint the Council will provide evidence that it will ensure that it has a process in place which ensures that statutory timescales are met at stage 2 of the complaints procedure.
• The Council will also provide us with evidence that social work staff are reminded of the need to update care plans if necessary following review meetings or other changes.

Case Ref: 20 007 760 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will review its home to school transport policy and / or decision letters to ensure where there are two competing schools for a pupil with an Education, Health and Care Plan (the Council's and Parent's choice) the correct legal test ('The Dudley test') is applied to consider the efficient use of resources and Parents are advised of their right of appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.
• The Council will provide refresher training to special educational needs, transport staff and appeal members on the law regarding school transport where a parent of a pupil with an Education, Health and Care Plan has requested a school which is not the nearest school.
• The Council has identified from its own internal review eight cases where the same fault occurred. It will report the systemic fault to the appropriate oversight committee of Members.

Case Ref: 20 007 284 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• Council will also place the complainant's address onto the repeat issues list. The Council will monitor the waste contractor's actions to ensure it is following the repeat issues procedure, including ensuring all relevant records are made and kept. If the Council identifies that its waste contractor is not following the procedure, it should take action to address it with the contractor.

Case Ref: 20 006 542 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• •Carry out an audit of current EHC plans managed by the Statutory Review and Assessment Team to identify any other cases where there have been delays in the review process within the last 12 months
• •Produce an action plan to provide appropriate remedies to the cases identified where there has been delay
• •Carry out a review of its processes to ensure it is carrying out annual reviews, issuing decision notices and finalising amended EHC plans in line with the statutory guidelines

Case Ref: 20 004 796 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• •Carry out an audit to identify any other cases where there have been delays in assessing and issuing EHC plans within the last 12 months
• •Produce an action plan to provide appropriate remedies to the cases identified where there has been delay
• •Carry out a review of its processes to ensure it completes the implementation of EHC plans in line with the statutory guidelines

Case Ref: 19 017 443 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review its procedures for children who are out of education to ensure children are tracked until back in full-time education and it communicates effectively with families.
• The Council will review its processes for Education, Health and Care needs assessments to ensure correct advice is sought and discussed with parents.

Case Ref: 19 019 147 Category: Education Sub Category: School admissions

• The Council will also review all decisions in the 2020 admission rounds for parents of summer born children asking to delay entry to reception year. It should consider if those decisions have properly followed the Code and guidance. It should retake decisions that have not done so.
• The Council will revise the information on its website to ensure it is compliant with the Code and guidance on summer born children and deferred entry to school. It should include: • Information on how a parent or carer submits a request to defer entry; • Information about asking for entry into reception or year one and how the Council will reach a decision; and • Information about what to do if the parent or carer is unhappy with the Council’s decision.

Case Ref: 19 011 557 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• To improve its services the Council will ensure: • officers seek agreement from parents and professionals if the Council is relying on older advice when making decisions about issuing plans. • records from panels and decision letters are sufficiently detailed, including who has been involved in the decision, what information was considered and giving reasons for the decision. • decision letters following Resource Allocation Meetings include information about how the person can appeal or complain about the Council’s decision.
• The Council will also remind officers of: • the timescale for deciding not to issue a plan is 16 weeks from the date of the request for an assessment. The Council should ensure it holds any panels within this timescale and all the information requested has been returned. • the deadlines for issuing draft and final EHC plans when the Council concedes an appeal against a decision not to issue.
• The Council should provide an update to the Ombudsman on its progress towards addressing barriers to timely responses from health and social care providers.

Case Ref: 19 005 649 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to share the lessons learned around rigorous progress monitoring of cases, with its Occupational Therapists and their managers.