London Borough of Ealing
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 166 complaints. Of these, 88 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 56 complaints. We investigated 22 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 22 complaints and upheld 16.
73% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 84% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for London Borough of Ealing's population, this is 4.3 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 1 out of 16 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 12% in similar authorities.
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 17 cases.
In 17 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 Ealing
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.
Ealing council wrongly turned away a pregnant woman who approached it for help with housing, despite police and other agencies saying it was not safe for her to return to her tenancy in another area.
Ombudsman criticises Ealing council for leaving family in flat with faulty windows
Ealing council has been criticised by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for leaving a young homeless family in a 10th floor flat with faulty windows for nearly 18 months.
Councils urged to check information sharing agreements following complaint
Councils are being urged to check they have adequate information sharing agreements with their service providers, after one council was not able comply with an agreed Ombudsman remedy because it could not get hold of the data needed.
Council criticised after care workers fail to spot vulnerable woman’s serious sores
Ealing council has agreed to review whether it works with a home care provider in future after it was found to have falsified records during an Ombudsman investigation.
London council fails to support vulnerable mother properly
London Borough of Ealing did not carry out adequate assessments of the support a disabled mother needed when her young son moved from nursery to school, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Homeless family left in crowded conditions while council delayed making decision
A mother and her five children were accommodated in a damp and mouldy single bedroom, too small for the number of people, by Ealing council while it took too long to decide their homelessness status.
Shortcomings in partnership between London councils leaves victim of domestic abuse in limbo
There was a lack of effective partnership working between two west London authorities when supporting a woman at risk of domestic violence, says a Local Government Ombudsman report.
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: 25 003 487
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to reviews its commissioning arrangements to ensure that going forward these can meet timescales for Education, Health and Care needs assessments and provision of Speech and Language Therapy and Occupational Therapy, once a plan is finalised.
Case reference: 25 003 295
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- The Council will remind relevant staff of the importance of arranging a financial assessment at the time care is arranged or as soon as possible afterwards.
Case reference: 25 001 789
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- The Council will establish a clear communication process to keep those who have been referred for an Occupational Therapy assessment informed about their assessment timeline.
Case reference: 24 022 609
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council will remind staff who deal with suitability review requests that they should respond to the requests within eight weeks. If there are going to be delays, they should keep the person who requested the review informed.
Case reference: 24 022 545
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- remind officers, and provide training or guidance if needed, to document telephone calls with applicants and relevant third parties
- remind officers, and provide training or guidance if needed, to ensure reasonable adjustments are in place for applicants
Case reference: 24 020 882
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- The Council agreed to remind staff of the importance of ensuring housing benefit claims for homeless accommodation are made in a timely manner.
Case reference: 24 019 615
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council has agreed to issue guidance to relevant staff, to remind them they should not delay the arrangement of interim accommodation to await the submission of documents which can be collected later. The Council should circulate a copy of my decision statement as part of this guidance.
Case reference: 24 018 272
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council will share the findings of the Ombudsman's investigation with relevant officers, emphasising the Council's duty to secure suitable accommodation is immediate, non-deferable and unqualified. The Council will also emphasise that bed-and-breakfast accommodation can only be used for households which include a pregnant woman or dependant children when no other accommodation is available, and then for no longer than six weeks. Finally, the Council will emphasise it has a continuing obligation to keep the suitability of accommodation under review, and to respond to any relevant changes that may affect suitability.
Case reference: 24 016 625
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- The Council agreed to remind relevant officers of the need to ensure there is a record of their decision on a medical assessment request from an applicant following a Medical Advisor’s recommendation.
- The Council agreed to establish why two online completed medical assessment forms were not actioned promptly when submitted and act to ensure the failures cannot be repeated on future cases.
- The Council agreed to establish why the statutory review request was not actioned and take steps to ensure this failing cannot be repeated on future cases.
- The Council agreed to carry out a review of the Panel’s decision.
Case reference: 24 016 356
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- The Council will remind relevant officers, via training or a briefing note, that where a needs assessment identifies support is required for attending medical appointments, it properly considers whether this is an eligible need under the Care and Support Statutory Guidance.
Last updated: 4 April 2015