Case Ref: 23 001 106 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• Refuse crews (borough wide) are using the in-cab system regularly. The Council have agreed to provide training for them if necessary.

Case Ref: 23 000 519 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• The Council agreed to remind officers making decisions about medical priority requests to ensure decisions are supported by reasons and refer to evidence considered.
• The Council agreed to review its guidance on housing allocations to officers about the need to consider exercising discretion on requests for separate space areas based on medical grounds.

Case Ref: 22 015 128 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will write to relevant staff and remind them of the requirement to inform a parent within six weeks of the transfer of an Education, Health, and Care Plan when the Council intends to complete a review of the plan and whether it intends to conduct a review of the child’s needs.
• The Council will write to relevant staff and remind them of the requirement to issue a final Education, Health, and Care Plan within eight weeks of a draft being issued.

Case Ref: 22 014 053 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the actions it is taking to ensure sufficient specialist school places.
• The Council will provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the actions it is taking to ensure sufficiency of alternative education within the area including home tuition.
• The Council will ensure officers have clear guidance about the use of unregistered provision.
• The Council will write to officers reminding them of the Council’s equality duties and how these may arise in cases of children with special educational needs and Education, Health and Care plans and what they should consider both when developing policies and when considering individual cases or requests for reasonable adjustments.

Case Ref: 21 016 871 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Looked after children

• Within three months, to ensure that delays in resolving immigration issues do not recur, the Council will:1. consider obtaining relevant information and documentation from parents, if possible, when a child becomes looked after about the child's immigration status, and ensuring the Council has a mechanism for checking and identifying whether a child does not have immigration status. There could be a prompt on the section 20 form (where a parent agrees to the child coming into care), or when a Care Order is made, reminding social workers of this duty;
• Within three monthe, the Council will:2. provide training for relevant staff to ensure the immigration of a looked after child is identified and actioned, together with training on any updated procedures;
• Within three months, the Council will:3. ensure that applications for immigration status on current looked after children are being properly undertaken, and taking immediate action where this is not the case.

Case Ref: 22 014 140 Category: Benefits and tax Sub Category: Housing benefit and council tax benefit

• The Council will update its guidance to relevant staff on handling late appeals and the requirement to pass disputed appeals to the tribunal, and provide a training update to the relevant staff on this issue.

Case Ref: 22 009 007 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will remind officers dealing with personal budgets of the need to ensure the person receiving the personal budget is aware of what is required to enable funds to be released.

Case Ref: 22 004 810 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council will issue written reminders to housing staff to ensure they properly notify homeless applicants of their rights when they are offered temporary accommodation.
• The Council will issue written reminders to housing staff to ensure they do not apply blanket policies and fully review medical evidence applicants provide in respect of why support animals are necessary.

Case Ref: 21 018 653 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

• Review its internal procedure for ensuring compliance with, and providing evidence of, any future recommendations made by the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 21 017 703 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• Remind relevant staff of the change to the definition of priority need introduced by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021.
• Amend relevant template letters, emails, and internal guidance to include the up-to-date definition of priority need.
• Remind relevant staff of the proactive duty to make reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act. Provide training or guidance as needed.