London Borough of Barnet

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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.

Adjusted 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.

View upheld decisions
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.

View satisfactory remedy decisions
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.

View all 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.

View annual letters

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.

Reports for London Borough of Barnet

View all

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: 25 008 917

Category: Education

Sub Category: Special educational needs

The Council will provide evidence to the Ombudsman of any process the Council has introduced to monitor provision in EHC Plans and to take action when provision is missing.
The Council will also complete a training session for those dealing with EHC Plans to remindthem of the duty to secure special educational needs provision in an EHC Planand what happens when things go wrong.

Case reference: 25 006 800

Category: Benefits and tax

Sub Category: Council tax

Within 2 months: remindingstaff of the importance of accurate, consistent and timely communication inthese matters.

Case reference: 24 022 844

Category: Environment and regulation

Sub Category: Noise

•as offered, provide evidence the Council’s internal procedures for logging and tracking reports/complaints have been reviewed and improved to prevent similar errors in the future including sharing the lessons learnt from Ms X’s case with relevant staff in their training
•ensure the Council adheres to its timescales for closing its service users’ alleged noise nuisance cases and inform them when their cases have been closed, setting out the reasons for the case closure
•remind relevant officers of the correct procedure to deal with alleged noise nuisance complaints in line with Environmental Protection Act 1990. The Council should also clearly record how it assesses and decides whether a statutory nuisance exists.

Case reference: 24 022 083

Category: Environment and regulation

Sub Category: Refuse and recycling

officers to keep a record of key decision making

Case reference: 24 017 942

Category: Children's care services

Sub Category: Looked after children

Ensure relevant staff are familiar with the Council’s Joint Housing and Children’s Social Care protocol for homeless 16 and 17 year olds.
Remind relevant staff that complaints which fall within the remit of the statutory children’s complaints process should be considered under that procedure.

Case reference: 24 016 999

Category: Benefits and tax

Sub Category: Council tax

The Council will remind staff in its council tax and enforcement teams to share information about its Council’s Discretionary Council Tax Relief scheme with people liable for council tax who may be experiencing hardship.

Case reference: 24 013 834

Category: Housing

Sub Category: Homelessness

The Council will review its policies and procedures on the assessment of the suitability of accommodation provided to homeless applicants and make any changes needed to ensure this includes clear guidance about:• the steps officers must take to properly assess the suitability of accommodation offered to homeless applicants and record these assessments.• the actions officers should take in response to concerns or complaints from applicants about the suitability of their accommodation.
The Council will also provide refresher training for officers to ensure they understand the Council’s duties to provide suitable accommodation for homeless applicants and to keep suitability under review.

Case reference: 24 013 744

Category: Housing

Sub Category: Homelessness

to issue decision letters for all suitability review requests
improve recording of decisions by Review Team and Medical Assessment Team

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: 24 011 200