Norfolk County Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 106 complaints. Of these, 31 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 51 complaints. We investigated 24 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 24 complaints and upheld 19.
79% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 89% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Norfolk County Council's population, this is 2 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.
The average for authorities of this type is
5.3 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. -
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
In 4 out of 19 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
21% satisfactory remedy rate.
This compares to an average of 10% in similar authorities.
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 15 cases.
In 15 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 Norfolk County 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.
Norfolk council agrees to rigorous scrutiny of services for children with Special Educational Needs
Councillors in Norfolk will be provided with regular detailed analysis of the county council’s special educational needs services following a critical Ombudsman report.
Council leaves vulnerable Norfolk man without enough care before he died
A Norfolk woman was left to care for an elderly vulnerable friend for months before he died while the county council delayed meeting his care, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Norfolk council failed two boys with Special Educational Needs
The second of two reports on the same topic.
Norfolk council failed two boys with Special Educational Needs
Norfolk County Council’s provision for children with special educational needs (SEN) has been criticised in two separate investigations after the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman revealed it had already upheld nine similar complaints.
Council should not have charged top-up fee while family selling home
Norfolk County Council has agreed to investigate whether more care home residents have been incorrectly charged a top-up fee, after one family’s complaint was upheld by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
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: 24 014 134
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will review its process for securing special educational provision when it is aware a child or young person is unable to attend school or is awaiting allocation at a special school. The Council should ensure there is a system in place to secure provision and funding without delay.
Case reference: 24 010 217
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- •Remind relevant staff of the importance of effective complaint handling, adhering to policy and timescales.
Case reference: 24 007 458
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council agreed to remind relevant complaint officers of the need to follow the Council’s complaints procedure.
Case reference: 24 008 765
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council should remind relevant staff of its duty to quickly investigate and act on complaints or concerns raised that the provision is not in place at any time. It should consider all the evidence provided.
Case reference: 24 003 580
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Fostering
- The Council agreed to review its Local Authority Designated Officer Allegations Management Procedures and Guidance documents and leaflets to ensure employers and agencies were clear on their responsibilities during the process.
Case reference: 23 017 874
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- The Council will write to the Ombudsmen to explain what action it will take to ensure cases are allocated promptly to allow for the timely assessment of a person's care needs in keeping with the requirment of the Care Act 2014. This should include a clear process for dealing with urgent referrals.
Case reference: 23 016 712
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- The Council will review its procedure and circulate guidance to its adult social care staff about the Council's duty to keep Lasting Power of Attorneys involved with reviews of care plans and financial assessments.
- The Council will ensure its complaints team are aware of the Council's complaints policy and timeframes and remind this team of the process for keeping complainants informed of any delays.
- The Council will ensure its complaints team signposts all complaints to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman when the complaints process has been completed.
Case reference: 23 013 106
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- Council will carry out a review to identify learning around maintaining wellbeing along with duty to achieve best prices
Case reference: 23 012 356
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Direct payments
- Ensure a copy of our final decision is considered by the relevant scrutiny committee and cabinet member; and share a copy of our final decision with all relevant staff in adult social care, to discuss and identify learning.
Case reference: 23 008 320
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will remind relevant staff to make sure provision in Education, Health and Care Plans begin on the day of the move to the Council area or within 15 working days of becoming aware of the move if this is later.
- The Council will remind relevant staff of the need to keep parents updated about the outcome of school consultations.
- The Council will remind relevant staff of the appeals process where appeals can only be made to the Special Educational Needs Disability tribunal once a decision letter and Final Education, Health and Care Plan has been issued.
Last updated: 4 April 2015