London council based care decision on historic needs assessment Councils must make timely, thorough and informed assessments of people when deciding care needs, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has said. The warning comes following an Ombudsman investigation into the way social workers from London Borough of Hounslow assessed a woman when her family applied for a deferred payment ag ...

Child left in pain for years because of council delays A young person spent three years in unnecessary pain because delays by Lambeth council meant they could not have a crucial operation, a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation has found. The child has significant medical needs and uses a wheelchair. The child was living in a property secured by London Borough of Lambeth with ...

Elderly man suffers after council splits him from his wife An elderly couple of 59 years were split up with little regard for their welfare by Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found. The couple were separated when the wife was discharged to a care home after leaving hospital. The husband was left to live in the family home with the help o ...

Medway Council criticised for not reviewing school transport policy properly Medway Council has been criticised by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for failing to review its home to school transport policy following an earlier complaint. That complaint involved the council not providing school transport to a girl whose mother chose to send her to a school which was not her nearest q ...

Maidstone council tried to charge for reviewing housing application decisions The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has uncovered an unusual charging policy during an investigation into a housing complaint about Maidstone Borough Council. A man, who has disabilities, complained to the Ombudsman that the council wanted to charge him £75 to appeal its decision about joining its housing reg ...

Somerset council took too long assessing disabled woman’s care needs Somerset County Council has been criticised by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman after taking too long to assess a vulnerable woman’s care needs. The Ombudsman’s investigation found the council took 21 months to carry out a reassessment of her needs. The reassessment also failed to address questions about who would ...

Bexley council failed to learn from previous school transport complaints London Borough of Bexley has been heavily criticised by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman after it failed to make agreed improvements to the way it decides school transport applications for children with disabilities. While the council implemented some of the changes, the Ombudsman still has concerns about the c ...

Council wrongly instructed enforcement company to destroy fast food trailer A Barnet street food trader has been left significantly out of pocket after the council wrongly instructed its nuisance vehicle enforcement company to destroy his pizza van when it was reported abandoned, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found. The council made no attempt to get in touch with the owner w ...

Kingston council slept on resident’s fly-tipping concerns, Ombudsman reports A dumped mattress caused so much dismay for one Kingston resident that he took his complaint all the way to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. The resident told the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames council that the mattress had been dumped in a river in a council-run park and asked that it be removed. B ...

City of Wolverhampton Council to improve its adoption recruitment process Wolverhampton council has agreed to ensure its adoption recruitment procedure adheres to statutory guidance, following an Ombudsman investigation. The move has come following a woman’s complaint about the way she was assessed and rejected for adoption by an agency acting on the council’s behalf. The Ombudsman found the agen ...