Manchester City Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 177 complaints. Of these, 59 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 90 complaints. We investigated 28 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 28 complaints and upheld 22.
79% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 81% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Manchester City Council's population, this is 3.8 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.
The average for authorities of this type is
4.7 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. -
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
In 5 out of 22 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
23% satisfactory remedy rate.
This compares to an average of 13% in similar authorities.
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 18 cases.
In 18 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 Manchester City Council
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.
A Manchester mum had to live in an unsuitable and unsafe flat with her disabled son for 18 months longer than she should have, according to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Manchester City Council to review alternative education policy in light of Ombudsman report
Manchester children who were out of education before the first national lockdown are to have their cases reviewed following a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman report.
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: 24 007 821
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to issue written reminders to the relevant staff to ensure they are aware of the Council's section 19 duties.
Case reference: 24 005 672
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Remind officers in writing of the importance of issuing EHC Plans in line with the statutory timescales.
Case reference: 24 004 809
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- the Council, as part of its review of its alternative education policy, will:take into account the findings of this complaint to ensure officers are fully aware of when its duties to provide alternative education might be triggered.
Case reference: 24 001 270
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Refuse and recycling
- By training or other means, remind officers to ensure they signpost residents to the assisted collection service if they mention they have a disability.
Case reference: 23 018 266
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- Remind relevant staff of the importance of effective complaint handling.
- Remind relevant staff of the need to be clear when communicating actions with applicants.
- Remind relevant staff when they receive a review request, it is best practice for the officer to forward the request to the relevant team, rather than requesting the applicant resend the request.
Case reference: 23 013 249
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Friends and family carers
- The Council agreed that it would brief all relevant staff within its advice and guidance service, and its children social work teams, on the findings of this investigation to stress the importance of prompt assessment to determine if a child is in need and/or requires accommodation under Section 20 of the Children Act. We said the briefing could be in-person or online but that it could not simply be in writing given the Council already had adequate written materials on this subject.
Case reference: 23 011 175
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- The Council has agreed to provide training and/or guidance to relevant staff about autism and reasonableadjustments in line with the Greater Manchester All Age Autism Strategy.
- The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff to record their consideration, particularly in cases ofdomestic abuse, of whether an applicant is homeless because it is notreasonable for them to continue to occupy accommodation, in line with sections175 and 177 of the Housing Act 1996
- The Council has agreed to ensure that information provided to homeless applicants includes sufficientinformation and detail about the options discussed in any assessment andreiterates any advice given verbally.
- The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff of the duty to provide interim accommodation to homelessapplicants who might be homeless, eligible, and in priority need and that to bean offer of accommodation, the accommodation must exist and be available to theapplicant. It will consider making any such offers in writing. The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that in cases where a homeless applicant has not taken upinterim accommodation or has refused an offer, the Council must still providetemporary accommodation if it accepts the main housing duty.
- Using this case as an example, the Council will discuss with relevant staff the challenges and barriers victims ofdomestic abuse can face in leaving abusive situations and identify the stepsthe Council can take to support victims and create the best opportunitypossible for them to leave.
Case reference: 23 011 109
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- Remind all relevant officers of the importance to organise a smooth transition from support in the EHCP to adult social care support and the role of the Council in coordinating different departments and outside agencies.
Case reference: 23 009 832
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Residential care
- The Council has agreed to work with Gorton Parks to improve the support it provides for Ms Y, including improving its record keeping to ensure its records and:a) Records reflect the time actions are taken;b) Routine checks are actually carried out;
Case reference: 23 010 915
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- The Council will remind social workers that they should be clear about who the Council addresses care contribution invoices to, and this record should be kept up to date.
Last updated: 4 April 2015