Cambridgeshire County Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 79 complaints. Of these, 29 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 27 complaints. We investigated 23 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 23 complaints and upheld 18.
78% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 89% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Cambridgeshire County Council's population, this is 2.6 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 6 out of 18 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
33% 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 12 cases.
In 12 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 Cambridgeshire County 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.
Vulnerable people’s drug prescriptions to be reviewed following Ombudsman investigation
Hundreds of people across England with drug and alcohol dependencies who have been prescribed Valium long-term, will have their cases reviewed following an Ombudsman investigation.
Vulnerable Cambridgeshire boy left without education for 14 months
Cambridgeshire County Council has refused to apologise to a family after it left their clinically vulnerable son without any education or support during the COVID-19 crisis.
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: 25 001 769
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council agreed to review why the failure to respond and act on her October 2024 request happened and act to ensure this cannot be repeated on future cases.
- The Council agreed to remind relevant officers of the need to keep section 19 and section 42 duties under review during the life time of a case.
- The Council agreed to ensure future annual reviews are logged promptly to allow case workers to process amendments to Education, Health and Care plans within statutory timescales.
- The Council agreed to review why the statutory timescales were not met and prepare an Action Plan showing how it can meet them on future cases.
- The Council agreed to review why the update agreed at stage 2 did not happen and act to ensure what is agreed during the complaints process on future cases is carried out.The Council also agreed to give an update on the actions it said it took has had and whether it needs to take further action to see improvements.
Case reference: 24 023 329
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will remind relevant officers that children attending alternative provision do not need Education, Health and Care Plans in order to be eligible for free school transport. The officers should instead consider if, taking into account the nature of the walk, the child could walk to their educational setting.
Case reference: 24 021 792
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Residential care
- The Council will continue to review with the current management the concerns about adherence to SALT guidance for residents and how training can be improved in that respect. That should include knowledge about positioning. The Council will provide details to the LGSCO office.
Case reference: 24 020 096
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to provide the Ombudsman with an update on its action plan to improve its Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) service, including:recruitment of SEND staff;the implementation of the new case management system;timescales for introducing a portal environment for casework; what improvements it has implemented to improve its consultation process with schools; andthe actions it is taking to reduce the significant backlog with the Council’s post assessment panel.
Case reference: 24 018 250
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council agreed to ensure it has processes in place to monitor and review the progress of children on part-time timetables who have final EHC plans.
- The Council agreed to review why the delays with the annual review and emergency reviewprocess happened and act to ensure these failures cannot be repeated on futurecases.
- The Council agreed to produce an action plan showing how it will meet statutory timescalesin the future for annual and emergency reviews.
- The Council agreed to remind relevant officers of the need to communicate with parents whohave concerns for their children who are experiencing problems attendingschool.
Case reference: 24 018 134
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Provide us with a copy of the Special Education Needs service improvement plan to be implemented from September 2025.
Case reference: 24 016 966
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will provide an update on the its staff training for the annual review and personal budget process for its staff, which it agreed to in its complaint’s responses.
Case reference: 24 016 850
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- Remind relevant Council officers of the importance of carrying out financial assessments at the same time as the care plan is being prepared.
- Remind the Agency of its duty to review the care plan regularly and its duty to inform any relevant parties if care is not being provided as set out in the care plan.
Case reference: 24 015 141
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Provide evidence of increased staffing and resource allocation to ensure there is sufficient capacity to manage the increased demand for Education, Health and Care Plans within statutory timeframes.
- Provide evidence of enhanced monitoring and accountability to track the progress of Education, Health and Care Plans from start to finish.
Case reference: 24 014 900
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will remind staff to follow its complaints procedure when responding to complaints received at all stages so that its responses are not delayed.
- The Council will increase its staffing to ensure there is sufficient capacity to manage the increased demand for Education, Health and Care Plans and associated communication. This also includes the allocation of casework officers to manage transfer cases.
- The Council will introduce a robust monitoring system to track the progress of cases, particularly if a placement is at risk of breaking down.
- The Council will remind staff to follow the correct procedure when a child with an Education, Health and Care Plan transfers to its area.
Last updated: 4 April 2015