Case Ref: 23 013 462 Category: Education Sub Category: School admissions

• The Council will update its Fair Access Protocol to include a process and timescale for referrals to the Secretary of State for the direction of admission to academy schools.
• The Council will arrange internal training with its officers in the Admissions/Fair Access Protocol/Children Missing in Education teams to go over the service improvements. The Council will also use the training to refresh officers’ knowledge around the Fair Access Protocol and the requirement to escalate applications without delay if a pupil is off-roll and not receiving any education.

Case Ref: 22 016 333 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• By training or other means remind relevant staff of the requirement to carry out an Education, Health and Care assessment within four weeks of notifying the Tribunal it has conceded and agreed to assess a child or young person.
• Remind relevant staff of the requirement to issue a final Education, Health and Care Plan within 20 weeks from the date an assessment was requested.
• Provide guidance to relevant staff about the importance of making reasonable adjustments such as arranging advocates for service users to access its services. This is to ensure the Council complies with its legal obligations under the Equality Act 2010.
• By training or other means remind relevant staff of the importance of completing carer’s assessments to ensure support needs for carers are identified and met in a timely manner.

Case Ref: 23 004 040 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will review its transport policy and ensure it is in line with the position set out in S and another v Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council [2012] EWCA Civ 3

Case Ref: 23 002 787 Category: Housing Sub Category: Allocations

• Issue a briefing note to staff who deal with housing applications and reviews, reminding them of the need to consider the full extent of the Council's discretion under paragraphs 1.2.2.2 and 1.2.2.4.

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.