Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 109 complaints. Of these, 43 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 49 complaints. We investigated 17 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 17 complaints and upheld 16.
94% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 81% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council's population, this is 3.6 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.
The average for authorities of this type is
4.7 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. -
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
In 5 out of 16 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
31% satisfactory remedy rate.
This compares to an average of 13% in similar authorities.
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 12 cases.
In 12 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 Kirklees Metropolitan Borough 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 urges Kirklees council to learn from complaints
Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council has been told to learn from complaints after it left a boy with learning difficulties without the full support he needs for three years.
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: 24 003 351
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Other
- The Council agreed to issue a reminder to relevant staff carrying out assessments in its Children with a Disability Service about the timescales for child in need assessments, as set out in statutory guidance and its own policies.
- The Council agreed to issue a reminder to all corporate complaints staff, and staff who respond to complaints in its Children with a Disability Service, about the requirements of the statutory guidance, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints’. It will remind staff:where it has accepted a complaint at stage 1 of the statutory complaints procedure for children’s social care services, the complainant is entitled to pursue it through stages 2 and 3 if they remain dissatisfied, except in specific circumstances; andit is not a valid reason for refusal to say an investigation could not provide the outcome the complainant is seeking.
- The Council agreed to review its process for carrying out assessments within its Children with a Disability Service, to decide whether the process should involve a multiagency panel. If it decides a multiagency panel should be part of the process, it will:ensure this process is clearly explained within its published policies and procedures, and in staff training, to ensure it applies it consistently across all assessments; andput procedures in place to ensure it keeps records of panel considerations and discussions.
Case reference: 24 009 084
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- The Council should review its processes for completing adult social care financial assessments to ensure they are completed promptly and outcomes shared with those affected in a timely manner.
Case reference: 24 000 679
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- Remind staff in writing of the importance of providing full information about the likely costs of care.
Case reference: 23 020 343
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council will remind relevant Special Educational Needs and Disability staff of the statutory timescales for issuing final Education, Health and Care Plans.
- The Council will remind relevant officers and managers to make and store clear and accurate records of section 19 decision making.
- The Council will provide the Ombudsman with evidence to show its change in complaints handling to ensure all verbal communication is followed up with a written outcome.
Case reference: 23 016 084
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council will remind relevant officers and managers of its statutory duties to provide alternative education provision under Section 19 of the Education Act 1996. It will also consider reviewing its policies and procedures related to these duties and share the Ombudsman's focus report 'Out of school, Out of Sight'. These actions will help to ensure that those who are due alternative education provision receive it in a timely manner and will help to ensure the Council understands and retains oversight and control of its statutory duties.
- The Council will remind relevant officers and managers of its statutory duties under Section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014 which say it must deliver specialist provision set out in an Education, Health and Care Plan. The Council will also consider reviewing its policies and procedures linked to these statutory duties. This will help to ensure it retains oversight and control of its duty to deliver specialist education set out in any such plans.
- The Council will remind relevant officers and managers of the need to communicate in a timely and transparent manner and to make and store appropriately detailed and contemporaneous records when completing work on special educational needs files. This will help to ensure those affected are properly kept up to date and that records are more detailed, showing what happened and when.
- The Council will remind relevant officers and managers of its duties to promote educational achievement for previously looked after children as per its duties under Section 23ZZA of the Children Act 1989. This will help to ensure those affected are given appropriate opportunities to access education.
- The Council will review its special educational needs transformation plan in relation to alternative educational provision. It will then present this review to the relevant committee to ensure cabinet oversight and scrutiny. This will help to ensure it has adequate plans in place to deliver alternative educational provision to those who are due it.
Case reference: 23 014 389
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- The Council has agreed to ensure that it provides more information about the likely level of a person’s contribution before they agree to the care package; and take steps to reduce the time taken to complete the financial assessment process.
Case reference: 23 013 968
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- The Council will ensure it has enough staff to complete financial assessments without delay.
Case reference: 23 013 093
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- By training or other means, share the learning from this complaint, the requirements of chapter 21 of the Homelessness Code of Guidance and Improving Access to Social Housing for Victims of Domestic Abuse guidance with officers to ensure they are aware of how to appropriately deal with homelessness and housing register applicants at risk of domestic abuse.
- By training or other means, reminds officers to notify applicants of their right to seek a review of their priority band.
Case reference: 23 009 454
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Residential care
- Through the Council’s commissioning team it should ensure the Care Provider’s staff are reminded either through team meetings or a staff circular, and if necessary, provide staff training about:a) the importance of recording clear contemporaneous records;b) completing body maps, assessments, and support plans when people enter the service;c) the importance of providing person centred care when people have communication difficulties.
- Through the Council’s commissioning team it will ensure the Care Provider’s falls policy has sufficient detail and staff are trained about what a physical examination should entail after a person has a fall.
- Through the Council’s commissioning team it will ensure the Care Provider has a communication policy and that staff are trained on this policy.
Case reference: 23 004 095
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Enforcement
- The Council will review its case management processes for its planning enforcement services, ensuring it has sufficient alerts after periods of inactivity, and sufficient management oversight of case progression.
Last updated: 4 April 2015