London Borough of Merton
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 69 complaints. Of these, 19 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 36 complaints. We investigated 14 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 14 complaints and upheld 13.
93% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 84% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for London Borough of Merton's population, this is 6 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 2 out of 13 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
15% 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 11 cases.
In 11 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 Merton
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.
Woman loses car because of failings by Merton enforcement agents
Merton enforcement agents acting on behalf of the local council wrongly seized a woman’s car – and her means of employment – when attempting to recover a debt, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman 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: 24 012 903
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- The Council will remind relevant staff of the importance of providing as much information as possible about the likely costs of adult social care, as soon as possible after the care is arranged.
Case reference: 24 003 526
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Refuse and recycling
- The Council will provide guidance to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of and understand the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs guidance on the use of fixed penalties for domestic waste receptacle offences.
Case reference: 23 020 972
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- The Council will review procedures for care and support plan reviews to ensure they are completed in an appropriate timescale.
Case reference: 23 006 152
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council will share the Ombudsman's decision with relevant officers to identify wider points of learning.
- The Council will act to ensure officers clearly record how properties offered under the interim accommodation duty are considered suitable for the applicant and members of their household.
- The Council will act to ensure all offers of temporary accommodation are made to the applicant in writing and set out the applicant's statutory right to request a suitability review.
- The Council will remind relevant officers the Council must write to applicants to confirm what housing duty the Council decides it owes them, and to explain the applicant's rights of review.
Case reference: 23 006 102
Category: Transport and highways
Sub Category: Parking and other penalties
- Review Ms X’s case to see why the data was cleansed on the first penalty charge notice while data was retained on the second penalty charge notice when both offences happened at a similar time. This is to confirm whether the data cleanse was a one off or if there is some error in the Council’s system. Provide the Ombudsman with a short-written summary of the outcome of the review.
- By training or other means remind staff of the importance of keeping a paper trail and retaining copies of all statutory documents the Council issues to motorists in relation to road traffic offences. This is to ensure the Council can evidence it follows the proper legal process for enforcement of penalty charge notices.
- Remind relevant staff of the importance of providing clear and accurate information to motorists about the penalty charge notices the Council records against them.
Case reference: 23 001 234
Category: Benefits and tax
Sub Category: Council tax
- The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the importance of adhering to the Council’s body worn video policy on the retention of footage for three months after an enforcement agent’s visit.
Case reference: 22 017 201
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- The Council will send written reminders to relevant staff to ensure decision making Forums clearly record discussions during meetings and to document rationale when deciding what care and support can meet an individual’s eligible assessed needs.
Case reference: 22 015 497
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Private housing
- The Council will change its procedure to ensure it keeps records for its involvement in setting up tenancies under its private landlord scheme.
Case reference: 22 014 785
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Enforcement
- Within three months the Council should advise what it has done to ensure the errors made in the planning application process do not occur in the future, and remind relevant staff about the timescales for its complaint procedure.
Case reference: 22 011 478
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Other
- Using this complaint as a case study issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of:The working together to safeguard children 2018 guidance which states councils should draw together relevant information gathered from the child and their family and from other relevant sources when completing parent carers assessments.
Last updated: 4 April 2015