Case Ref: 22 015 416 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council has agreed it will review the way in which it presents information about charging and assessed contributions, and consider the provision of written information at an early stage or clear signposting to the relevant webpage.

Case Ref: 22 015 093 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will remind relevant officers of the duty it has to provide suitable transport from the date when Education, Health and Care plans are transferred to it from another council. This will help to ensure it arranges transport in a timely manner.

Case Ref: 22 014 905 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to share this decision with the Council officers dealing with SEN cases and emphasise the importance of issuing the final EHC plans within the legal timeframes following an SEND Tribunal.

Case Ref: 22 014 615 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council was at fault for delays in carrying out a financial assessment and issuing an invoice for the shortfall in the payments made towards the person's care. The Council will share the Ombudsman's decision statement with staff in its adult social care and finance teams so they can learn from what went wrong in this case.
• The Council will check its adult social care charging leaflet contains all relevant information and remind staff of the importance of sharing this with families at an early stage.
• The Council will provide guidance to relevant staff on what action to take if a family member refuses to complete a financial assessment form.
• The Council will review how it calculates its indicative contribution to ensure it is as accurate as it can be, keeps a record of how it is calculated for each case, and explain if the assessed contribution is higher it may recover the shortfall.

Case Ref: 22 014 341 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will remind its officer who deal with hospital discharge for people who are eligible for section 117 aftercare of the importance of following the guidance set out in the Mental Health Act 1983 code of practice.
• The Council will remind its officers of the agreed process in place set out in its 'Mental Health Act 1983 Aftercare Section 117 Responsibilities - Practice Guidance' to ensure the hospital discharge process is adhered to.
• Within six months of the final decision the Council will update us on the protocol it is working on to ensure there is an escalation process in place to jointly review cases where there are issues with service delivery when a person has eligible section 117 aftercare needs.

Case Ref: 22 013 844 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• We can consider the impact of the fault on others who have not complained to us and make recommendations. In this case, the Council will write to each of the 12 complainants it has identified were affected by its delay completing the stage two investigation into their complaints under the children's statutory complaints procedure. It will explain they have been identified following an investigation by the Ombudsman into another case where the person complained about delay in the statutory process. It will ask each complainant to confirm whether they have already brought a complaint about delay in completing the stage two investigation to the Ombudsman. If so, the Ombudsman will consider those cases individually.
• In respect of those complainants who have not already approached the Ombudsman to complain about delay, the Council will calculate what remedy payment to make for each eligible complainant. The amount the Council will pay will be calculated as £25 per month for each full month of delay above the statutory 65 working day timescale. The timescale starts from the date the complainant requested the Council conduct a stage two investigation until the date the Council completes the stage two investigation, or by the date of this final decision, whichever is the sooner of the two.
• The Council will complete the stage two investigations of those eligible complainants within 65 working days of this final decision. In issuing its stage two response, the Council will ensure each complainant is aware they can escalate their complaint to stage three of the statutory procedure, should they remain dissatisfied following completion of the stage two.
• The Council will review its practices to ensure they include a route of escalation to a senior manager when there is undue and avoidable delay in carrying out adjudications of stage two complaints.
• The Council will carry out training for all senior managers who carry out stage two adjudications. This will cover that adjudications are the final part of the stage two response, and the entire response should be completed in a maximum of 65 working days, in accordance with the law and statutory guidance, 'Getting the Best from Complaints'.

Case Ref: 22 013 473 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council will investigate why an early help assessment did not result in an early help plan or any follow up action and why social care did not participate in the Education, Health and Care needs assessment. The Council will share learning from this investigation with relevant officers.
• The Council will review its information, training and guidance for schools and officers about attendance and s.19 education, taking into account recent Government guidance about when school absence is due to mental health. The Council should ensure it has a clear referral process so it is able to make decisions whether to enforce attendance or provide s.19 education at the earliest opportunity.

Case Ref: 22 012 088 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will identify the reasons for failing to secure provision for the child and produce an action plan to demonstrate how the Council will address these going forward.
• The Council will identify the reasons for the delays in reviewing the child's Education, Health and Care Plan and produce an action plan to demonstrate how the Council will address these to meet statutory timescales for annual reviews going forward.
• The Council will remind staff dealing with complaints of the importance of putting forward a remedy for any injustice identified during the complaints process.

Case Ref: 22 010 984 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will put in place a process to ensure those EHC plans which need amendment following a review are followed up on and completed within the statutory timescales.

Case Ref: 22 005 025 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will say what steps it has taken to address the staffing issues that contributed to the delay in this case.