Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 86 complaints. Of these, 25 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 32 complaints. We investigated 29 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 29 complaints and upheld 22.
76% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 81% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council's population, this is 10.5 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.
The average for authorities of this type is
4.7 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. -
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
In 0 out of 22 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 13% in similar authorities.
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 19 cases.
In 19 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 Calderdale Metropolitan 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.
Backlog of noise complaints uncovered during Ombudsman investigation
An Ombudsman investigation into a woman’s noise complaint has revealed a backlog of hundreds of complaints at Calderdale council.
Calderdale woman 'made ill' by council’s tax blunders
A Calderdale woman, who has autism, claims the way Calderdale council mishandled her council tax relief made her ill, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman was told.
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: 24 007 154
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council will explain to staff in its education service that if a complaintincludes elements which come under the children’s statutory complaintsprocedure, the Council must use the procedure to address those elements andshould consider whether to include the non-statutory elements in the statutorycomplaint investigation.
- The Council will review the systems it has in place to ensure it follows up on provision it is arranging for children out of education, to minimise delay and ensure referrals are acted upon.
Case reference: 24 002 749
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- The Council has agreed to provide the Ombudsman with an action plan setting out how it plans to address the long wait times for care assessments.
Case reference: 24 002 468
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council will send written reminders to relevant staff of the Council’s responsibilities under Section 19 of the Education Act. With these reminders, it should share a copy of our “Out of school, out of sight? focus report, highlighting key points to ensure officers are aware of the factors they should consider when it is aware a child is not attending school.
Case reference: 24 002 001
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Planning applications
- The Council was at fault because its case officer report contained a factual error and it failed to refer a planning application to English Heritage for comments. The Council has agreed to review its working practices and procedures to ensure they are fit for purpose. If it makes changes to its practices and procedures, it will ensure relevant staff are aware of them.
Case reference: 23 020 803
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- The Council will share the key learning points from this investigation with its Housing and Adult Social Care teams.
- The Council will send us an action plan setting out the steps it will take to ensure: 1.discussions and planning between its Housing and Adult Social Care teams are ongoing, and action is taken to address concerns about the suitability of accommodation in circumstances where the placement is contingent on Council arranged care and support; and2.plans are in place to address circumstances where an interim accommodation in or out of its area is unsuitable for applicants unless care support is put in place.
Case reference: 23 018 778
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Enforcement
- The Council will remind enforcement officers they should provide brief updates to complainants about key progress and decisions on enforcement investigations in accordance with the Council’s policy.
Case reference: 23 018 055
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Enforcement
- The Council agreed to create an action plan to reduce the delays in enforcement investigations.
Case reference: 23 016 753
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council will share the key learning points from this investigation with its Housing and Adult Social Care teams.
- The Council will send us an action plan setting out the steps it will take to ensure: 1.discussions and planning between its Housing and Adult Social Care teams are ongoing, and action is taken to address concerns about the suitability of accommodation in circumstances where the placement is contingent on Council arranged care and support; and2.plans are in place to address circumstances where an interim accommodation in or out of its area is unsuitable for applicants unless care support is put in place.
Case reference: 23 012 340
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Other
- remind officers about need to communicate decision outcome to clients.
Case reference: 23 012 104
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council has agreed to:• review its procurement policy to reduce the use of B&B and increase the supply of other types of temporary accommodation;•ensure a proper check of temporary accommodation is carried out before it is offered to ensure it is suitable;•actively monitor all cases where families are in B&B accommodation to find alternative accommodation before the six-week limit is reached; •ensure it correctly informs families in B&B accommodation of the statutory time limit and their review/appeal rights; and•provides guidance or training to complaints staff on the use of B&B accommodation to ensure staff can correctly identify fault.
Last updated: 4 April 2015