
(AGENPARL) – ven 24 marzo 2023 Welcome to News from the Ombudsman, bringing you the latest information, news and views from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. []
News from the Ombudsman – Early Spring 2023
Welcome
Welcome to the latest edition of News from the Ombudsman.
In this edition you can read about:
– How councils are responding to their duties towards people at risk of homelessness
– Our new Ombudsman
– Our response to a report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission
– How we are working on the SEND improvement plan
– Our plans during this year’s local elections
Vulnerable people may still not be getting the help they need when facing homelessness
Our new report highlights where we have found councils missed opportunities to help prevent people from becoming homeless.
The Homelessness Reduction Act was introduced to give councils with housing responsibilities in England more duties. They have to help people at risk of homelessness earlier in the process, to help prevent them becoming homeless in the first place.
But five years since the Act came into force, some councils are still struggling to get it right, leaving some of the most vulnerable people in society suffering the consequences.
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Paul Najsarek appointed interim Ombudsman
Paul Najsarek has been appointed as the interim Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, following the retirement of our current Ombudsman Michael King at the end of the month.
With extensive experience in our key jurisdictions in local government and adult social care, Paul has been appointed by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). He will be taking over from Mr King, whose tenure finishes on 31 March.
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EHRC latest – our response
Evidence published by EHRC in its report has revealed local authority processes are confusing and slow, with risks that people do not get the care they need. Social care users, and their loved ones, find making complaints difficult and stressful, often at a time when they are in crisis.
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Government SEND improvement plan
The Department for Education (DfE) has published its SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan.
This is the next step of the Department’s work in this area, following on from its SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper.
We provided evidence for the green paper, using learning from the complaints we have investigated, and met with officers in DfE to discuss what our casework reveals about the SEND and Alternative Provision systems.
The Improvement Plan contains some encouraging words about clarifying and potentially improving our role in the SEND system.
We continue to work with DfE on what this could look like in the future.
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Local elections in England
Many authorities across England will be holding their local elections in May.
Over the coming weeks this will have implications for many people involved in local government. During this ‘pre-election period’ organisations should not publish any material which might affect the outcome of an election, or compete for media space with those campaigning.
For us, this means that we will not be publishing any critical press releases or public reports about those authorities that are holding an election.
We’ll still be issuing our weekly decision bulletins and newsletters as usual.
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News you may have missed
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We look at individual complaints about local public services and all registerable social care providers in England.
We remedy injustice and share learning from investigations to improve services. When we find a council or care provider has done something wrong, we recommend how it should put it right. We are free to use and make our decisions independently.