Essex County Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 385 complaints. Of these, 71 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 121 complaints. We investigated 193 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 193 complaints and upheld 183.
95% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 89% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Essex County Council's population, this is 11.9% 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 7 out of 183 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
4% 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 138 cases.
In 138 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 Essex 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.
Essex couple unable to spend as much time as they wanted in final days because of council decision
An Essex woman was not able to spend as much time as she wanted with her husband in his final weeks because the county council moved him to a care placement further away from the family home, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Essex County Council to reconsider assessment of Disability Related Expenses
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found Essex County Council at fault in how it considered two separate women’s Disability Related Expenses (DREs).
Boy misses two terms of education because of lack of support from council
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is reminding councils of their duty to monitor and ensure education provided to children educated out of school is suitable, following an investigation into a complaint against Essex County Council.
Teenager removed from foster parents without notice by Essex County Council
Social workers moved a vulnerable Essex teen from her aunt and uncle’s care without any warning, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) said.
Clear guidance essential for parents to make the right choice about schools says Ombudsman
The clarity of information provided by Essex County Council to parents about a new school transport policy has been criticised by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) in a report.
LGO report highlights wider impact of financial abuse of vulnerable people
In a recent case involving an elderly man, Essex County Council social workers delayed acting on a family’s concerns when they claimed their relative was being exploited by a younger female friend.
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: 24 013 546
Category: Transport and highways
Sub Category: Highway repair and maintenance
- The Council has agreed to using this complaint as a case study, issue a briefing note to remind staff of its duty to provide reasonable adjustments.
Case reference: 24 008 605
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will review its procedures to ensure actions required after an annual review are carried out within the legal timeframe.
Case reference: 24 007 940
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Share this decision with relevant staff responsible for maintaining EHC Plans,particularly around transition to different phases of education.
- Share this decision with relevant staff responsible for dealing with complaints about provision not made under an EHC Plan and remind them that the Council remains responsible for provision under a Plan.
Case reference: 24 004 237
Category: Transport and highways
Sub Category: Highway repair and maintenance
- The Council agreed to share a copy of our final decision with relevant staff. It should remind them about the importance of:properly considering the Council’s range of powers to resolve highway issues, and fully recording these considerations; fully recording risk assessment and prioritisation for highway defects in line with the Council’s policies; andproperly responding to people who report highway issues and complaints to ensure the Council’s position is clear.
Case reference: 24 001 924
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- In writing, share this decision with relevant team colleagues to ensure appropriate learning from the investigation.
Case reference: 24 001 603
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will share this statement with staff responsible for drafting complaint responses so they are aware of our expectations when complaint handlers are responding to complaints about commissioned services.
Case reference: 23 020 908
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Provide, if already in existence, or produce a plan detailing what action the Council is taking to address the delays in issuing Education Health and Care Plans and take this plan to the relevant scrutiny committee or panel for this issue.
Case reference: 23 020 617
Category: Transport and highways
Sub Category: Other
- The Council will issue a reminder to relevant officers that reports of highways obstructions should receive a timely response with any necessary explanation about the Council’s priorities and that complaints should be dealt with in accordance with the Council’s complaints procedure.
Case reference: 23 019 313
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Drainage
- The Council will remind the front-line staff from the Environmental Health Team of the need to keep service users informed of the progress of their cases even when the Council’s legal team is involved, as much as it is possible without compromising the legal process;
- The Council will remind the front-line staff from the complaint team of the need to adhere to the timescales of the Council’s corporate complaint policy.
Case reference: 23 019 010
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will remind its SEND staff of the its duty to provide all the special educational needs provision set out in a child, or young persons, Education, Health, and Care plan without delay and ensure the provision identified meets assessed individual needs.
- The Council will review how it commissions speech and language therapist referrals to ensure assessments are completed without delay following a Tribunal Order or its agreement to do so.
Last updated: 4 April 2015