Woman loses car because of failings by Merton enforcement agents Merton enforcement agents acting on behalf of the local council wrongly seized a woman’s car – and her means of employment – when attempting to recover a debt, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found. The woman had incurred the debt she owed to London Borough of Merton through unpaid council tax and road traffic off ...

Town and parish councils This fact sheet is aimed primarily at anyone who is experiencing problems with a service provided by a parish or town council and is considering making a complaint to the Ombudsman. I'm not happy with a service provided by my parish council. Can the Ombudsman help me? In most cases, no. The Local Government Act 1974 (S34(1)) defines the authorities that we may investigate ...

Enforcement agents (bailiffs) This fact sheet is aimed primarily at anyone who is experiencing problems with a bailiff employed by a council or other enforcing authority and may be considering making a complaint to the Ombudsman. Enforcement agents are what were more commonly known as bailiffs. I have a complaint against an enforcement agent. Can the Ombudsman help me? In some cases, yes. If your ...

More systemic problems seen in Ombudsman complaints lead to increased wider service improvements Increasing systemic problems seen in people’s complaints has led to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman making more wider service improvement recommendations to councils in 2019-20 than ever before. Detailed in its Annual Review of Local Government Complaints launched today, the Ombudsman h ...

Waste and refuse This fact sheet is aimed primarily at people who have concerns about how their council collects and deals with household rubbish and commercial/industrial waste. Organisations the Ombudsman can look at We hold councils to account for services they pay other organisations, including private companies, to carry out on their behalf. This means we can still investigate complaints abo ...

Complaints about Police and Crime Commissioners This fact sheet is aimed primarily at anyone who has a complaint about police and crime commissioners and who may be considering making a complaint to the Ombudsman. Police and crime commissioners are elected to make sure the police service is effective and hold the chief constable to account. So almost everything they do is related to dealing with ...

Frequently asked questions What is the council or care provider’s complaints procedure? All councils have published complaints procedures that show how they investigate complaints. These vary but usually include two or more stages, each operated by a more senior member of staff than the last stage or, in some cases, elected councillors. At each stage the council will normally send you a written r ...

Guidance on Jurisdiction Contents: Chapter index for Guidance on Jurisdiction Updated: 24 March 2025 Guidance on Jurisdiction search Search this content Submit search Part 2 • 2. Maladministration and Service Failure 2.1 Introduction The term ‘maladministration’ is deliberately not defined in law and similarly there is no explicit threshold for what constitutes maladministration. Our jurisdiction ...

Guidance on remedies Contents: Chapter index for Guidance on remedies Updated: 17 March 2025 Guidance on remedies search Search this content Submit search Part 2 • Remedies guidance applying to all subjects 2.1 Introduction This section sets out general principles that are common to all types of complaint. It sets the framework for subject specific guidance. When we identify fault has caused unre ...

North of Tyne Combined Authority Read our guidance on interpreting local authority statistics. Annual Review 2023 (103 KB)