The Local Government Ombudsman

Complaint about the council?

How to complain

There is information in languages other than English on how to make a complaint.

Councils’ performance

An A-Z index of councils’ annual performance on dealing with complaints to the LGO.

Council Annual Letters

What We Do

The Local Government Ombudsmen investigate complaints about councils and certain other bodies.

They investigate complaints about most council matters including housing, planning, education and social services.

It is an independent, impartial and free service. The Ombudsmen can investigate complaints about how the council has done something.

But they cannot question what a council has done simply because someone does not agree with it.

Call the LGO Advice Team on 0845 602 1983 for advice or to make a complaint by telephone

Publications

Our publications can be found under the Publication Scheme

Training

For information on the courses we run for local authorities on handling complaints, click here. For information on a new course we are running for lawyers on the role of the LGO, click here.

Ombudsmen News

12th May 2008
Failure to remedy injustice - overhead power lines
Tynedale District Council has taken no action to remedy injustice caused by its failure to follow its own policy, finds Local Government Ombudsman, Anne Seex. She had found in her first report (issued 21 March 2007), that the fail...

8th May 2008
Pitched roof over food store wrongly permitted
There were faults in Peterborough City Council’s handling of an application for a pitched roof over a storage area next to a man’s home finds Local Government Ombudsman, Jerry White. In his report, issued today (8 May 2008), he s...

8th May 2008
Refusal to fund mental health aftercare
A solicitor complained that both Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council and Medway Council, for different reasons, refused to fund mental health aftercare for his client following his discharge from hospital. In his report, issued tod...

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