Case Ref: 23 018 780 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• As a result of an investigation into actions taken by the Council after safety concerns nearly led to a nursing home closing, it agreed to revise its standard operating procedure for care provider failure events. This would be to ensure the procedure provided greater clarity about when steps set out in the procedure would take effect as investigation found this was currently not clear.

Case Ref: 23 016 843 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will send a reminder to officers dealing with reviews of EHC Plans to ensure they are aware of the timescales they need to meet when issuing a decision following a review and that the letter needs to reflect the decision reached at the review.

Case Ref: 23 016 017 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to decide what changes are needed to its Education, Health, and Care (EHC) Plan processes, or staff training, to ensure it has systems in place to:check provision is in place when it issues a new or substantially different EHC Plan, or there is a change in educational setting; andproperly investigate complaints or concerns that provision is not in place at any time.
• The Council agreed to decide what changes are needed to its complaint handling processes to ensure when someone escalates their complaint to Stage 2, it properly records this and responds.

Case Ref: 23 015 722 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council has agreed to arrange a meeting with the care home to discuss the lessons learnt from this complaint.

Case Ref: 23 012 191 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will monitor way it reviews CHC request progress.
• The Council will monitor communication about processes with service users.

Case Ref: 23 011 300 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• Share learning from this investigation with the relevant teams.
• Ensure the relevant teams are issued with reminder guidance on giving clear information about the need to make a financial contribution towards care. Ensure this includes the necessity to do this at the first available opportunity, and to do so in writing.
• Ensure the relevant teams are issued with reminder guidance on the process to be followed when considering carer’s needs, and the necessary documentation to be completed to evidence this.

Case Ref: 23 009 050 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will review the complaint and provide a report on any lessons it has learnt.

Case Ref: 23 008 035 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will make clear to officers that the Council is under a duty to secure the special educational provision in a child or young person's Education, Health and Care Plan. While the Plan is in force, the duty remains even if the Council does not agree the provision is still necessary.
• The Council will review its involvement in securing the community support hours for the child complained about. The Council will identify any areas where it could and should have taken action to make sure the child got the full provision they were entitled to as soon as possible. The Council will send the Ombudsman details of those areas and what action it will take to prevent similar fault in future.

Case Ref: 23 007 574 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will carry out a review of this case to identify the reasons why the Council did not provide the provision set out in the Education Health and Care Plan and explain how it will prevent a recurrence.
• The Council will carry out a review of this case to identify the reasons for the delay in providing a new Special Educational Needs and Disability caseworker and in responding to the communications. It will explain how it will prevent a recurrence.

Case Ref: 23 013 365 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will ensure there are enough staff in the district team to deal with processing annual Educational, Health and Care plan reviews within the legal timescales. The Council will tell us in writing what changes it has made to staffing with reference to staffing levels before and after this complaint.