London Borough of Waltham Forest (22 010 136)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 10-Apr-2023

Summary: The Council failed to provide Mrs B’s son with suitable education when he was unable to attend school. It also failed to make proper and timely efforts to identify a school which could meet his needs. We have recommended that the Council apologises and makes payments for the loss of education, distress and avoidable time and trouble. We have also recommended service improvements.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (22 012 846)

Statement Upheld Allocations 23-Apr-2023

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about the banding the Council has given to Mrs X’s housing application. She says the banding given does not properly reflect the impact of their housing on her husband’s medical issues. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault with how the Council considered Mrs X’s housing application. However, there has been service failure with the Council’s complaint handling. The Council has agreed to resolve this by providing a proportionate remedy for the injustice caused.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (22 010 783)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 03-May-2023

Summary: Ms D complained the Council mishandled her daughter’s transition to a college placement. She also says its communication with her was poor and it delayed updating her daughter’s Education, Health and Care plan. We find the Council was at fault as it failed to adhere to statutory timescales when handling Ms D’s daughter’s transition to college. It also delayed updating the Education, Health and Care plan and it failed to provide interim educational provision. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to address the injustice caused by fault.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (22 005 408)

Statement Upheld Trees 14-May-2023

Summary: Mrs D, Mr E and Mr F (the Complainants) say over the last five years the Council has failed to properly investigate their complaint about their neighbours’ overgrown trees. We found the Council failed to consider and apply the correct statutory framework for these types of complaints. There was also fault in the Council’s complaint handling. These failings meant the Council has not provided an outcome which either puts right the alleged problem right or provides the Complainants with a right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. The Complainants have been put to unnecessary time and trouble in pursuing this and suffered a degree of distress and uncertainty. The Council has agreed to our recommendations to remedy the injustice.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (22 013 245)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 21-May-2023

Summary: The Council delayed issuing a final Education, Health and Care plan when Mrs B’s son, M, was in his last year of primary school. If there had been no delay, M would have started senior school around 6 months earlier, and the Council would not have taken action against Mr and Mrs B for not sending M to a school which it later conceded was not suitable for his needs. The Council has agreed to apologise and make payments for the loss of education and distress. It has also agreed to make service improvements.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (22 011 699)

Statement Upheld Disabled children 31-May-2023

Summary: Miss B says the Council delayed completing child and family/carer/home safety assessments, delayed completing adaptations, failed to properly consider the level of support her son requires, failed to put in place suitable alternative school transport, delayed implementing recommendations following a complaint and delayed responding to a stage three complaint. The Council delayed carrying out various assessments, failed to properly consider a request for 2:1 support for Miss B’s son, failed to consider putting in place alternative transport and delayed implementing recommendations. An apology, payment to Miss B, a meeting with Miss B and reminder to officers is satisfactory remedy.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (22 011 395)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 12-Jun-2023

Summary: Mrs X complained the Council refused to increase her son, F’s personal budget to secure funding for a teaching assistant in line with his Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan. F’s personal budget was underfunded which means the Council did not provide all of the teaching assistant hours which F was entitled to in line with his EHC plan. The Council agreed to increase F’s personal budget to cover the extra 13 hours F is entitled to and backdate the missing payments. It also agreed to pay Mrs X £300 to acknowledge the distress, inconvenience and time and trouble the matter caused her and carry out service improvements.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (22 002 751)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 13-Jun-2023

Summary: Mrs B says the Council delayed completing a homeless assessment, failed to follow through with appointments in her personal housing plan, gave her an incorrect banding on the housing register, failed to ensure her landlord addressed issues of mould in the property and delayed providing her with three-bedroom accommodation. The Council failed to carry out appointments in the personal housing plan and delayed providing Mrs B with temporary accommodation. A payment to Mrs B is satisfactory remedy. There is no evidence of fault in the remainder of the complaint.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (23 001 695)

Statement Upheld Parking and other penalties 10-Jul-2023

Summary: There was fault by the Council which applied timescales for challenging a penalty charge notice too rigidly. It also failed to consider Mr X’s request for reasonable adjustments due to his disabilities. The Council will apologise, make a symbolic payment and reconsider Mr X’s representations.

London Borough of Waltham Forest (22 013 702)

Statement Upheld Refuse and recycling 18-Jul-2023

Summary: The Council was at fault for how it responded to Miss B’s reports of problems with her assisted bin collections. It has agreed to apologise and put a period of monitoring in place to ensure she receives an adequate service from now on.