Isle of Wight Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 59 complaints. Of these, 18 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 26 complaints. We investigated 15 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 15 complaints and upheld 11.
73% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 80% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Isle of Wight Council's population, this is 7.8 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 1 out of 11 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
9% 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 8 cases.
In 8 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 Isle of Wight 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.
Isle of Wight Council removes health care support for boy with medical needs
A boy, who has visual impairments and other medical conditions, was without the support he needed for months because Isle of Wight Council did not clarify a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Tribunal’s decision in time, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Council fails to investigate children’s services complaints properly
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has criticised Isle of Wight Council for failing to properly investigate a mother’s complaint about the way it removed her disabled son’s personal budget.
Further report issued about Isle of Wight Council
The Local Government Ombudsman has issued a further report about Isle of Wight Council
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: 24 015 174
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- The Council will remind officers of the need to carry out capacity assessments where a person declines care but appears to show signs of confusion.
Case reference: 24 000 282
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will provide evidence of the actions it has agreed to take at paragraphs 26 and 27. This includes:reminding staff about the Council’s duty to provide services in section F of an Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plan; andreminding staff about the importance of effective communication and carrying out agreed actions.
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Case reference: 24 000 143
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Other
- The Council has agreed to complete a review of this complaint to identify the causes of the delay and explain what action it will take to prevent a recurrence.
Case reference: 23 021 055
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council will publish a policy around the housing of pets with their owners. This will take into account both the Homeless Code of Guidance and the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s advice for a policy that “is inclusive and allows for consideration of individual circumstances”.
Case reference: 23 017 286
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Inform staff carrying out Education Health and Care Plan needs assessments that responses from Social Care should be chased and included in the report before finalising the plan.
Case reference: 23 013 215
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to: remind officers of the statutory duty to review EHC Plans annually; andremind officers of the statutory duty to ensure children or young people receive the special educational provision set out in section F of the EHC Plan.
Case reference: 23 008 399
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council has agreed to remind relevant officers of the need to consider whether a complaint about the suitability of temporary accommodation should be treated as a request for a statutory review.
Case reference: 23 008 363
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Residential care
- The Council will remind relevant officers and its commissioned advocacy service of the guidance in the Code of Practice to the Mental Capacity Act on consultation with others about a person's welfare.
Case reference: 23 001 020
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Remind staff of the requirement to adhere to the special educational needs and disability code of practice on receipt of a request for a review of an Education, Health and Care plan
Case reference: 22 012 546
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Enforcement
- The Council will share the decision with relevant staff.
Last updated: 4 April 2015