LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: We cannot investigate part of Miss X’s complaint about the Council’s contractor crossing her property because it relates to the Council’s function as a social housing landlord and the law says we cannot investigate. We will not investigate Miss X’s complaint about anti-social behaviour generated by the site because the Council has not had the opportunity to consider the complaint.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about how the Council has responded to her concerns about large trees in a neighbouring garden, and how it has dealt with her complaint. Ms X’s complaint about the Council up to 2023 is late and there are no good reasons for us to investigate it now. Her complaint about more recent events is premature for us to investigate. We also cannot achieve the outcome Ms X seeks.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision to apply for warrant under the terms of the

Summary: Mr F complained the Council failed to provide him with a social worker or any care and support in autumn 2024. We found no fault.

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

Summary: There was fault in the way the Council decided to offer a bus pass as its free home to school transport offer for a journey over 3 miles to an ‘eligible’ pupil. It failed to assess whether the pupil, who has special educational needs, could manage the journey independently and wrongly put responsibility on the parent to accompany the child. This caused distress, inconvenience and financial loss to the family. The Council has agreed to apologise, reimburse taxi costs and make service improvements.

Summary: Mr X complained on behalf of his father, Mr Y about the Council’s delay in determining his housing benefit claim and resolving his council tax support. We found fault causing distress and uncertainty to Mr Y. The Council offered to apologise to Mr Y and make a symbolic payment of £300. We considered this to be a fair and proportionate remedy.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr F’s complaint about the care provided for his son because there is nothing we could add to the independent investigation that has already been carried out, and our involvement would not lead to a different outcome.

Summary: Mrs B complained about the Council closing her housing applications. We find that the Council failed to clearly explain which documents she needed to provide with her applications. This caused Mrs B avoidable frustration and inconvenience and delayed her ability to join the housing register. The Council has since changed its procedures, assessed Mrs B’s application and offered her compensation. We do not consider any further remedy is necessary.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s actions during the Right to Buy process. Mr X could have taken the matter to the County Court, which decides disputes about the Right to Buy. The other part of the complaint is late.

We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Miss X’s council tax refund. It is unlikely an investigation by the Ombudsman would add to the Council’s response and any injustice is not significant enough to warrant investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to clear an obstruction along a public footpath. This is because it is reasonable for Mr X to pursue this matter at court.

Summary: We have upheld Miss X’s complaint about poor communication. The Council has apologised, made service improvements and will refund an inspection fee.

Summary: Miss X complained that although she should receive assisted collections the Council has repeatedly failed to collect her household waste despite collecting her neighbours’ waste. We found the repeated failures in the assisted collection service the Council provided to Miss X is fault. This fault has caused Miss X an injustice. The Council will apologise and make a payment to Miss X.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council cancelling Miss X’s right to buy application in 2022. This is because the complaint is late and there is no good reason to exercise discretion to investigate.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the enforcement of a penalty charge notice issued for a road user charging contravention. The complainant has already taken court action about the matter, it is reasonable to expect him to have used his right of appeal to the Traffic Penalty Tribunal in any case, and there is insufficient evidence of fault in the way his request for a payment plan was considered.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about a planning enforcement matter because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify investigating and further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions relating to a fixed penalty notice. This is because it is unlikely we would find fault and there is no worthwhile outcome achievable.

Summary: Mr B complained that the Council failed to take appropriate action when he was homeless and seeking housing assistance. We find that on several occasions, the Council failed to carry out a housing needs assessment and decide what duty it owed him. This prevented Mr B from joining the housing register. The Council also failed to provide clear information about the documents it needed to support his housing application. These failings caused Mr B significant distress and left him homeless for longer than necessary. The Council has agreed to apologise and make a symbolic payment to Mr B.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr B’s complaint that his car was damaged by a highway defect which the Council had failed to repair. This is because it is reasonable for Mr B to take the Council to court.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s failure to provide suitable educational provision, while the child was out of school, and deliver the special educational provision. Part of this complaint is late and the Council has not yet had the opportunity to consider and respond to a complaint about more recent matters.

We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s handling of Mr X’s Council tax refund. Any injustice is not significant enough to warrant investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the closure of a housing application because there is not enough evidence of fault.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s waste collection service. It is reasonable to expect the complainant to have contacted us sooner about events in 2023/24, the mixing of different waste types does not cause the complainant a significant personal injustice, and we cannot investigate the disruption caused by industrial strike action as this affects all or most people in the Council’s area.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr and Ms X’s complaint about how the Council handled child protection enquiries. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to justify an investigation.