Case Ref: 24 010 091 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to investigate the reason for the delay in issuing the Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan for the child in this case and identify actions to implement to ensure it meets statutory timescales with regards to EHC Plans following reviews.

Case Ref: 24 000 311 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Direct payments

• Write to staff to remind them of the importance of keeping accurate records.

Case Ref: 23 020 586 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Provide if already in existence or produce a plan detailing what action it is taking to address the shortage of EP’s and the delays in issuing EHC Plans and take it to the relevant scrutiny committee or panel for this issue.

Case Ref: 23 017 854 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will explain to staff in its education service that they can issue a final Education, Health and Care Plan naming a type of school instead of a particular school.
• The Council will review why the Council failed to consult with any potential schools for the complainant's child between May and December 2023 and what action it needs to take to prevent a similar fault in future. If the Council identifies actions to take, it should send the Ombudsman an action plan setting out how it will take those steps and when by.

Case Ref: 23 011 396 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind all staff of the deadline for issuing EHC plans where a child is to move between key phases and of the importance of keeping families told of any delays.

Case Ref: 23 006 977 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council has agreed to review all other cases involving deputyship fees for service users for the past 12 months in light of our findings and reassess the charges in those cases where necessary.

Case Ref: 22 003 504 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council was at fault when a local adult social care provider acting on its behalf wrongly billed a deceased resident's family for outstanding care fees. The Council has agreed to demonstrate that the local adult social care provider has carried out an investigation into why the family were incorrectly billed despite receiving evidence from the family to disprove its calculations.
• The Council was at fault for failing to identify during its complaints process that it was the organisation responsible for the total cost of the placement and instead passed the responsibility for some of the outstanding fees onto the resident's family. The Council has agreed to show that improvements have been made to a local adult social care provider’s systems for billing residents to prevent this fault occurring in future.
• The Council has agreed to show that it has taken steps to improve a local adult social care provider’s approach to transparency and communication with the Council at all times, but particularly when being investigated.
• The Council has agreed to remind its complaints team and adult social care team that disputes over top-up fees are not only matters for the complainant and the care provider, if the Council has commissioned the care.

Case Ref: 22 002 085 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council will provide evidence to the Ombudsman of the actions taken by the care home to ensure staff are aware of the procedure to follow with residents belongings and when a fall takes place.

Case Ref: 22 001 418 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will consider the increase in monitoring of care needs assessments and re-assessments as well as care and support plans being sent to service users.
• The Council will consider introducing more prominent recording of any reasonable adjustments required by service users in the assessment or re-assessment documents as well as care and support plans.The Council will provide evidence that this has happened.

Case Ref: 21 018 898 Category: Planning Sub Category: Planning applications

• The Council will review its complaints procedure to ensure that all complainants receive a response in line with its published timescales or an explanation where this is not possible and that referrals from the Ombudsman are acted on promptly.
• The Council will review its training and guidance to relevant staff to ensure correct information is provided about potential enforcement action with particular reference to prior approval applications.
• The Council will review its enforcement procedure to ensure that reports are prioritised appropriately and members of the public are kept updated as necessary.