LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a planning application. This is because the complainant has not suffered any significant injustice.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s delay in deciding her homelessness application because there is insufficient injustice to justify our involvement. Ms X has rights of review and appeal in relation to its decision she is not in priority need and it is reasonable for her to exercise them.

Summary: Miss B complained about the actions of the Council in respect of her homeless and housing applications since 2022. We found fault with the Council for delays in reviewing her banding and resolving her homeless application properly. In addition to the direct offer of housing recently made to Miss B, the Council has agreed to apologise and pay her £1200. It has already reviewed its allocations policy.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s involvement in the care of Ms X’s grandchild. This is because it is a complaint about the start of court proceedings or what happened in court. It is also made late.

Summary: The Council was at fault because of a significant delay in reviewing and amending an education, health and care plan. This delay caused frustration and distress to the complainant and her son, and the Council has agreed to offer a financial remedy and write a letter of apology to reflect this.

Summary: There was no fault when the Council provided accommodation for Ms X’s family outside of its area, nor when it failed to make a direct offer of housing. However, there was fault by the Council when it failed to ensure that mould in Ms X’s temporary accommodation was treated in good time. This meant that Ms X lived in a house in need of mould treatment for too long. The Council has agreed to take action to remedy this.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s requirement for the complainant to get consent from the statutory undertaker to connect their surface water run off to a sewer. Further investigation is not likely to lead to a different outcome. And we cannot achieve the outcome the complainant is seeking.

Summary: Mr B complained that the Agency’s technicians who attended his home, did not properly test his electrical equipment and falsely certified that they had tested the equipment. We have found fault. The Agency has already remedied the injustice caused by the fault and has taken action to reduce the risk of the fault happening again.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council offering unsuitable accommodation in 2023. It was reasonable for Miss X to ask for a review of suitability at the time. The Council has since agreed to allow her to bid on more suitable properties for her current family needs.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about residential care charges. That is because it is a late complaint.

Summary: Mr X complained the Council wrongly decided he was he not eligible for additional priority on the housing register and delay. We found the Council was at fault because it took too long to process his request. The Council has already apologised for this delay, and this is an appropriate remedy for the frustration experienced by Mr X. It has also taken action to address the backlog of cases. There was no fault in how it reached the decision about priority because it considered the available evidence and applied its allocations policy.

Summary: Ms X complained about the Council’s decision to suspend her child, Y, from school transport. The Council accepts it should not have suspended Y and failed to consult Ms X. The Council has agreed to make a payment to Ms X and train its staff to prevent a recurrence of its mistake.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint of discrimination relating to the installation of a bollard to prevent vehicular access over a raised kerb to his driveway. This is because the complaint is late and the issue only affects Mr X now because he chose to purchase the property with the bollard in place. We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council has failed to take similar action against others because the issue does not cause him significant injustice.

Summary: We have decided not investigate Mr X’s complaint about a lack of social care for his child, Y, and a failure to properly consider his request for direct payments. The Council has accepted some fault and will investigate further using the statutory children’s complaints process.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a referral to the Local Authority Designated Officer. This is because there is insufficient evidence that the referral has caused the complainant significant injustice.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about highway maintenance because any injustice is not significant enough to justify our involvement and there is another body better placed to consider this complaint.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council consulted with a college in 2023 because further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the charges for her mother, Ms Y’s, care. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Penalty Charge Notice and the Council’s handling of the matter. It would have been reasonable for Mr X to appeal to a tribunal, thereby placing the matter out of our jurisdiction.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that the Council has not paid him compensation after his car was scratched by an overgrown roadside tree. This is because it is reasonable for Mr B to pursue his compensation claim at court.

Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s refusal to re-imburse a charity for accommodation which it provided to a homeless applicant. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Miss X could not have complained to us sooner.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the complainant’s personal information was shared between two Council departments. This is because the Information Commissioner is better placed to consider the complaint.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of a Penalty Charge Notice. There is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice to warrant investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this late complaint about the Council failing to update Mrs X’s child’s Education Health and Care Plan properly since 2018. Mrs X was or ought reasonably to have been aware of this matter much more than a year before she approached us.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about school admissions. We have no powers to consider complaints about academy schools.