Case Ref: 22 009 996 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will review its home-to-school travel policy to ensure it provides clear information about the tests it must apply when deciding to pay for school transport.
• The Council will provide staff training, to ensure all relevant staff which includes those carrying out school transport decisions/appeals as well as the Special Educational Needs Disability team are aware of the three stage test process. The decision which this service improvement resulted from will be shared as part of the training.

Case Ref: 22 005 703 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Friends and family carers

• The Council should review its procedures for handling statutory complaints about children’s services so they are clear that complainants can progress to stage two if they are unhappy with the outcome of Alternative Dispute Resolution.
• The Council should review the use of mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution and ensure that the process sets out how recommendations of an independent facilitator are to be considered, actioned and communicated to a complainant.

Case Ref: 22 004 105 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• 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.

Case Ref: 22 003 115 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• At asenior level, the Council will undertake a detailed written review into thefailings identified in this statement. This will focus on its delays inimplementing timely alternative provision and the effective monitoring andrecording of decisions relating to what provision is suitable in thecircumstances. The Council will adopt measures to identify when alternativeprovision must be implemented and what arrangements are needed to ensure thisis provided. The review will also inform service improvements and policychanges, as well as specific feedback and areas of needed training to thoseinvolved in the case.

Case Ref: 22 014 808 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• The Council should create an action plan addressing the delays that have occurred in assessing Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards requests. The Council should state how it will reduce the backlog of outstanding requests and respond to ongoing new requests in a timely manner.
• The action plan should consider a remedy in line with our published Guidance on Remedies for those cases where a request is not approved, and an unlawful deprivation of liberty has had a potentially harmful impact on that person.
• The action plan should consider a remedy in line with our published Guidance on Remedies for those cases where a request is approved but with less restrictive measures, and an unlawful restriction of liberty has had a potentially harmful impact on that person.

Case Ref: 22 010 168 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council will provide updated guidance to complaint officers clarifying the legal position around complaints and appeals, in particular that case law affecting the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction does not bar councils from considering complaints itself or prevent a complainant pursuing other legal remedies such as judicial review.

Case Ref: 22 009 834 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council will review all complaints made to the Council in the last 12 months concerning children out of school; consider if the Council has applied its section 19 duties correctly in light of this decision and; if the Council finds it has erred, take action to remedy any injustice.

Case Ref: 22 009 683 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Disabled children

• The Council should share this decision with relevant staff and remind them of procedures for agreeing changes to care packages outside of the funding panel

Case Ref: 22 009 496 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• Remind all inclusion officers that they have an obligation to check any school provided provision is suitable when a child unable to attend for medical reasons or otherwise. And that it is the Council’s obligation to provide provision when the school’s is deemed unsuitable.
• Remind staff within the education department that government guidancedoes not expect alternative provision to be solely in an online format when children areunable to attend school.

Case Ref: 22 009 371 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Residential care

• The Council will remind its Financial Assessment Team to include the Council’s rates with care providers in its communication with individuals and their representatives when arranging care placements. This is to ensure individuals has a clear understanding of their care costs at the time and any potential top up payments.
• The Council will remind its staff to progress permanent care placement without delay before respite placement ends in line with wishes of the person care for, or their representatives.