Blackpool Borough Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 42 complaints. Of these, 14 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 23 complaints. We investigated 5 complaints.
More about this data
Complaints dealt with – the total number of complaints and enquiries considered. It is not appropriate to investigate all of them.
Not for us – includes complaints brought to us before the council was given chance to consider it, or the complainant came to the wrong Ombudsman.
Assessed and closed – includes complaints where the law says we’re not allowed to investigate, or it would be a poor use of public funds if we did.
Investigated – we completed an investigation and made a decision on whether we found fault, or no fault.
Complaints upheld – we completed an investigation and found evidence of fault, or the organisation provided a suitable remedy early on.
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council – the council upheld the complaint and we agreed with how it offered to put things right.
Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations – not complying with our recommendations is rare. A council with a compliance rate below 100% should scrutinise the complaints where it failed to comply and identify any learning.
Average performance rates – we compare the annual statistics of similar types of councils to work out an average level of performance. We do this for County Councils, District Councils, Metropolitan Boroughs, Unitary Councils, and London Boroughs.
For more information on understanding our statistics see Interpreting our complaints data.
Complaints dealt with
Not for us
Assessed and closed
Investigated
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Complaints upheld
We investigated 5 complaints and upheld 4.
80% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 80% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Blackpool Borough Council's population, this is 2.8 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.
The average for authorities of this type is
5.3 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. -
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
In 0 out of 4 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
0% satisfactory remedy rate.
This compares to an average of 10% in similar authorities.
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 4 cases.
In 4 cases we were satisfied with the actions taken.100% compliance rate with recommendations.
This compares to an average of 100% in similar authorities.
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
The Ombudsman has published the following reports against Blackpool Borough Council
Find out more about reports
We issue reports on certain investigations, particularly where there is a wider public interest to do so. Common reasons for reports are significant injustice, systemic issues, major learning points and non-compliance with our recommendations. Issuing reports is one way we help to ensure councils are accountable to local people and highlighting the learning from complaints helps to improve services for everybody. Reports are published for 10 years.
Carers leave woman in pain after burns not detected soon enough
A vulnerable Blackpool woman was left “screaming in pain” with serious burns on her leg after carers left her too close to a hot radiator, a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation has found.
Service improvements
The Council has agreed to make the following improvements to its services following an Ombudsman investigation.
Find out more about service improvements
When we find fault, we can recommend improvements to systems and processes where they haven’t worked properly, so that others do not suffer from these same problems in future. Common examples are policy changes; procedural reviews; and staff training. Service improvements from decisions are published for 5 years and those from reports are published for 10 years.
The latest 10 cases are listed below – click ‘view all’ to find all service improvements.
Case reference: 23 013 589
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council has agreed to provide further guidance and training to staff about when to complete referrals where the Council has reason to believe other Local Authorities may have a reapplication duty.
- The Council has agreed to provide guidance and training for staff on the importance of recording and considering domestic abuse in homelessness applications.
- The Council will review how it is recording its decisions and considerations when deciding if applicants may be in priority need.
Case reference: 23 011 879
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Residential care
- The Council was at fault for a commissioned care home's poor care planing and risk assessments and its failure to properly monitor a resident's food and fluid intake. The Council will ensure the care home has carried out staff training in risk assessments and documentation
Case reference: 22 007 337
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- Review and amend policy to ensure it has a system in place it ensure correct invoices are issued to those paying the full cost of care.
- Review an amend its policy to ensure it include details of how it will ensure charges do not amount to more than the those charged by the care provider for those paying a contribution.
- Write to all people potential affected by its previous policy in the last financial year. It should inform them of the decision the Ombudsman has made about its policy and ask those who believe they may have been affected to contact the Council.
- Review the invoices for the last financial year for all people who contact it with concerns to determine if a refund is due.
Case reference: 21 003 842
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Other
- The Council agreed to remind relevant officers to consider applying to the Court of Protection for deputyship in circumstances where it is responsible for managing an adult's finances with savings and/or assets in excess of £5,000.
Case reference: 20 005 569
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Noise
- The Council will review its record keeping procedure to ensure statutory nuisance investigation records are accessible to those working in the Community and Environmental Services department.
Case reference: 19 014 911
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Other
- The Council will review its procedures to ensure that processes are in place for young people with Education, Health and Care Plans reaching adulthood to ensure they have a planned transition to adult social services where deemed necessary. The relevant staff should be reminded of the processes in place.
- The Council will ensure it records important decisions on a child’s case files when discussing whether a child wishes to be accommodated under s20 of the Children Act 1989. The Council should be able to demonstrate the child has been able to make an informed decision, including the consequences of not being accommodated under s20.
- The Council will ensure staff are aware of their statutory duties under the Children Act 1989 in relation to when children should be accommodated under s20 of the Act, as opposed to under s17 of the Act or housing legislation.
- The Council will review its files from August 2017 and August 2020 to identify any other young people it failed to identify as looked after children after being accommodated under s20, as opposed to s17, of the Children Act 1989. The Council will provide appropriate redress for any injustice caused.
Last updated: 4 April 2015