Hertfordshire County Council
Annual statistics ?Find out more about annual statistics
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Complaints upheld
89% Complaints upheld by Hertfordshire County Council
89% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 85% in similar authorities.
42 upheld decisions
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Hertfordshire County Council's population, this is
3.5 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.The average for authorities of this type is
4.5 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.Statistics are based on a total of 47 investigations for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
100% of cases were successfully implemented by Hertfordshire County Council
100% of cases we were satisfied the Council had successfully implemented our recommendations.
This compares to an average of 100% in similar authorities.
Statistics are based on a total of 41 compliance outcomes for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
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Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
7% Complaints with satisfactory remedy provided by Hertfordshire County Council
In 7% of upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
This compares to an average of 7% in similar authorities.
3 satisfactory remedy decisions
Statistics are based on a total of 42 upheld decisions for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
View all satisfactory remedy decisions
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 ?Find out more about reports
In the last nine years, the Ombudsman has published the following reports against Hertfordshire County Council
Council staff should speak out about discrimination, Ombudsman finds
Hertfordshire County Council has not yet agreed to Ombudsman recommendations to improve its practices after a primary school admitted it had discriminated against a little boy because of his disabilities.
Herts teen left without proper SEND support for three years
A teenager on the autism spectrum was left without a significant proportion of his agreed special educational needs support for up to three years by Hertfordshire County Council, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Council fails to help care users maintain their homes
Hertfordshire County Council has been asked to review its social care practices to ensure it meets its Care Act duties to help people keep their home tidy.
Service improvements ?Find out more about service improvements
Since April 2018, the Council has agreed to make the following improvements to its services following an Ombudsman investigation. We list up to 10 cases below – click ‘view all’ if there are more.
Case reference: 24 007 412
Category: Education
Sub Category: Other
- The Council will remind relevant staff dealing with reports of domestic abuse of the need to check whether an alleged perpetrator lives at the same address as the domestic abuse victim or whether there are other circumstances that indicate a letter should not be sent to the victim's home address.
Case reference: 24 007 073
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will remind relevant staff about the importance of responding to communication in a timely manner; and remind relevant staff of its duty to quickly investigate and act on complaints or concerns raised that the provision is not in place at any time.
Case reference: 24 006 445
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- • Share this decision with the relevant staff and advise the SEND QA Board• Issue a bulletin to relevant staff, reminding them of the process of saving records and the importance of doing so, across the service.
Case reference: 24 004 447
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- 2. Within three months of the final decision the Council will:a) provide an update about the steps taken in reminding staff and having a plan about the need for annual EHC plan reviews and the process staff need to take following a review;
- 2. Within three months of the final decision the Council will:b) provide evidence of the monitoring plan for EHC plan reviews the Council has put into place and its implementation.
Case reference: 24 000 965
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Provide training and guidance to staff about the need to keep all cases of part-time education provided through the Council’s Section 19 duty under review with a view to increasing this as a child’s capacity to learn increases
Case reference: 23 021 086
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council’s SEND Partnership and Assurance Board will review this decision to inform its work as part of the Council’s SEND Improvement Plan. The Council will provide the evidence this has happened.
Case reference: 23 020 740
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Remind officers of the deadlines to comply with complaint responses. The Council should also consider whether it can put in place any measures to flag up complaints where the time to provide a response at Stage one and Stage two is going to lapse.
- Review how it considers complaints and concerns brought by parents and young people about special educational provision not being provided or delivered. The Council should consider what improvements to its service it can make to ensure these concerns are picked up upon.
Case reference: 23 017 474
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council agreed to review how it identifies and monitors necessary remedial action when responding to complaints about special educational needs and children’s social care. It should ensure that its complaints process considers what actions are necessary to resolve or remedy a complaint, and that it has an effective process for ensuring these actions are completed.
Case reference: 23 013 721
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Disabled children
- The Council agreed to review the records of users of its services, for whom it contracted a Care Provider to meet their needs. This was to ensure the Care Provider was responding appropriately to service requests or complaints it received and meeting the Council's expectations. In particular to ensure it signposted those complaining through the complaint procedure. This was after investigation found inconsistent practice by the Care Provider in this case.
- The Council also agreed to issue a reminder to relevant staff of its expectations if contacted by users of services who faced an unexpected shortfall in care (in this case after the Care Provider withdrew its service). In particular what they should do if faced with a request to make direct payments or use short break money to meet care needs. The Council needed to ensure it kept a clear audit trail of such requests and how it considered and then responded to them.
Case reference: 23 012 750
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will provide evidence to the Ombudsman of the Council’s plans to improve the timeliness of annual reviews of EHC plans following the Ofsted review
- The Council will provide guidance to officers dealing with requests for a child to be educated out of cohort so they know the process to follow where the child has already begun education.
Last updated: 4 April 2015