Epping Forest District Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 38 complaints. Of these, 13 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 20 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
-
Complaints upheld
We investigated 5 complaints and upheld 4.
80% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 66% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Epping Forest District Council's population, this is 2.9 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 1 out of 4 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
25% 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 2 cases.
In 2 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 Epping Forest District 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: 24 004 379
Category: Benefits and tax
Sub Category: Council tax
- The Council agreed to review its process for when someone wishes to close their council taxaccount. The Council should ensure it checks for any other outstanding amountsowed by the person and provides them with accurate information about how muchthey owe.
- The Council agreed to remind staff responsible for responding to complaints about council tax that they should proportionately investigate the issues raised in the complaint, particularly where someone raises concerns about the Council's first response.
Case reference: 23 004 296
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they aware of the Council’s legal duties to provide suitable interim accommodation. Staff should fully document any decisions they make on the suitability of interim accommodation and these decisions should be fully explained to applicants in the offer letters.
Case reference: 23 003 455
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- The Council will amend its housing allocations policy to make it clearer which households are exempt from the seven-year residency criteria.
Case reference: 22 006 085
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Noise
- The council will remind its officers of the need to pursue its noise nuisance investigations in a timely way.
Case reference: 21 018 829
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- • Use this decision statement as an example for homelessness officers working with domestic abuse victims to improve their understanding of victim choice and agency.
Case reference: 21 013 063
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Planning applications
- The Council agreed to act to ensure future planning officer reports contain reasons for their recommendations.
- The Council agreed to review the information set out in the notification letter about representations to ensure the instructions are clearly explained, without the risk of causing confusion, and to warn failure to follow them risks representations not being considered.
Last updated: 4 April 2015