Kent County Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 291 complaints. Of these, 87 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 128 complaints. We investigated 76 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 76 complaints and upheld 63.
83% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 89% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Kent County Council's population, this is 3.9 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 4 out of 63 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
6% 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 64 cases.
In 63 cases we were satisfied with the actions taken.98% 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 Kent 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.
Ombudsman investigation reveals 170 delayed complaints in Kent
A Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation has uncovered a backlog of 170 unanswered children’s services and education complaints in Kent.
Kent couple lost valuable time together because of council errors
A Kent couple lost valuable time together after the council placed one partner in a care home against her wishes following a hospital stay, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Councils urged to learn from Ombudsman investigation into child abuse complaint
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is urging councils to place children at the centre of decision making in cross border child protection cases, after a suicidal teenager was left without appropriate support when she reported serious sexual abuse.
Councils urged to check their parking policies following Ombudsman investigation
Councils across England are being urged to ensure they are using the correct legislation to issue parking fines at country parks following a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation into Kent County Council.
Parents need to be supported to balance care and work needs, Ombudsman says
Parents of children with disabilities should be supported to balance their care and working needs, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has said.
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: 25 001 695
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will investigate and report back to the Ombudsman about why a young person did not have their Education Health and Care Plan issued by 31 March 2025 setting out the details of their post-16 transition. It will outline action it has taken to ensure other children and young people are not similarly affected during key transition years in their education.
- The Council will outline what, if any, issues have been identified in the Council’s processes for consulting schools, colleges and other education providers which led to the faults in this case including missed provision. The Council should then outline any action it is taking to prevent recurrence of these issues in future.
Case reference: 25 000 562
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Child protection
- The Council has agreed to ensure that its frontline children’s social care staff are fully aware of its ‘Section 17 Children Act 1989 Financial Assistance Guidance’.
Case reference: 24 019 682
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will remind relevant officers via team meetings or staff briefings that personal budgets in Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans are optional. Where parents/carers express concerns with the Council that they no longer want a personal budget, then the Council should instead take responsibility to ensure the relevant provision is put in place.
Case reference: 24 019 194
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council should emind all relevant staff of the need to respond to correspondence appropriately.
Case reference: 24 017 132
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Other
- The Council will amend its process so when a person using its service under the protection of property team does regain capacity, it will ask them whether they are happy for the Council to continue to secure their belongings and document their decision.
- The Council will remind relevant staff to respond to complaints in line with its complaints procedure.
Case reference: 24 016 385
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Other
- The Council and ICB should carry out a joint review of their Multi-Agency Policy (specifically sections 4.9 and 6.2) to ensure if falls in line with the Mental Health Act and Code of Practice's approach to Section 117 and accommodation. Once the Council and ICB have completed that review of the Multi-Agency Policy, within a further four weeks, they should contact Ms F to offer to arrange a comprehensive assessment of Ms F’s Section 117 aftercare needs, to support her discharge from her current hospital admission. If they decide Ms F will need accommodation on discharge from hospital, it should include a detailed analysis explaining if that placement meets the criteria for “accommodation plus”.
- During my investigation, the Council and ICB told me “There are approximately 250 people who have been identified that might be paying rent in the context of supported living, who receive Section 117 after-care”. Based on the Council and ICB’s flawed Multi-Agency Policy, some of those people may be unnecessarily paying towards their accommodation. Therefore, as part of individual service users’ Section 117 annual review process, the Council and ICB should review if those people’s supported living placement forms part of their Section 117 aftercare.
Case reference: 24 016 061
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- The Council will carry out a review, at management level, about what went wrong in this case and provide the Ombudsman with a short report setting out the action it proposes to take to ensure financial assessments are completed in a timely fashion and there is sufficient management oversight of outstanding financial assessments.
- The Council will brief relevant staff of the importance of keeping family members informed of progress when carrying out financial assessments.
Case reference: 24 012 991
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Residential care
- The Council will remind relevant officers and managers to comply with their responsibilities under relevant Care Act legislation and the Care and Support Statutory Guidance. This will help to ensure care and support plans are reviewed and updated in a timely manner. It will also help to ensure comprehensive, relevant information is shared with relevant service users at an early stage to promote their wellbeing and advise of possible options in the case presented.
Case reference: 24 010 594
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will review with staff the importance of following the statutory guidance when it receives a request for an education, health and care needs assessment.
- The Council will provide the Ombudsman with a plan of what action it is taking or will take to resolve its issues with staffing.
- The Council will review with staff that it should monitor or review a situation where a child is attending school on a part-time timetable due to challenges.
Case reference: 24 010 458
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to provide an update on the actions it is taking to address the ongoing shortage of Occupational Therapists in its area.
Last updated: 4 April 2015