Royal Borough of Greenwich
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 110 complaints. Of these, 52 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 46 complaints. We investigated 12 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 12 complaints and upheld 10.
83% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 84% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Royal Borough of Greenwich's population, this is 3.4 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.
The average for authorities of this type is
9.1 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. -
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
In 2 out of 10 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
20% satisfactory remedy rate.
This compares to an average of 12% in similar authorities.
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 10 cases.
In 10 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 Royal Borough of Greenwich
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.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is reminding councils of their duties towards friends and family foster carers after its investigation into the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
Clear advice and guidance key to supporting young people leaving care
The message comes after the LGO found a number of errors by Royal Borough of Greenwich when handling the immigration status of a Nigerian teenager it was looking after. The council’s failings meant the girl, who is now an adult, has lost a place at university as she cannot access Higher Education while her status remains uncertain and is also unable to work.
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: 25 001 974
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- Train relevant staff on the legal steps the Council should take before it decides to end the relief duty in line with the Housing Act 1996 and the Homelessness Code of Guidance.
Case reference: 24 015 539
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- •provide guidance and training to relevant staff about the Council’s non-delegable duty under Section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2024. This is to ensure the Council provides the specified special educational provision contained in Section F of an Education, Health and Care Plan for the child or young person.
- •produce an action plan to demonstrate how the Council will meet statutory timescales for annual reviews of Education, Health and Care Plans including post-16 annual reviews.
Case reference: 24 009 484
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to make relevant staff sufficiently aware of its duty to deliver children's special educational needs support, even when they are not in school.
- The Council has agreed to write to us, setting out a plan of action to ensure – in future – it overcomes similar problems to those it has faced finding a school for Miss X's daughter.
Case reference: 24 008 175
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour
- Share the Ombudsman's decision with staff involved in dealing with reports of anti-social behaviour and remind it that it should consider liaising with the police where appropriate, and that it should refer complainants to the right to request an antisocial behaviour review.
- Share the Ombudsman's decision with staff that handle complaints, and remind it that it should not refer owner-occupiers to the Housing Ombudsman Service, as they cannot use that service. It should refer owner-occupiers who complain about antisocial behaviour to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Case reference: 24 002 456
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- The Council will review its complaints policy in light of the Ombudsman’s guidance referred to in paragraphs 27 and 28 of this decision statement.
- The Council will put in place a process to ensure proper management of complaints so where a delay occurs it is identified and acted on.
- The Council will remind officers dealing with medical assessments of:the need to ensure a note is kept of the date from which medical priority applies, based on when the relevant medical evidence has been submitted; and the need to check previous correspondence on a case when dealing with requests for review or complaints to ensure responses are consistent.
Case reference: 23 006 213
Category: Benefits and tax
Sub Category: Housing benefit and council tax benefit
- Review its procedures to ensure Housing Benefit appeal requests are properly identified and referred to the Tribunal where required.
- Remind staff to clearly explain and issue appeal rights in all Council Tax Support and discount decisions, regardless of whether the Council considers there to be residual liability.
Case reference: 24 010 673
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Residential care
- The Council will issue a written reminder to a local adult care provider to remind its staff to maintain accurate and complete records for all service users and to ensure information is given in a clear and understandable way.
Case reference: 23 021 298
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Homelessness
- By training or other means, remind officers of the provisions in Section 213 of the Housing Act 1996 for requesting a reciprocal agreement from another council where the applicant may be at risk of violence or serious harassment in its area and that requests should be made without delay.
Case reference: 23 017 979
Category: Benefits and tax
Sub Category: Council tax
- The Council agreed to ensure information about the right to appeal Long Term Empty Premium decisions is given on all accounts where it is applied.
- The Council agreed to review why the delays took place and take steps to ensure they cannot be repeated on future cases.
- The Council agreed to take steps to ensure applicants are updated and kept informed about progress on their Grant applications and works where agency arrangements exist.
- The Council agreed to ensure officers take account of any period of delay caused by the Council through the Grant process when considering requests for waivers of the Long Term Empty Premium charge.
Case reference: 23 008 951
Category: Transport and highways
Sub Category: Traffic management
- The Council will issue guidance to Members to ensure complaints are forwarded appropriately or complainants advised about how to make a complaint at the earliest opportunity so that they are dealt with in accordance with the Council’s complaints procedure.
Last updated: 4 April 2015