Bath and North East Somerset Council
Annual statistics ?Find out more about annual statistics
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Complaints upheld
80% Complaints upheld by Bath and North East Somerset Council
80% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 79% in similar authorities.
4 upheld decisions
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Bath and North East Somerset Council's population, this is
2 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.The average for authorities of this type is
4.6 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.Statistics are based on a total of 5 investigations for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
100% of cases were successfully implemented by Bath and North East Somerset Council
100% of cases we were satisfied the Council had successfully implemented our recommendations.
This compares to an average of 100% in similar authorities.
Statistics are based on a total of 2 compliance outcomes for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
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Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
50% Complaints with satisfactory remedy provided by Bath and North East Somerset Council
In 50% of upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
This compares to an average of 13% in similar authorities.
2 satisfactory remedy decisions
Statistics are based on a total of 4 upheld decisions for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
View all satisfactory remedy decisions
Annual letters
We write to councils each year to give a summary of the complaint statistics we record about them,
and their performance in responding to our investigations.
Reports ?Find out more about reports
In the last nine years, the Ombudsman has published the following reports against Bath and North East Somerset Council
No reports published
Service improvements ?Find out more about service improvements
Since April 2018, the Council has agreed to make the following improvements to its services following an Ombudsman investigation. We list up to 10 cases below – click ‘view all’ if there are more.
Case reference: 24 009 824
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Disabled children
- The Council will ensure it consults social care as part of EHC needs assessments, reviews and appeals.
- The Council will ensure it follows up Tribunal decisions, including recommendations, within required timescales.
- The Council will ensure it has processes in place to investigate EHC Plan complaints that encompass social care and education matters.
Case reference: 24 006 421
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- The Council has agreed to remind relevant officers in Adult Social Care of the need to check for reasonable adjustment requests before contacting service users
Case reference: 24 006 225
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Other
- the Council will tell us how it is ensuring complaints under the Children Act are dealt with in the statutory timeframe.
Case reference: 24 005 581
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will review the reasons for such high staff turnover within its SEN department and formulate an action plan to address these issues and implement a process whereby urgent cases are not left to drift when a caseworker is absent.
Case reference: 24 003 911
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that where its policies and procedures exceed statutoryrequirements, it must not take a blanket approach which fetters its discretionto consider the circumstances of individual cases.
- The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff, and in particular senior managers, that the Council isnow a single unitary authority and must take a consistent approach across thearea and apply the Council’s allocations policy fairly.
Case reference: 24 003 485
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Other
- The Council has agreed to remind complaint handling staff that where a complaint involves children’s services and it meets the criteria in the statutory guidance, the Council must investigate using this process.
- The Council has agreed to remind complaint handling staff of the provisions in section 7.8 of the statutory guidance around children's complaints, which allow for complaints involving different departments to be considered under one process to provide a simpler route for children and young people to have their concerns investigated.
Case reference: 24 002 922
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- The Council agreed that it would review the communications it has with those who use adult care services, or their relatives, in the event of an NHS decision to remove continuing healthcare funding. This was to ensure those affected by such decisions knew the Council would assess care needs and to provide some basic information about when it might fund social care needs.
- The Council agreed that further to the review of communications it would also brief its social work staff on its expectations. This briefing would highlight the importance of transparency and openness about its involvement in such cases, areas where we found fault with the Council during this investigation.
Case reference: 24 002 396
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will ensure phase transfer reviews are held and processed on time and use of panels to make decisions does not delay provision or lead to statutory timescales being missed.
- The Council will ensure it follows up complaint actions to completion and has a process to check this happens.
Case reference: 24 001 955
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Disabled children
- Share a copy of this decision with Council staff dealing with corporate complaints and Council staff dealing with the statutory children’s complaint procedure. Ensure learning from this decision is shared appropriately and acted upon.
- Review the internal system in place for categorising complaints correctly, to ensure that the system is clear, easy to use and guides staff appropriately.
Case reference: 24 000 836
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Disabled children
- The Council has agreed to review the time taken to get from the Occupational Therapist referral to contacting contractors to determine what caused delays and what action can be taken to reduce such delays in future.
Last updated: 4 April 2015