LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: Miss X complains the Council failed to collect her recycling and refuse, and she was subject to verbal abuse from the crew. We find fault with the Council for the missed collections and behaviour of the crew, causing frustration and distress to Miss X. The Council has agreed to apologise to Miss X and take action to prevent this happening again.

Summary: Mrs X complained about the Council’s handling of her housing application for medical priority, causing distress and leaving her family in unsuitable accommodation for longer than necessary. We found fault by the Council causing injustice. We recommended the Council provide Mrs X with an apology and pay her £1200 for the time spent in unsuitable accommodation; £300 for distress and uncertainty and; £100 for time and trouble.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council determined his liability for council tax because he has appealed to a Valuation Tribunal and can pursue his complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X and Ms Y’s complaint about the Council’s children services actions. We cannot investigate issues which have been considered by a Court.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s calculation of her council tax bill and its recovery costs. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Summary: Mr X complains the Council has persistently failed to collect his garden waste. We find fault with the Council for the missed collections, causing frustration to Mr X. We have put forward remedies to ensure this does not continue.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s assessment of Miss X’s housing application and the suitability of her current temporary accommodation. There is insufficient evidence of fault which would warrant an investigation.

Summary: Ms B complained about the way the Council handled her application to the housing register. The Council wrongly excluded her from joining the register which meant that her application was delayed by over a year. The Council has taken appropriate action to remedy the injustice caused to Ms B and to address the wider issues. It will also apologise to her.

Summary: X complained about poor service and poor communication from the Council’s adult social care teams. The Council was at fault. It did not respond appropriately to reported safeguarding concerns, did not comply with an agreed reasonable adjustment and communicated with X poorly. The Council has agreed to consider the safeguarding concerns and keep X updated of any action taken, apologise to X and pay them £150 in recognition of the frustration and distress caused.

Summary: We did not find fault with the way the Council assessed Mr X’s housing application. It applied its housing allocations policy.

Summary: Mrs X complains the Council failed to take account of domestic violence when deciding her discretionary housing payment claim. We have completed our investigation because while there was fault by the Council, it did not cause Mrs X injustice.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council has dealt with Mr and Mrs X’s housing. This is because they have not complained to the Council about its actions and the Council has agreed to review the suitability of their current accommodation and there is nothing further we could achieve.

Summary: The Council was at fault for how it handled Mrs X’s request for medical priority on its housing register. This did not cause Mrs X any injustice so no remedy is recommended.

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about what a social wrote in a court report and how the Council submitted it. These matters are not separable from a court process, and we have no authority to consider them.

Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s failure to take action to deal with dangerous doors at a local nursery. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council and it is unlikely we could achieve any worthwhile outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about missed and delayed Council bin collections, and about officers not including his evidence during their investigation. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council to warrant us investigating. The actions taken and planned by the Council are in line with what we would have sought, so

Summary: The Council was at fault for the way it handled Ms X’s housing application. This caused Ms X injustice as she may have received a higher priority on the housing register. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice caused.

Summary: There is no general fault in how the Council investigated complaints of ASB both by, and against, the complainant. The Ombudsman cannot investigate the elements of Mr B’s complaint relating to the Council’s role as his landlord. We have therefore completed our investigation.

Summary: Miss X complained the Council delayed in accepting her family on its main housing duty. Miss X also complained the Council delayed in completing a medical assessment of her family’s needs. Miss X says this resulted in the Council delaying in providing her family with housing. Miss X disputed the suitability of the housing the Council offered. The Ombudsman found fault with the Council for delaying a decision on Miss X’s main housing duty and delaying completion of medical assessments. The Council agreed to the Ombudsman’s recommendation to pay Miss X £500 and provide a guidance note t

Summary: The Council failed to provide evidence of compliance with recommendations previously made by the Ombudsman. In the original complaint, we found the Council failed to take action to resolve the problem with Mr B’s waste collection route and did not monitor his waste and recycling collections when it said it would. In response, the Council agreed to monitor Mr B’s waste and recycling collections and work with residents to find a solution to the road being blocked on collection days. The Council could not evidence it completed the agreed remedies and Mr B said the problem persisted causi

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the involvement with the complainant after his ex-wife was taken to care because these events happened too long ago. Furthermore, we cannot investigate any complaint relating to the care of the complainants late ex-wife because he is not a suitable representative.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms R’s complaint about the handling of her mother’s discharge from hospital and related safeguarding concerns. This is because we would be unlikely to find fault with the Trust and Council’s actions. We will not investigate her complaints about communication and complaint handling as there is unlikely to be sufficient remaining injustice to investigate these issues alone and reasonable steps have already been taken to put things right.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a Fixed Penalty Notice for fly-tipping. The Council has now cancelled the fine and offered a £100 payment for the time and trouble caused. An investigation would be unlikely to add anything to the Council’s response. Mr X’s claim the Council has defamed him is not something we can decide and his concerns about data protection are best considered by the Information Commissioner’s Office. We will not investigate complaint handling as a standalone issue.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s contractor allegedly not returning all of the complainant’s possessions it had put into storage, after his eviction. This is because it is reasonable for him to seek a remedy in the courts.

Summary: Mr X complained about repeated missed bin collections. The Council was at fault for missing Mr X’s collections and poor complaints handling. This caused Mr X avoidable distress and meant he went to time and trouble trying to resolve his complaint. The Council will monitor Mr X’s collections for eight weeks, apologise to him for the poor service, pay him £150 to acknowledge the distress caused and review its procedures.