Case Ref: 22 007 478 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will carry out training with the relevant staff on its duties under the statutory children's complaints procedure, including when a complaint is eligible for early referral to the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 22 006 202 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will provide training or guidance to staff responsible for arranging Education Health and Care Plans to ensure they are meeting their duty to provide information to parents about the process involved.
• The Council will put in place a process to ensure it has oversight of requests for information from professionals to support an Education Health and Care Plan and to ensure the Council considers taking action if there is any delay in responses.
• The Council will provide training to staff responsible for children’s education on the Council’s responsibilities under s19 of the Education Act 1996, with reference to this decision and the Ombudsman’s Focus Report ‘Out of school….out of mind?’, available on our website.

Case Ref: 22 004 034 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind all relevant staff that it is the Council which has a duty to meet Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) provision.
• The Council will also conduct a formal review its oversight practices with respect to ensuring Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) provision is met in educational settings. The purpose of the review is for the Council to adopt measures so to prevent similar occurrences which result in a loss of EHCP provision. The review will also inform additional training and guidance to staff working in this area.

Case Ref: 22 003 724 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Child protection

• The Council has agreed to share a copy of the decision with those it commissions for the statutory complaints process. This should include communication about lessons learnt and how failing to fully investigate hinders the complaints process.
• The Council has agreed to review whether staff need further training about the Council’s responsibility to be proactive about its duty to consider reasonable adjustments.

Case Ref: 22 003 462 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will complete a review to ensure it meets it statutory duty to arrange alternative provision for children unable to attend school because of illness or otherwise as quickly as possible and can monitor any arrangements made through its Access to Education service to ensure they remain in place and provide suitable education.

Case Ref: 22 002 119 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will complete its review of the policy and practiceof direct payments.

Case Ref: 22 001 375 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will provide training for Special Educational Needs Service staff involved with personal budgets.
• The Council will ensure its annual review documents have a dedicated section for personal budgets.
• The Council has agreed to develop a process to ensure it can complete Education Health and Care Plans (including details of any personal budget) in time, when faced with changes in staff.

Case Ref: 22 001 001 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review its processes to ensure it issues final EHC plans within statutory timescales and minimises delays, providing evidence this guidance has been sent to appropriate staff members.
• The Council will review its processes on how it takes action when professionals miss deadlines in providing advice for the EHCP assessment process, providing evidence this guidance has been sent to appropriate staff members.
• The Council will identify what key steps it will take to ensure it improves its complaints handling, providing evidence of this.

Case Ref: 22 000 603 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council agreed to remind its staff responsible for Education, Health and Care plans of the importance of fully considering comments on draft plans, adequately recording their consideration of comments and explaining to parents why it intends to make, or not make, changes as a result of any comments.

Case Ref: 22 000 324 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will establish a clear policy relating to personal budgets and direct payments. This will include clear and simple statements of eligibility criteria and the decision-making processes. The policy will be published as part of the Council's Local Offer and made accessible to the public in accordance with statutory guidance.
• The Council will provide formal training to all officers who are (i)responsible for making personal budget decisions and; (ii) responsible forrecording written decisions relating to personal budgets. The training willfocus on the new policy referred to above and how decisions are to be properlymade and recorded to demonstrate good administrative practice in the future.
• a) At a senior level, the Council will review its systems and practiceswith respect to conducting reviews of personal budget decisions. Specifically,the Council will produce a template document informing parents of a personal budget outcome. This will contain information relating to a right of review.Further, the Council will develop a robust review process. This will includethe timetable for completing a review and how the decision will be reviewed.The Council will implement a practice of sending parents an outcome letter ofthe review exercise which fully explains how the decision was reached. TheCouncil will adopt further measures it considers appropriate following a ful lreview.