Eastleigh Borough Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 12 complaints. Of these, 4 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 6 complaints. We investigated 2 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
-
Complaints upheld
We investigated 2 complaints and upheld 1.
50% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 66% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Eastleigh Borough Council's population, this is 0.7% upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.
The average for authorities of this type is
1.1% upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. -
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
In 0 out of 1 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 15% in similar authorities.
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 1 cases.
In 1 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 Eastleigh 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.
No reports published
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: 23 006 862
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Trees
- The Council was at fault because it used its enforcement powers against trees that were not protected by tree preservation orders. While the Council has already apologised to the complainant, it has agreed to carry out a service review. It agreed to carry out a review of its practice and procedure to find any changes necessary to avoid the fault happening again, and provide the Ombudsman with evidence to show it has implemented any review findings.
Case reference: 22 015 835
Category: Benefits and tax
Sub Category: Other
- The Council has agreed to remind staff where fault is found causing injustice, the Council should be considering the Ombudsman guidance on remedies when calculating personal remedies.
Case reference: 22 001 172
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Refuse and recycling
- The Council will remind relevant staff when a missed bin is reported it should return to collect the waste within 48 hours in line with its waste collection policy.
Case reference: 21 002 124
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour
- Provide guidance to staff to ensure that the Council considers and documents the rationale for the use or otherwise of anti-social behaviour powers available to it during investigations.
Case reference: 20 013 579
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Disabled facilities grants
- Remind staff to ensure all final complaint letters signpost people to the Ombudsman.
Case reference: 20 005 823
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Planning applications
- The Council agreed, Covid-19 restrictions notwithstanding, to review why it took so long to deal with this complaint, and why it failed to provide updates about progress, so this is not repeated in the future.
Case reference: 19 017 155
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- Council will review its housing allocations policy to ensure the health and welfare assessment process is sufficiently clear.
- the Council will share a copy of this decision with relevant staff members.
Case reference: 19 010 078
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour
- The Council has agreed to remind relevant officers they should consider their powers under the HHSRS when investigating complaints of this type.
- The Council has agreed to remind relevant officers of the importance of keeping clear notes when investigating complaints of nuisance and/or anti-social behaviour.
Case reference: 19 005 783
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Enforcement
- The Council will confirm the steps it has taken to ensure that officers do not prematurely send letters threatening legal action.
Case reference: 19 005 621
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Planning applications
- The Council will remind enforcement officers of the importance of investigating breaches of conditions properly.
Last updated: 4 April 2015