The Ombudsman found that, while the Council had logged the complaint in April 2025 and provided discussion notes to Mrs A, it did not provide a formal complaint response. The Ombudsman said this caused uncertainty and frustration for Mrs A and decided to settle the complaint without an investigation.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Council’s agreement to, within 4 weeks, offer an apology to Mrs A for the oversight in not providing a formal complaint response and explain why this happened, issue a formal complaint response and offer a £100 financial redress payment in recognition of the time and trouble.