London Borough of Hounslow
Annual statistics ?Find out more about annual statistics
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Complaints upheld
93% Complaints upheld by London Borough of Hounslow
93% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 85% in similar authorities.
22 upheld decisions
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for London Borough of Hounslow's population, this is
7.6 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.The average for authorities of this type is
8.2 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.Statistics are based on a total of 24 investigations for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
100% of cases were successfully implemented by London Borough of Hounslow
100% of cases we were satisfied the Council had successfully implemented our recommendations.
This compares to an average of 99% in similar authorities.
Statistics are based on a total of 22 compliance outcomes for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
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Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
9% Complaints with satisfactory remedy provided by London Borough of Hounslow
In 9% of upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
This compares to an average of 12% in similar authorities.
2 satisfactory remedy decisions
Statistics are based on a total of 22 upheld decisions for the period between 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024
View all satisfactory remedy 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.
Public reports ?Find out more about public reports
In the last nine years, the Ombudsman has published the following public interest reports against London Borough of Hounslow
Heavily pregnant woman left to ‘sofa surf’ by Hounslow council
A homeless woman left to sofa surf by London Borough of Hounslow while heavily pregnant, has been given permanent accommodation during a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation.
Man forced to sleep on sofa after London council offers inadequate support
A man with mental health problems was forced to sleep on his parents’ sofa for 18 months because London Borough of Hounslow failed to support him properly.
London council based care decision on historic needs assessment
Councils must make timely, thorough and informed assessments of people when deciding care needs, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has said.
Proper timescales must be followed when deciding homelessness applications, LGO reminds councils
Councils are being reminded to decide homeless applications promptly and effectively by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), following an investigation about a London council.
Service improvements ?Find out more about service improvements
Since April 2018, the Council has agreed to make the following improvements to its services following an Ombudsman investigation. We list up to 10 cases below – click ‘view all’ if there are more.
Case reference: 23 015 313
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Managing council tenancies
- The Council will considerand plan how it can better communicate with landlords and manage theirexpectations about when they might receive their empty property back.
Case reference: 23 011 292
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Safeguarding
- The Council should ensure a local adult social care provider has adequate health and safety checks in place to prevent a reoccurrence of the faults identified in this case.
- The Council should work with a local adult social care provider to ensure it has a process in place to inform Social Services when residents refuse care.
- The Council should remind its staff to consider personal remedies where it identifies, in the course of its safeguarding or complaints process, a person has experienced an injustice.
Case reference: 23 009 592
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Direct payments
- The Council agreed to review the information it provides to people who received direct payments for adult social care. It should ensure it provides sufficient clear, accessible information (for example, a straightforward user guide) that people can properly understand how direct payments work and what they need to do.
- The Council agreed to arrange refresher training for its social workers on how direct payments work and what people receiving them need to do to properly manage their payments.
- The Council agreed to review how its social work and direct payments teams work together to ensure that both teams understand their different responsibilities, that people are provided with consistent information, and that there are clear procedures to resolve disputes between the two teams.
Case reference: 23 009 269
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council has agreed to review its guidance to officers about the Council’s duties (as set out in paragraphs 15 & 16) to take homelessness applications and make inquiries into the applicant’s homelessness;
- The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure it does not have ‘gatekeeping’ practices in place, for example, failing to take a homelessness application at the earliest opportunity
- The Council has agreed to share the learning from this case with its officers.
Case reference: 23 005 701
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- Create action plan to clear housing register application backlog
- Provide applicants assessed as band 2 or higher financial remedy
Case reference: 23 005 539
Category: Benefits and tax
Sub Category: Council tax
- The Council agreed to remind its complaint and council tax staff that complaints should be processed in line with the Council’s complaints procedure and decisions about fault on the Council’s part should only be made after a proportionate investigation into a complaint.
- The Council agreed to review its procedures for identifying unallocated payments in its council tax receiving account to ensure that unallocated payments are traced within a reasonable period of time.
Case reference: 23 004 731
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Other
- The Council will share with relevant staff statutory guidance Getting the best from complaints to ensure:when a complainant has requested desired outcomes of their complaint, they should be addressed as part of the stage two adjudication response;where recommendations have been made at stage two, the adjudication response should set out the Council’s answer to each one; andcomplaints are completed within the statutory timescales.
Case reference: 22 015 672
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council has agreed to provide training or guidance to relevant staff on identifying and making reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities.
- The Council has agreed to ensure all frontline staff are aware of the low threshold for the duty to make inquiries into homelessness and how to direct such cases to the relevant service.
- The Council has agreed to ensure all decisions of the Exceptional Needs Panel about priority under the allocations scheme are communicated in writing and set out the right to ask for a review.
Case reference: 22 015 504
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council is developing staff guidance covering the arrangements for alternative provision when they span across academic years to ensure it restarts in September. The Council has agreed to provide the Ombudsman with a copy of the guidance.
- The Council will review its approach to consulting schools for children needing a placement. This should ensure that appropriate, timely steps are taken to widen the scope of consultation when insufficient responses are received from an initial round.
Case reference: 22 015 112
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council will remind all staff within children's services of the duties under section 19 of the Education Act 1996.
Last updated: 4 April 2015