LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs B’s complaint about the Council not replacing her damaged garden waste bin without charge. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint about the Council not repairing a defective section of road which causes his home to vibrate when vehicles pass. This is because it is reasonable for Mr B to pursue this matter at court, which is in the best position to decide if the Council has met its duty to maintain this road.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaints about advice the Council gave him in 2005 and about its charging of a fee for his planning application in the same year. This is because the complaints are late and there are no good reasons to exercise our discretion to investigate them.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with the complainant’s planning application. This is because the complainant had the right to appeal to the Planning Inspector. The complainant has not suffered significant injustice in relation to the remaining issues complained about.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the garden waste charge because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice.

Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to provide suitable full-time alternative provision for her son Y when he was unable to attend school from September 2023 until July 2024. The Council delayed in responding to Ms X’s concerns which caused her frustration. The Council was not at fault in its actions around Y’s attendance and education. The Council should apologise to Ms X for the avoidable frustration she was caused.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a road closure which caused the complainant to miss her train. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council and because we have discretion about whether to investigate any complaint.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about charges for a replacement bin. There is not enough evidence of fault by the Council.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a breach of planning control and noise nuisance at a neighbour’s property. We consider further investigation will not lead to a different outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s response to concerns about a school’s admission arrangements. This is because the school is academy. We have no powers to consider complaints about academy schools and there is no worthwhile outcome from considering the Council’s complaint response.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about what happened when a package of care at home ended. The package of care ended under the terms of the contract, so there is not enough evidence of fault. It is unlikely an Ombudsman investigation would reach a different or worthwhile outcome. So investigation is not justified.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint that the Council damaged and subsequently refused to replace his garden waste bin. This is because the alleged injustice is not significant enough to warrant an investigation by the Ombudsman.

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s responses to Mr X’s concerns about his children. The matters complained of are closely linked to matters concerning the residence and contact arrangements for children, which have been subject to court action. A legal bar prevents us investigating them.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an accusation of illegal waste tipping. There is not a significant enough injustice to Mr X to justify us investigating the incident with the officer. Mr X can reasonably take court action if he wants a decision about the alleged defamation. It would be disproportionate to investigate the Council’s complaint-handling in isolation.

Summary: Ms X complained for her father, Mr Y, about the Council’s decision to find there was a deprivation of Mr Y’s assets when the family bought a life insurance bond following the sale of Mr Y’s home. There was no fault in the Council’s decision-making.

Summary: Mrs K complained the Council and the Integrated Care Board (ICB) stopped paying for Miss D’s housing costs when the property changed to supported housing. She said this resulted in

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of reports of flooding in the complainant’s garden, and its handling of his associated complaints. There are other bodies better placed to consider the main issues being complained about, we cannot become involved in the parts of the complaint about disciplinary action, and we would not investigate any concerns about the Council’s complaints process in isolation.

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council did not provide information she requested about applying for a personal budget to secure the specialist educational provision set out in the Education, Health and Care Plans of her two children. The Council failed to provide Mrs X the information she requested which caused her avoidable frustration. The Council will apologise and now provide her with the personal budget information she requested.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a planning application. This is because we are unlikely to find fault.

Summary: We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about her father’s social worker. She says the social worker failed to keep her up to date with what was happening, failed to give her all the information she needed to make informed decisions, and failed to update her by email as requested. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault. In addition, the alleged fault has not caused any significant injustice.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how best to meet adult social care needs. The complainant and Council are in dispute over suitable accommodation. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision making to justify an investigation.

Summary: Ms X complained the Council failed to provide the specialist educational provision in her children, Y and Z’s, Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans when they moved into the Council’s area. The Council failed to provide the specialist provision in Y and Z’s Plans between September and October 2023 and did not have due regard to the Armed Forces Covenant. The Council will pay Ms X £2,500 to recognise the injustice caused to her, Y and Z and will review how it manages the transfer of Service children with EHC Plans.

Summary: Miss X complained the Council failed to provide all the support it should have done for her son, Y’s, special educational needs. There was fault in how the Council took too long to arrange the speech and language therapy in Y’s Education Health and Care plan. This caused Miss X avoidable uncertainty and frustration for which the Council should apologise and pay a financial remedy.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about how the Council dealt with his requests to carry out work on the drainage system and repair the road, near his home. This is because any injustice is not significant enough to warrant our involvement.

Summary: We will not exercise discretion to investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to determine a tree preservation order works application in 2020. This complaint was received outside the normal 12-month period for investigating complaints. There is no evidence to suggest that Mr X could not have complained to us sooner.