London Borough of Barnet
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 187 complaints. Of these, 72 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 83 complaints. We investigated 32 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
-
Complaints upheld
We investigated 32 complaints and upheld 26.
81% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 84% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for London Borough of Barnet's population, this is 6.6 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.
The average for authorities of this type is
9.1 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. -
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
In 2 out of 26 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
8% satisfactory remedy rate.
This compares to an average of 12% in similar authorities.
-
Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 21 cases.
In 21 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 London Borough of Barnet
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.
Council wrongly instructed enforcement company to destroy fast food trailer
A Barnet street food trader has been left significantly out of pocket after the council wrongly instructed its nuisance vehicle enforcement company to destroy his pizza van when it was reported abandoned, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Barnet council fails to follow up on community centre noise complaint
Barnet council has been told to carry out more monitoring of excessive noise at a community centre in the borough following a second investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Ombudsman finds systemic problems with Barnet’s homelessness services during investigation
A homeless woman was turned away five times by the London Borough of Barnet after she lost her home, a Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) investigation has found.
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: 24 013 315
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Other
- The Council agreed to remind complaint handling staff to progress complaints about the Council’s actions under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 under the statutory children’s complaints procedure.
Case reference: 24 008 727
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- •Remind relevant staff to consider and evidence decision making when considering the Council’s powers to accommodate people when completing a review.
Case reference: 24 001 743
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will remind officers and relevant managers of the need to take a proactive stance when issues relating to a lack of specified Section F provision in an Education, Health and Care Plan are brought to its attention. This will help to ensure that provision is delivered as it should be and in a timely manner.
Case reference: 24 008 391
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to issue a reminder to relevant staff that, if the Council refuses a request for a direct payment, it must inform the child’s parent or the young person of the reasons for the decision and their right to request a formal review of the decision in writing.
Case reference: 24 007 569
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to consider all points raised in review and appeal requests and indicate how they were considered in the review or appeal decision.
Case reference: 24 006 982
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Other
- The Council has agreed to remind all front-line enforcement staff of the importance of following the Council’s enforcement policy when carrying out visits, particularly in respect of the time limits for taking action and the expediency of taking formal action.
- The Council has agreed to consider after a visit, sending a follow-up letter setting out the conclusions of that visit and all options available to regularise the situation with an appropriate time-limit for action.
Case reference: 24 002 893
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will remind officers dealing with EHC Plans of the need to ensure the provision in a final EHC Plan is in place when concerns are raised and that the provision cannot be changed without amending and issuing a final EHC Plan.
Case reference: 24 000 465
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Council house sales and leaseholders
- • Remind relevant staff of the importance of which Ombudsman scheme to signpost to at the conclusion of the complaints procedure.
Case reference: 23 020 077
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council will provide staff training to relevant staff to remind them of the B & B accommodation six-week statutory limit for families, and the importance of placing families in suitable accommodation. This will help to ensure people are provided with suitable interim and temporary accommodation, and they do not remain in unsuitable accommodation for longer than they should.
- Review its procurement policy with the aim of reducing the use of B & B accommodation and increasing the supply of other types of interim and temporary accommodation. Progress on achieving this should be reported to the relevant Committee on a six monthly basis to ensure democratic oversight and accountability.. This will help to reduce the use of unsuitable B & B accommodation and ensure more suitable types of accommodation are available to people who need interim and temporary accommodation.
Case reference: 23 013 567
Category: Other Categories
Sub Category: Leisure and culture
- The Council has agreed to provide a copy of this decision statement to relevant officers to ensure they are aware of the Council’s responsibility to properly investigate complaints about bodies acting on behalf of the Council.
- When entering new lease arrangements, the Council has agreed to assess the review or appeal process used by the Association (and other allotment associations in its area) and:a) consider amending the Association’s formal agreements with both the Council and allotment tenants to refer to these processes;b) ensure any formal agreements reflect the fact the Council retains responsibility to ensure its statutory functions are carried out correctly; andc) ensure any review or appeal processes are written down and readily available to share should the need arise.
Last updated: 4 April 2015