LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about events around an offer of housing. There is no direct connection between the Council’s alleged fault and Miss X’s main claimed injustice of living in an unsuitable property. The connection is only indirect.

Summary: We found fault by the Council on Mr J’s complaint about how it left him in unsuitable accommodation after accepting it owed a duty to house him as he was homeless. It accepts it left him in unsuitable accommodation and failed to fully support him during a stay in a hotel. He ended up street homeless for several weeks. The agreed action remedies the injustice caused.

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to evict tenants who Mr X says have caused anti-social behaviour and damage to his property. We have no jurisdiction to investigate the actions of social housing landlords in the management of their tenants.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of a planning enforcement matter. This is because the Council’s actions did not cause Mrs X significant injustice.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council dealt with a breach of planning control. This is because we are unlikely to find fault with the Council’s decision not to take enforcement action. The complainant has not suffered significant injustice because of any delays with the Council’s enforcement investigation.

Summary: Ms Y complained about the Council’s failure to provide her with an effective assisted bin collection service and about its complaint handling. We have found fault by the Council in the service provided and the way it responded to Ms Y’s complaints, causing injustice. We consider the action now taken by the Council - an apology, improvements in its systems and a refund and waiving of collection fees - is an appropriate remedy for the injustice.

Summary: Miss X complained on behalf of herself and other residents that the Council failed to deal with noise from a nearby recycling centre. She also complained about delays dealing with her complaint. Miss X said this caused distress and alarm, and cost her time and trouble. We do not find the Council at fault for the way it handled the noise complaint. However, we find the Council at fault for failing to inform Miss X of her legal rights, and for delays responding to her complaint. The Council has apologised to Miss X and has agreed to make a payment to her to reflect the delays.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about an unsuccessful appeal for a school place. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault.

Summary: X complained the Council failed to carry out an adequate adult social care assessment of their needs. As a result there cannot be proper consideration given to their housing situation and their social care needs have not been met. There was fault by the Council and it should make a payment to X in recognition of that.

Summary: X complains about how the Council dealt with their housing situation. They consider the Council failed to provide appropriate housing to meet their needs which meant they lived in unsuitable and unstable accommodation. There was fault by the Council. The Council should make a payment to X in recognition of the injustice caused.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about temporary accommodation and the complainant’s wish for a permanent home. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

Summary: Mrs Y complains the Council failed to complete the annual review of her daughter’s Education, Health and Care Plan within the statutory timescales for doing so. She says this meant her daughter, Miss B, missed out on a college placement during 2021/22. We have decided to uphold Mrs Y’s complaint. We have also upheld Mrs Y’s complaint that the Council failed to register her complaints. The fault caused Mrs Y significant distress and she was put to time and trouble. Miss B missed out on educational provisional and a Plan that fully reflected her needs. To remedy this, the Council has ag

Summary: Miss A complains the Council has failed to consider important information in her application to the housing register. Miss A says this means the Council has not awarded her the correct points, and she therefore cannot bid. The Ombudsman finds fault with the Council for failing to show reasonable decision-making. The Council has agreed a financial remedy, a reassessment and service improvements.

Summary: There was a delay in completing an occupational therapy assessment for Ms Y which caused avoidable inconvenience and frustration. The Council will apologise, make payments of £500 to Ms Y and £150 to Mr X for his avoidable time and trouble. It will also review procedures as described in this statement.

Summary: We will not investigate the Council’s response to Mrs X’s complaint about her damaged fence. This is because the Council is not responsible for the damage.

Summary: Miss X’s requested a review of the priority awarded to her Housing Register application. I have found fault as the Council has not shown it fully considered all the evidence provided for the review. The Council has agreed to conduct a new assessment, which provides a suitable remedy.

Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of matters relating to the early return to him of the property he had leased to it. We will not investigate the complaint because it is unlikely we can add to the investigation already carried out by the Council and an investigation is unlikely to lead to a different outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to extend the complainant’s dropped kerb. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Could and we cannot achieve the outcome the complainant would like.

Summary: Mrs X complained on behalf of Mrs Y that the Council delayed in taking action to resolve her complaints about her neighbour’s overgrown garden because of which foul smells and rats were entering her property and affecting her enjoyment of her garden. We found no fault on the Council’s part.

Summary: Miss X complained about the Council’s failure to appropriately respond to her reports of domestic violence, the priority awarded to her Housing Register application and poor conditions in her temporary accommodation. We do not find fault in the way the Council assessed Miss X’s priority on the Housing Register. We find the Council has taken satisfactory steps to improve procedures around reports of domestic violence and staff training. But, we find the Council’s fault in handling her reports of domestic violence meant Miss X was without suitable temporary accommodation. We find there

Summary: Mrs R said the Council failed to provide the education set out in her adult daughter Miss C’s education, health and care plan and also failed to provide tutoring it agreed to provide. The Council was at fault for delay in providing tutoring and for minor failures in the education health and care plan process. These caused Miss C injustice in the form of distress. The Council has agreed to pay Miss C £500 in recognition of that distress, to take all reasonable steps to ensure she receives education and to provide evidence that it has reviewed its processes.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s processes for the determination of applications by its planning committee. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate. It is also not for Mr X or for us to set policies for issues such as the length of committee reports and the conduct of committee meetings.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council making a School Street traffic restriction near where the complainant lives, and its decision not to grant him an exemption permit. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault by the Council or significant injustice to the complainant which would warrant an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council is recovering council tax arrears. This is because the arrears have been considered in court and because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

Summary: Ms X complained the Council did not award her business the expanded retail discount, which would reduce the business rates it had to pay. We have found fault as we find the Council reached its decision on eligibility without taking account of all relevant factors. This created uncertainty. The Council accepted these findings and agreed to review its decision as one of several actions set out at the end of this statement.