Case Ref: 24 015 692 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• Within three months of the final decision the Council should:• Carry out service improvements to ensure that complaints are fully responded to;• Review how the Council can improve communication where the Council sends out multiple charging letters on the same day or close together, it will also tell people of the final amount to pay.

Case Ref: 24 011 718 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Fostering

• The Council will remind relevant staff that during the Local Authority Designated Officer process they must ensure they provide foster carers with an opportunity to respond to any allegations against them before the investigation is concluded.

Case Ref: 24 010 672 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to remind staff in its special educational needs and disability (SEND) team and its complaint handling teams that the Council has a duty to make sure the child or young person receives the special educational provision set out in section F of an Education, Health and Care Plan and this duty is non-delegable. The Council should not inform parents or carers that this is the responsibility of the school.

Case Ref: 24 008 929 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• Review its approach or policy to providing support to meet the eligible outcomes of parent carers to ensure officers consider individual circumstances when deciding what support can be offered. This is to ensure the Council does not fetter its discretion when considering what support should be offered to meet eligible outcomes

Case Ref: 24 008 195 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Provide evidence of the staff training that has taken place to improve record keeping to prevent delays when case workers change roles.
• Arrange a transition review with Mrs X and Y to include representatives from family services and adult community services to discuss Y’s future plans;

Case Ref: 24 011 007 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to send me details of how many others are affected by the difficulty in sourcing OT support and the steps the Council is taking to improve the supply of available therapists

Case Ref: 24 008 941 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• By training or other means, remind officers of the Council’s approach to supporting young people outside compulsory school age to maintain their placement in the event they are struggling to attend. The Council should also remind officers that they should promptly explore what support should be offered when they are first notified of a young person struggling to attend their placement. This is to ensure the delays identified in this complaint do not recur.
• By training or other means, remind officers responsible for dealing with requests for stage two complaints that they should be satisfied the stage one response has adequately addressed the complaint when considering whether to investigate the complaint at stage two.

Case Ref: 24 002 727 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the action plan it has in place to address how it will meet statutory timescales for annual reviews.

Case Ref: 24 001 995 Category: Education Sub Category: School exclusions

• The Council has agreed to use this case as a case study in a relevant training session for officers to ensure they understand their duty to arrange suitable, full-time equivalent education, tailored to the specific needs and circumstances of each child requiring alternative education arranged by the Council.

Case Ref: 24 001 931 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review whether it has suitable processes in place to check that all elements of Section F in a new or amended Plan are fully in place, and that additional funding requests are consideredand decided in a timely way.