London Borough of Lewisham
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 174 complaints. Of these, 68 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 64 complaints. We investigated 42 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 42 complaints and upheld 37.
88% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 84% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for London Borough of Lewisham's population, this is 12.4 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 37 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
3% 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 31 cases.
In 31 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 Lewisham
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.
Is the Children’s statutory complaints process working to support the very children it is designed to help?
Homeless Lewisham mother placed in mouldy accommodation near to her abuser – Ombudsman reports
Lewisham council has agreed to pay a mother more than £14,000 after it left her in such poorly maintained temporary accommodation that it hospitalised her child.
Ombudsman finds London council failed to keep child safe
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has said the London Borough of Lewisham exposed a former looked after child to ‘significant harm’ while she was in its care and failed to look into her concerns properly.
Council school transport policies must not fail young adults with disabilities
Councils across England should ensure their education transport policies properly support young adults with disabilities, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has said.
Ombudsman criticises London council for errors in children’s complaints handling
Two brothers with learning difficulties saw their care and support packages reduced by Lewisham council without their mother being told why, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Ombudsman highlights inadequate response to remedying complaint
The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has criticised a London council after it did not carry out the remedy it had previously agreed to provide.
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: 24 016 426
Category: Benefits and tax
Sub Category: Housing benefit and council tax benefit
- The Council has agreed to ensure that complaints are properly investigated and responded to within its published timescales.
Case reference: 24 014 944
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council has agreed to review its action plan and identify further action needed to ensure it offers interim accommodation to all households the same day it has reason tobelieve they might be eligible, homeless and in priority need.
- The Council has agreed to review its action plan and identify further action needed to ensure it makes a decision about the main housing duty 57 days after accepting therelief duty.
Case reference: 24 009 457
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council has agreed to review its temporary accommodation repairs policy and procedures to ensure it and its contractors are considering repeated disrepair reports from tenants when assessing the urgency and timescale for a repair and whether an overall inspection of the property is required; and tenants are communicated with effectively when the Council is arranging, altering or cancelling appointments.
Case reference: 24 008 982
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will review the faults found in this complaint and produce recommendations for how it can avoid a situation in the future where consultations with educational institutions are delayed and contacts from parents go unanswered. These recommendations should be considered by an officer with sufficient seniority to implement any changes recommended.
Case reference: 24 012 524
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- The Council will consider any training needs of officers completing or overseeing needs assessments under the Care Act.
Case reference: 24 010 072
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Domiciliary care
- The Council agreed to undertake a learning exercise, to understand why it had not reviewed the complainant's care and support plan for over 12 months despite scheduling one after eight weeks and receiving multiple contacts subsequently from the complainant saying the care they received was not meeting their needs and they wanted change. The Council agreed to consider if any systemic problems caused this failing. It agreed to write to us and let us know what the learning exercise found and to explain any changes it would be making to its processes or procedures as a result.
Case reference: 24 009 746
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Domiciliary care
- Share learning from this decision with the teams involved in organising X’s care in August and September 2023.
- Review the procedure in place between the relevant NHS team/s and the Council regarding arranging discharge care for patients with social care needs who are leaving hospital.
- Ensure the review considers the out of hours procedure in place between the hospital social work team and the Council to ensure discharge care for patients discharged outside normal office hours is organised properly.
- Ensure the review considers the procedure to be followed when discharging a patient to an address outside of the Council’s area.
Case reference: 24 009 745
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- Share findings from this investigation with the appropriate homelessness and housing teams. Ensure learning is disseminated properly amongst staff.
- Reiterate good practice with homelessness and housing teams about responding to disclosures of domestic abuse. Review how and when DASH risk assessments are completed, reminding staff of the importance of understanding the dynamic risk to victims posed by domestic abuse.
- Decide how it will reduce the impact of unsuitable accommodation on residents who are unable to be moved due to the overall shortage issue. Consult our Guide for Practitioners to ensure as many options as possible are considered, including at a strategic level.
- Provide an update to the Ombudsman on the action plan relating to public interest report (22016576).
Case reference: 24 006 239
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Disabled facilities grants
- The Council will review its DFG process with a view to implementing proactive case monitoring. This will ensure that cases are managed effectively, and that works are completed on time, preventing delay.
Case reference: 24 003 953
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Review its procedures for monitoring and ensuring timely annual reviews of EHCPs to prevent similar delays in future. This should include clear escalation processes where schools or colleges are unable to meet deadlines, to ensure the Council fulfils its statutory responsibilities.
Last updated: 4 April 2015