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.

Case Ref: 21 018 677 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review its processes to avoid delay in future cases in identifying and allocating special school places.
• The Council will review how it advises parents considering residential school options to ensure clear information is given at an early stage, including about the roles of Education and Social Care and the ways placements are funded.

Case Ref: 21 018 572 Category: Children's care services Sub Category: Other

• The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff they should cooperate with statutory complaintinvestigations in a timely manner.
• The Council has agreed to identify and implement a way to facilitate indirect contact between children in careand their families that is resilient to changes in staffing.

Case Ref: 21 018 357 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council will review its approach to arranging alternative education to ensure that it provides full-time provision or clearly records its reasons for deciding that a part-time timetable will provide a suitable education for the child. The record should include an assessment of how much the child can manage where they are too unwell to access a full-time education.

Case Ref: 21 016 577 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Charging

• The Council agreed to review how it records and monitors complaints to ensure that it properly records and responds to all requests for escalation to the second stage of its complaints procedure.

Case Ref: 21 014 866 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council has agreed to carry out a review of two clauses in its home to school transport policy. The first is to ensure it removes a reference that the Council cannot consider the safety of the route from home to designated bus drop-off and collection points as part of an appeal against a school transport offer. The second is to consider the role of its Customer Relations Officers in screening requests for home to school transport appeals at the second stage of that procedure. As matters stand both clauses appear incompatible with statutory Government guidance.
• The Council will revise its online appeal form for parents who want to appeal a home to school transport decision. This is to make clear they can appeal a decision about the transport offer made.
• The Council agreed to brief all relevant staff within the school transport service and its corporate complaints team on the procedural improvements agreed as a result of this investigation.

Case Ref: 20 010 788 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• Review its procedures for when students with EHCP’s transfer to its area from another local authority. Update that procedure to ensure it has systems in place to provide the support outlined in those students’ existing EHCPs, until such time as the Council completes any review and issues a new EHCP
• Review and update its complaint procedure to ensure it investigates complaints where the person has asked for a monetary remedy, unless it is clear the correspondence is a letter before claim, and to clarify that with the person making the complaint if necessary

Case Ref: 21 001 400 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council has agreed to: •identify the lessons learnt from Mrs T’s case where the parental preferred school was nearer than the school offered by the Council
• •share the identified lessons learnt with all staff who deal with school transport assistance applications.