Case Ref: 25 004 513 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will remind staff dealing with complaints of the importance of following the statutory complaint procedure in relation to the education of looked after children.

Case Ref: 25 003 208 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has awarded a backdated personal travel budget.

Case Ref: 25 002 580 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Provide details of the measures it has put in place to update its personal budget processes to prevent delays in making payments in the future.
• Provide details of the measures it has put in place to prevent delays in the annual review process in the future.

Case Ref: 25 000 703 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will review the complaint and identify the issues that led to the individual being left without any adult care services provision. It will report back to the Ombudsman on the steps it will take to avoid similar issues happening in future.

Case Ref: 24 021 919 Category: Other Categories Sub Category: Other

• The Council should consider our guidance on the Principles of Good Administrative Practice and:a)It should review and revise its allocation scheme, to include clear information and details of processes. Including when and how applicants and scored and explanations of how specific applicants are shortlisted;b)It should review and include processes of how it records the allocation of future plots to allow oversight and ensure it can evidence its decisions in line with its updated scheme; c)It should review its retention policies to ensure it keeps records for an appropriate amount of time;d)It should ensure it has a system in place to record and monitor dates of contact it should make with its applicants in line with its scheme; e)It should create an internal guidance note to explain what would warrant a high or low score for each allocation criteria to ensure consistency across applicants; andf)It should write to all applicants on its waiting list to advise of any changes it makes to its allocation scheme and the reasons for these.g)It should send the LGSCO an update at the three-month point with evidence of what progress it has made on this by that time.

Case Ref: 24 021 698 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will issue a written reminder to its relevant special educational needs and disability staff about the Council's section 42 duty to secure special educational provision.
• The Council will ensure it has a system in place to check the special educational provision is in place when a new or amended Education, Health and Care Plan is issued or there is a change in educational placement.
• The Council will ensure it has a system in place to check the special educational provision at least annually during the Education, Health and Care Plan review process.
• The Council will ensure it has a system in place to quickly investigate and act on complaints or concerns raised that the special educational provision is not in place at any time.

Case Ref: 24 021 592 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will share our Guide for Practitioners: Children's statutory complaints process with the relevant staff and ensure they are aware of the correct process to follow when managing children's services complaints which fall under the statutory process.

Case Ref: 24 020 735 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council will send us evidence of a review it says it carried out of its allocation processes for cases where a capital threshold referral has been made, to ensure prevention of further delays. This will provide us with assurance the Council has carried out the review it says it has done. This will help to ensure care assessments are carried out in a timely manner and where applicable, Council funding will start before the service user's finances reach the upper capital limit.
• The Council will send us evidence of the training it says it has put in place in relation to the Mental Capacity Act. This will provide us with assurance the Council has carried out the training it says it has put in place. This will ensure relevant staff communicate with service users about mental capacity assessments in an appropriate, professional and consistent manner.

Case Ref: 24 019 955 Category: Transport and highways Sub Category: Highway repair and maintenance

• The Council will produce a policy explaining how it will take enforcement action against riparian owners who do not meet their maintenance responsibilities.

Case Ref: 24 019 438 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Disabled children

• The Council will issue a staff briefing to adjudicating officers involved in the statutory complaint procedure. The briefing should remind them of the importance of outlining how financial remedies have been considered against our guidance, on cases where the outcome of stage two or the stage three panel has instructed the Council to do so. This will help to ensure there is no confusion caused to service users about how the the financial remedy has been calculated by the Council against our guidance. It will also help to ensure additional time and trouble is not caused to service users in chasing this information from the Council after the complaint procedure has concluded.