LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax. This is because the complaint is late and there are no good reasons for this.

Summary: We found fault by the Council on Miss Y’s complaint about the Council failing to process her request for an Education, Health and Care plan within statutory timescales when it decided to issue it. It also failed to keep her regularly updated, delayed responding to her complaint, and failed to act on information from the school. The Council agreed to send a written apology, pay £7,600 for lost educational provision, review why it failed to issue the plan within statutory timescales, and act to ensure the failures are not repeated in future by setting out an Action Plan. It will remind

Summary: Mr X complained the Council repeatedly left his bin in the middle of the public footpath outside his property, rather than returning it to his property after emptying it. The Council was at fault, which caused Mr X frustration. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a payment to Mr X, monitor his future collections and create an action plan to ensure the refuse crew return his bin correctly after emptying.

Summary: We cannot investigate how the Council dealt with a member conduct complaint as the complaint is made on behalf of a parish council and so is not within our remit. The complaint about the Council’s response to an information request is best dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with Ms Y’s housing register application. There is insufficient evidence of injustice to Ms Y to justify an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about financial assessment for adult social care charges, and the Council’s decision about a deprivation of asset. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault in the Council’s decision-making process or reach a different outcome.

Summary: Mr X complains the Council failed to offer Mrs Y a choice of accommodation and wrongly charged her a top up fee. We found the failure to offer Mrs Y alternative accommodation which did not require a top up is fault. The Council will apologise for any uncertainty this caused.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s delay in securing social care support for Mrs X’s son. This is because

Summary: Mrs A complained about the care Somerset Council and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust provided to her daughter, Miss B, before her death. She complains the Council and Trust refused to provide funding for 24-hour care which Miss B needed, could not find Miss B a suitable care agency and tried to force the family to accept direct payments. Based on the evidence reviewed, we found no fault with the actions of the organisations.

Summary: We will not investigate the Council’s handling of a councillor conduct complaint as it is unlikely we will find fault in this.

Summary: Mrs A complained about the care Somerset Council and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust provided to her daughter, Miss B, before her death. She complains the Council and Trust refused to provide funding for 24-hour care which Miss B needed, could not find Miss B a suitable care agency and tried to force the family to accept direct payments. Based on the evidence reviewed, we found no fault with the actions of the organisations.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about delay in resolving issues with a traffic light. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s management of Mr X’s council tax account. This is because an investigation would be unlikely to result in a different outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice because he could have appealed to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal.

Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to provide suitable, full-time education for his son. We have discontinued our investigation as Mr X has submitted an application to seek a judicial review.

Summary: Ms D complained the Council has failed to provide her daughter J with suitable full-time education that met her special educational needs. We found delay in putting provision in place which caused J to miss out on some education. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Ms D to remedy the injustice that caused.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council's decision to grant planning permission. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify further investigation. We will also not investigate Mr X’s complaint about planning enforcement. This part of the complaint is late.

Summary: The Council was at fault for failing to provide school transport for Miss X’s child Y to the school named in their Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council will apologise to Miss X for the avoidable frustration caused by its fault. It will also provide school transport for Y, reimburse Miss X for the mileage costs she incurred in taking Y to school, and take steps to prevent recurrence of the same fault.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about delays in an Education Health and Care Plan assessment following a Tribunal decision. The Council has agreed to a proportionate way to resolve the complaint.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about housing policies. There is insufficient evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council’s Monitoring Office communicated with him over a decision to introduce a Low Traffic Neighbourhood zone. We will also not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a councillor. In both cases, there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the actions of enforcement agents acting on behalf of the Council. Mr X has used his court appeal right, there is not enough evidence of fault in how fees were applied to justify us investigating and we cannot achieve the outcome Mr X seeks.

Summary: Ms F complained the Council failed to put in place alternative provision for her daughter and delayed issuing a final EHC Plan. As a result, her daughter’s education has suffered and the family was caused significant stress. We found there was a five-month delay in issuing the plan and fault in not providing alternative provision for three school terms. The Council has agreed to apologise and pay Ms F £6,000 to be used for her daughter’s educational benefit to remedy the injustice.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a breach of planning control. This is because the complainant had the right to appeal to the Planning Inspector.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax recovery action. We could not achieve much more on some parts of the complaint. It would be disproportionate to investigate other parts. It is reasonable to expect Miss X to take court action on the point about the effect on her health.