Case Ref: 21 004 225 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to: •provide the Ombudsman with evidence of the internal processes the Council has in place to monitor the progress of its Education, Health and Care Plan annual review process timeliness.
• •provide details of the action it has taken to address delays in processing annual reviews to ensure such delays do not continue to occur and say how this has been implemented
• •undertake an audit of Education, Health and Care Plan annual reviews of the 30 cases identified by Ofsted following its recent inspection of the Council’s SEND services as part of the monitoring process. This is to ensure the Council is carrying out annual reviews in a timely manner, issuing decision notices and completing Education, Health and Care Plan annual review processes in accordance with statutory guidelines
• •report the Education, Health and Care Plan review audit finding with the Ombudsman.

Case Ref: 20 008 750 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to develop a procedure to ensure that where it appears a child or young person is not receiving the provision set out in their EHC plan, robust action is taken without delay.
• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the importance of responding to parent’s concerns in a timely manner.

Case Ref: 20 005 381 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Fostering

• The Council has agreed to confirm what steps it has taken to ensure Fostering Reviews are finalised within a timely manner to prevent delays for foster carers about outcomes.

Case Ref: 20 005 120 Category: Planning Sub Category: Enforcement

• The Council has agreed to provide training to members of its planning committee on probity in planning and how to properly explain its decisions.
• The Council has agreed to develop a process for monitoring outstanding enforcement complaints to ensure that, wherever possible, investigations are completed within the target timeframes.

Case Ref: 20 004 940 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council will provide information to say what it has done to address the causes of thedelay in carrying out the financial assessment.

Case Ref: 20 001 925 Category: Planning Sub Category: Planning applications

• The Council agreed to ensure officers are reminded of the need to have evidence justifying their decisions of compliance with conditions.
• The Council agreed to establish why the delays with the complaints procedure happened and take steps to ensure they are not repeated in the future.

Case Ref: 19 015 983 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• Review its EHC plan procedures to ensure: it does not place barriers in the way of parents/guardians requesting a needs assessment, such as requiring or unnecessarily inviting the school to request the assessment, to prevent the delays experienced by Mrs X from recurring. it considers carrying out an interim review of a EHC plan in the event of a change of circumstances, such as a child out of school, to ensure the provision still meets the child’s needs.
• Reviews its procedures to ensure the Council meets its responsibilities under the statutory guidance ‘ensuring a good education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs’ to arrange full time education (or as much education as a child’s health condition will allow) when it is clear a child will be out of school for more than 15 consecutive or cumulative days and ensures officers are aware of the Council’s responsibilities in this area.

Case Ref: 19 019 437 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• That the Council will: Review its leaflet on paying to live in a care home and other information given to service users about care home charges to ensure they are fully aware they will be charged a client contribution even if their capital is less than £14,250.
• Ensure, by training or other means, that officers also explain the client contribution when providing or discussing information to service users on care home charges and record an explanation has been provided.

Case Ref: 19 018 061 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will Issue staff with guidance about the procedure and timescales for EHC reassessment.
• The Council will review its procedures to ensure they comply with the SEN regulations and code in respect of the process and timescales for responding to reassessment requests and issuing final plans.

Case Ref: 19 013 986 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council has agreed to remind staff to update the Council’s billing system as soon as it is notified about a service user’s change of address.