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: 25 004 714
Category: Benefits and tax
Sub Category: Council tax
- a) Show us it has improved its procedure to ensure that when it says it hasremoved a debt from a council tax account, it has done so and checked this.
Case reference: 24 023 402
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to review its commissioning arrangements for special educational needs therapies.
- The Council has agreed to train its staff on its responsibility to ensure special educational needs provision is being delivered.
Case reference: 24 021 183
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- •ensure the Council deals with and responds to service users’ complaints in line with its complaint procedure and timescale.
- •ensure the Council issues its decision letter to amend an Education, Health and Care Plan within four weeks of a review meeting and indicate what the proposed changes are
- •where the Council delegates the arrangement of annual reviews to schools, the Council should ensure it keeps an oversight of the review process to prevent any potential delays
- •train relevant staff to ensure they understand and discharge the Council’s non-delegable duty under Section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to provide a child / young person with the provisions set out in section F of their Education, Health and Care Plans.
Case reference: 24 020 850
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Refuse and recycling
- The Council will remind its staff in enforcement of its Corporate Enforcement Policy particularly in relation to the exercising of discretion in fly tipping cases where there have been reported missed collections at a property.
Case reference: 24 019 837
Category: Education
Sub Category: School transport
- The Council will provide training for school transport officers and panel members on home to school transport and the statutory guidance ensuring this covers applications on Special Educational Needs/disability grounds and the need to consider safety and behavioural difficulties in deciding whether it is safe to walk to school, even when accompanied.
Case reference: 24 017 890
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Looked after children
- The Council will ensure its complaint handling staff are aware, through training or renewed guidance, that issues covered by other complaints procedures can be considered within the children’s statutory procedure. The guidance makes provision for this, to allow the child or young person to receive a single joined-up response to their concerns.
Case reference: 24 017 059
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- By training or other means, remind relevant staff of the importance of taking proactive steps and to ensure they contact service users, their families and/or representatives in a timely manner to recover accruing care fees.
Case reference: 24 015 234
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Other
- In writing, remind officers of the importance of reviewing complaints under the correct procedure.
Case reference: 24 013 845
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Other
- Within three months of the decision, the Council should provide evidence of all recycling bin collections that have taken place from the date of the decision.
Case reference: 24 013 839
Category: Benefits and tax
Sub Category: Other
- Review its procedures for investigating business rates liability where there is uncertainty or conflicting information. This should include:1. Ensuring site visits that do not resolve occupancy status are followed up promptly.2. Clear internal escalation routes for potential hereditament anomalies.3. Reminders to staff of the Council’s duty to notify the VOA where appropriate.
Last updated: 4 April 2015