Is the complaint about something that the Ombudsman can investigate?

The Ombudsman investigates complaints about services provided by councils (district, metropolitan, London borough, unitary or county, but not town or parish) and some other authorities. For a full list of authorities within jurisdiction click here

Complaints could be about problems with:

• Housing benefit or council tax benefit claims or payments – we can do joint investigations with the Parliamentary Ombudsman if government departments are involved
• Council housing repairs (including housing managed by arms length management organisations, ALMOs)
• Homelessness applications
• Rent arrears/possession action
• Council tax bills, arrears and recovery action
• Housing allocations and transfers
• Neighbour nuisance
• Social care – we can do joint investigations with the Health Service Ombudsman if the health service is involved
• School admissions and exclusion appeals
• Schools (more details)
• Special educational needs
• Planning

If you think the complaint involves a local authority and a health trust or a local authority and a national government department you do not need to make a separate referral to the LGO and the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, simply tell us which department or trust is involved. For further information about joint investigations see our factsheet on the Regulatory Reform Order (available from 'downloads' box in right hand column.)

Go to next page

Date Updated: 16/04/10