Middlesbrough Borough Council (21 005 776)

Statement Upheld Allocations 11-Apr-2022

Summary: A housing association, acting on behalf of the Council, delayed making necessary changes to Ms X’s housing application. This is fault. The Council is also at fault because it failed to keep records in line with its data retention policy. The Council has agreed to apologise, pay Ms X £300, and take action to improve its service.

Middlesbrough Borough Council (21 010 516)

Statement Upheld Other 26-May-2022

Summary: Mr X complains about the Council’s handling of his reports of rats and fly tipping. We have decided to uphold Mr X’s complaint. This is because there is evidence of fault by the Council, which caused Mr X uncertainty about what action it would take. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to apologise to Mr X, open a new investigation into his reports and make several service improvements.

Middlesbrough Borough Council (22 001 772)

Statement Upheld Adoption 03-Jul-2022

Summary: In January 2022 we upheld a complaint against the Council and it agreed to our recommendations to remedy the injustice caused. The Council was at fault as it delayed completing an agreed action by three months. It has now completed the agreed action but should apologise to Mr and Mrs X for the frustration and uncertainty caused by the delay.

Middlesbrough Borough Council (21 010 089)

Statement Upheld Antisocial behaviour 31-Jul-2022

Summary: Mr X complained the Council failed to properly investigate anti-social behaviour from his neighbour. The Council was at fault for failing to consider all available options, for delaying looking into support for the alleged perpetrator, and for failing to regularly send Mr X’s CCTV evidence to the estate agent who managed the property the alleged perpetrator rented. The Council agreed to provide a remedy for the uncertainty its faults caused.

Middlesbrough Borough Council (22 000 373)

Statement Upheld Child protection 30-Aug-2022

Summary: We have upheld this complaint because the Council delayed consideration of a complaint at stage two of the children’s statutory complaints procedure. The Council has now agreed to resolve the complaint by issuing a stage two complaint response within one month.

Middlesbrough Borough Council (21 019 061)

Statement Upheld Other 04-Sep-2022

Summary: The complainant (Mrs X) said the Council failed to support her when her niece (Y) was placed in her care. We find fault with the Council for refusing to consider Mrs X’s complaint through its children’s statutory complaint procedure. This caused Mrs X injustice. The Council agreed to apologise, to make a payment to recognise time and trouble when pursuing Mrs X’s complaint and to carry out the children’s statutory complaint procedure. The Council will also provide some training to its staff dealing with the Children Services complaints.