Case Ref: 23 001 973 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Assessment and care plan

• Remind finance officers to fully consider the evidence they have received when carrying out the assessment.

Case Ref: 22 018 099 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will consider recent statutory guidance on school attendance and absence due to mental health reasons and consider if changes to its guidance, training or approach are required to reflect this.

Case Ref: 22 017 884 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council will use this complaint as learning for officers to ensure they correctly update residents' address records and that this is reflected across Council departments.

Case Ref: 22 015 567 Category: Education Sub Category: Alternative provision

• The Council will share the Ombudsman’s guidance on the principles of good administrative practice with Special Educational Needs team officers. This will remind them of the need for accurate and timely record keeping as a future evidence base and to communicate in a timely and effective manner with those concerned.
• The Council will remind officers dealing with Special Educaiotnal Needs complaints of the need to handle these in line with the Council’s published policy and timescales and share the Ombudsman’s guidance on effective complaint handling for local authorities with them. This will help to ensure complaints are dealt with in a timely, accurate and effective manner.

Case Ref: 22 009 826 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council has agreed to review its commissioning service for social care support to children with SEN to see if any action can be taken to improve the availability of support workers.

Case Ref: 22 005 421 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Safeguarding

• Remind staff to provide progress updates to service users with complaints considered under the statutory complaints process as far as is reasonably practicable, in line with the Regulations.

Case Ref: 22 004 736 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council agreed to review how it considers expenses related to disregarded properties in care and support financial assessments. It should ensure it fully considers individual circumstances when deciding if it is reasonable for someone to contribute to the costs of their former home.
• The Council agreed to remind its staff making financial assessment decisions of the need to fully explain their decisions, including their consideration of any evidence.
• The Council agreed to review how it considers appeals against financial assessments for care and support. It should ensure that its policy clearly explains the process for considering appeals and that there is enough independence from the original decision maker.
• The Council agreed to review its procedures for placing holds on outgoing debt recovery mail to ensure these are effective in preventing further correspondence being generated and sent.

Case Ref: 22 004 577 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will consider what action it can take to improve access to alternative provision in its area and inform the Ombudsman of its findings.
• The Council will issue a memorandum to complaint handling staff, drawing their attention to the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies and our expectations as to a suitable remedy where we find fault resulting in a child missing education.

Case Ref: 22 003 365 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council will remind relevant officers that stage three panels of the children's statutory complaints procedure should be conducted within 30 working days of a request, and if officer availability is causing undue delay, the panel chair has discretion to decide to proceed without them.

Case Ref: 22 003 220 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Circulate a reminder to staff that the duty to arrange s19 alternative provision lies with the Council and cannot be delegated to schools. Also, that regardless of whether an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) provides for support in school, the 1996 Education Act Section 19 duty will exist if the child is not attending that school.