London Borough of Richmond upon Thames
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 75 complaints. Of these, 26 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 40 complaints. We investigated 9 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 9 complaints and upheld 8.
89% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 84% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for London Borough of Richmond upon Thames's population, this is 4.1% 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 8 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
38% 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 5 cases.
In 5 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 Richmond upon Thames
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.
Ombudsman finds multiple failures with Richmond children’s services provider
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has strongly criticised Richmond council’s children’s service provider, Achieving for Children, for not effectively supporting children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).
Councils must meet their duties to home-schooled children, ombudsman says.
Local authorities must ensure they meet their duties to children being home schooled if there are any concerns about the quality of education provided, the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has said.
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: 24 003 662
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- Demonstrate how it will ensure that officers always carry out a suitability assessment to identify the household’s needs before making a placement in interim or temporary accommodation.
- Show how it will monitor homelessness applications and set reminders of statutory deadlines e.g. 56 days.
Case reference: 23 018 891
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- Send a reminder to all staff that if the relief duty is accepted this means it has accepted the person is homeless and that this should be reflected in any decisions on the main housing duty.
- Send a reminder to staff that in cases of domestic abuse, contact with the applicant should only be made via agreed methods to avoid the risk of harm.
Case reference: 23 016 243
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- Provide training to staff who manage homelessness applications to ensure there are no unnecessary delays in completing assessments.
Case reference: 22 018 050
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Domiciliary care
- Remind staff involved with complaints that the Council is able to use discretion when considering whether to accept a complaint from a representative of a person who cannot consent.
- Develop a procedure for dealing with adult social care complaints, which should include how its complaints process interacts with those of commissioned care providers.
Case reference: 22 016 884
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Other
- The Council will review its procedures for disrupted foster placements to include contingency plans in case the Council is unable to find a foster placement in time.
Case reference: 22 015 631
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- The Council to review its allocations policy and procedures for notifying applicants of its decisions on their housing applications and about their right to request a review of these decisions; and
- consider what action it can take to address its backlog of housing register assessments.
Case reference: 21 017 488
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- The Council has agreed to review its procedures to ensure that when the Council decides to end a direct payment arrangement it writes to the person concerned to confirm the arrangement has ended and sets out the alternative arrangements it has put in place to ensure the adult’s eligible needs for care and support continue to be met.
Case reference: 22 008 107
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to explain to the Ombudsman what measures it will put in place to ensure that amended Education, Health and Care Plans are issued in the required timescale following an Annual Review meeting.
- The Council has agreed to explain to the Ombudsman what measures it will put in place to ensure that it picks up on and responds to formal complaints it receives about its Special Educational Needs and Disability service.
Case reference: 21 010 908
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council agreed that it would provide relevant staff with a briefing to learn lessons from this complaint. This was to ensure they received a reminder on the need to act promptly on receipt of a Special Educational Needs and Disability tribunal decision, to put in place the provision outlined in a final amended Education, Care and Health Plan.
Case reference: 21 010 226
Category: Education
Sub Category: COVID-19
- •Review its ‘medical provision policy’ and associated documents and ensure they are consistent with The Education Act 1996 and statutory guidance
- •Review its procedures for providing GCSE learning for children unable to attend school.
- •Review its policies and procedures to make sure it keeps sufficient oversight and control of the arrangements with Achieving for Children.
- •Provide Achieving for Children staff with training on the Council’s revised ‘medical provision policy’ and procedures for providing GCSE learning for children unable to attend school.
Last updated: 4 April 2015