The Council will remind relevant staff of the importance of giving full information about paying for the costs of care, including information about how a person's contribution to those costs will be calculated, and about personal budgets and what happens if a person chooses a care home or care package that exceeds this.The Council will remind relevant staff of the importance of ensuring that bests interests decision are kept under review.The Council will remind relevant staff of the importance of not setting arbitrary limits on the amount it will pay for a person's care and ensuring that in reaching decisions on any potential changes to their care, such as moving them to a care home or a cheaper care home, it assesses the likely impact of the proposed change on the person's wellbeing.

By training or other means remind staff of the Council’s referral processes to its commissioned advocacy services. This is to ensure people are appropriately referred to and have access to independent advocacy in line with the provisions of the Care Act 2014.By training or other means remind staff of the importance of providing information about its safeguarding enquiry process and communicating outcomes to the service user and/or representative(s) in a timely manner.

The Council will review its handling of this complaint and related communications that indicates safeguarding concerns. It will then share any lessons learned from the review in anonymised format with the appropriate teams.The Council and the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) will jointly review, and if necessary update, the systems and protocols they have in place for transferring care responsibilities from one organisation to another. This should include risk management and information sharing, both at the point of transfer and during any lead-in or transition period.

The Council was at fault failing to ensure a young person did not experience a break in care services when she moved into its area. The Council will review the events in this case relating to continuity of care and in particular, the Council's communication with the other council involved in this complaint. It will also review the lack of staff awareness on the continuity of care duties as evidenced in this case. It will identify areas for learning and training and will send the Ombudsman an action plan setting out how it intends to address those shortcomingsThe Council will review how it communicated with the young person's representative from April to December 2022 and will identify areas for learning and training. It will send the Ombudsman an action plan setting out how it intends to address those shortcomings.

The Council will provide the Ombudsmen with a copy of its revised record-keeping guidance for staff, along with the accompanying email from the Caldicott Guardian.