LGO Individual Decisions

Summary: The Council was at fault for its poor communications. But it was not at fault for how it handled Ms X’s child’s education. We are satisfied the Council has apologised for the injustice caused.

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council not taking responsibility for the timing of temporary traffic lights at highway works by a water company which it permitted, and officers not contacting the company after he reported the matter. There is insufficient significant personal injustice to Mr X from the issues complained of to warrant us investigating.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about how the Council enforced recovery of a council tax debt. This is because there is not enough evidence of fault to warrant an investigation.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the way the Council dealt with Mrs B’s mother’s property and financial affairs and decided to place her in a care home. We cannot add to any previous investigation by the Council. Further investigation would not lead to a different outcome.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s school’s admissions appeal panel refusing her appeal. It is unlikely we would find fault which caused Mrs X to lose out on a school place.

Summary: Ms Z, on behalf of her sister Mrs X, complained the Council failed to involve them in the assessment of her care needs, failed to provide timely and detailed information about the cost of the assessed care and failed to effectively communicate. The Council was at fault because it did not produce a personal budget and notify Mrs X until four months after the care started and charges were incurred causing distress. The Council has already offered a suitable financial remedy and has now agreed to service improvements and a repayment plan.

Summary: Mr X complained the Council has failed to provide his assessed need of 28 hours per week of support and advocacy to him. We find the Council was at fault for its delay in finding a potential new care provider for Mr X and for failing to clarify with him how he wanted to proceed with his care and support needs. However, this fault did not cause Mr X a significant injustice.

Summary: Mr B complained that the Council had failed to take action to address safety concerns from heavy goods vehicles using roads near his property. It has also made contradictory statements about the safety of the road. We recognise the situation is not ideal, but we have not found fault with the Council’s actions.

Summary: Ms A complained about the way the Council managed the care and treatment of her late mother Mrs X. We have not found fault on the part of the Council.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the Council’s decision not to carry out tree works. There is not enough evidence of fault in the Council’s decision-making process to warrant an investigation.

Summary: Miss G is complaining about the care provided to her mother, Mrs H, by North Lincolnshire Council and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust in 2024. We will not investigate Miss G’s complaint. This is because an investigation by the Ombudsmen would be unlikely to add to the work the Trust has already undertaken to investigate Miss G’s concerns.

Summary: Miss G is complaining about the care provided to her mother, Mrs H, by North Lincolnshire Council and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust in 2024. We will not investigate Miss G’s complaint. This is because an investigation by the Ombudsmen would be unlikely to add to the work the Trust has already undertaken to investigate Miss G’s concerns.

Summary: We will not investigate Ms X’s complaint about the Council’s refusal to complete a review of historic council tax accounts. There is insufficient evidence of fault to warrant an investigation. We have already considered and decided a complaint about historic council tax accounts so cannot investigate again.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about children’s services because we cannot investigate what happened in court and the issues could reasonably have been or could be raised with the court in future.

Summary: We cannot investigate Miss B’s complaint about the Council’s refusal of her planning application. This is because Miss B put in an appeal to the Planning Inspector.

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

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the content of the Council’s publications. There is no significant personal injustice.

Summary: Mrs X complained about how the Council calculated what she should pay towards her care. There was no fault in the way the Council reached its decision about which of her purchases were disability-related expenditure and which were normal household expenses.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the recovery of a housing benefit overpayment. Mr X used his right to appeal to the tribunal. We cannot look at matters already considered by a tribunal. As we are not investigating the core of the complaint, we will not consider closely related matters.

Summary: Mrs Y complains on behalf of her adult son, Mr D, that the Council wrongly reduced his personal budget without explanation. She says Mr D’s eligible care and support needs have not changed. In our view, there is procedural fault because Mr D’s support plan does not contain a breakdown of his personal budget which has caused confusion for Mrs Y. The Council has agreed to remedy the injustice caused by fault with the actions listed at the end of this statement.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about council tax benefits, exemptions and discounts. This is because the complaint does not meet the tests in our Assessment Code on how we decide which complaints to investigate – specifically, the complaint is late.

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about school transport provision. There is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council.

Summary: We will not investigate Mrs X’s complaint about the Council’s decision not to share information on the outcome of a complaint about her grandmother’s care. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault by the Council to warrant an investigation.

Summary: We cannot investigate this complaint about the Council’s actions in relation to the care of the complainant’s daughter. This is because those actions have been in the context of private law proceedings and therefore fall outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary: Miss C complained about the Council’s handling of her request for her daughter (X) not to attend school due to her risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19. We found no fault in how the Council considered and responded to her request. It was at fault for causing delays in finalising X’s final amended Education, Health, and Care Plan, but this did not cause Miss C or X an injustice. The Council should issue X’s final Plan and provide Miss C with her appeal rights.