London Borough of Bromley
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 173 complaints. Of these, 50 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 80 complaints. We investigated 43 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 43 complaints and upheld 38.
88% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 84% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for London Borough of Bromley's population, this is 11.5 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 3 out of 38 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 30 cases.
In 30 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 Bromley
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.
Family of seven left to live in one bedroom flat by Bromley council
Bromley council has agreed to pay a family £6,000 after it did not do enough to help them when they were threatened with homelessness, following a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation.
Council cuts London family’s support for disabled son without reassessment
A man with special needs should not have had his support package significantly cut by London Borough of Bromley, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Parents of a disabled teenager were left without any support because the London Borough of Bromley did not put plans in place for when he turned 18, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) 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: 24 019 100
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will ensure all officers responding to complaints are aware of our Complaint Handling Code, with specific reference to section 5.4 which states: the person responding to a complaint should clarify with the complainant any parts of the complaint they are unclear about, and give the complainant a fair chance to set out their position.
Case reference: 24 014 206
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will remind relevant staff to consider whether the Council owes a child or young person a section 19 alternative provision duty where it is aware the young person is not attending school, including where the Council is carrying out an Education, Health and Care needs assessment for the young person.
Case reference: 24 014 166
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to share our final decision with its SEND Panel Members and remind them that to prevent delay, they should ensure they have all the information they require before making their decisions.
Case reference: 24 013 750
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will take action to ensure correspondence sent by post is addressed to the intended recipient.
Case reference: 24 011 536
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council should issue guidance to relevant staff, to remind them the SEN Code says (at paragraph 9.192) the 14-week deadline for completing an EHC needs reassessment begins on the date the decision to reassess is made.
Case reference: 24 011 482
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will tell us what steps it is taking to ensure it is seeking to commission alternative providers in cases where the initial commissioned providers do not have capacity to meet the provision detailed in the EHC Plan.
Case reference: 24 011 010
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council agreed that it would remind all staff who carry out reviews of the suitability of temporary accommodation for those who are homeless, of the need for their decisions to clearly state if the Council considered the accommodation suitable or not. Also, that where the Council considered accommodation suitable that it must remind the applicant of their right to seek a further review via the County Court. This followed the Council issuing a confusing decision in this case, where the complainant had asked it to review the suitability of his temporary accommodation.
Case reference: 24 009 928
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has also agreed that within eight weeks of this final decision, it will remind officers that its Section 19 duty is engaged as soon as it becomes aware a child or young person is not attending school, regardless of whether the Council receives a formal referral through its Gateway Service.
Case reference: 24 007 654
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will remind officers dealing with EHC Plans of the Council’s responsibility for ensuring provision in an EHC Plan is in place. That reminder should include the need to liaise with the education provider if a parent/carer raises concerns about provision not being in place, rather than directing the parent/carer back to the education provider.
Case reference: 24 009 642
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council has agreed to remind relevant officers of the legal duty to assess and make an accurate and comprehensive record of the current housing and support needs of the applicant. Particularly where the Council has previously accepted a duty to the applicant.
Last updated: 4 April 2015