Sheffield City Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 138 complaints. Of these, 59 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 57 complaints. We investigated 22 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 22 complaints and upheld 16.
73% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 81% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Sheffield City Council's population, this is 2.8 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 4 out of 16 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
25% 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 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 Sheffield 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.
Ombudsman investigation finds young Sheffield woman let down by city council
A vulnerable young Sheffield woman was told by the city council during its investigation into the abuse she suffered that she could have stopped it sooner if she had spoken up.
Sheffield boy misses out on full-time secondary school education because of council faults
A Sheffield boy with special educational needs has missed out on much of his senior schooling because the city council did not provide suitable alternative education for him, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Council should apologise for tree controversy, Ombudsman says
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has asked Sheffield City Council to make a public apology to the people of the city after numerous problems were found with the way it removed street trees.
Blue badge applications to be reviewed in Sheffield
Sheffield City Council incorrectly assessed people for disabled blue badges, says an investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Council delays left boy without proper education for 18 months
An Ombudsman investigation about a Sheffield schoolboy left without the right Special Educational Needs (SEN) support for 18 months, has highlighted how councils across the country could improve their practice.
The joint investigation by the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and the Local Government Ombudsman found the woman was left without the right care package for more than a year, because of a dispute between Sheffield City Council and Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, a mental health trust.
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: 24 005 127
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Safeguarding
- The Council will issue a staff briefing to remind Council and Hallam24 Healthcare staff, where relevant, of the importance of:•reassessing and completing reviews of care plans in a timely manner;•following care plans; and•raising concerns about care plan tasks when necessary to avoid tasks being uncompleted.This will help to ensure all care needs of service users are met and reviewed in a timely manner, without delay.
- The Council will provide staff training about good communication when making and communicating decisions to service users. This will help to ensure clarity and avoid confusion when the Council is making and communicating decisions to service users.
Case reference: 24 005 015
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Refuse and recycling
- The Council will remind all waste management staff, including managers, what its waste management policy is. Specifically, that its policy says supported living waste is classed as domestic waste and is therefore eligible for free domestic waste collections.
Case reference: 24 002 665
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Child protection
- During our assessment the Council accepted that it should have investigated this complaint jointly with an NHS Trust. The Council said its complaints manager would review the Council's protocols for joint complaint handling with a view to ensuring that future opportunities for joint working are not missed.
Case reference: 24 002 326
Category: Benefits and tax
Sub Category: Council tax support
- The Council agree to review its process, including any standard or template letters, for responding to council tax reductions reviews to ensure it informs people of their rights to appeal relevant decisions to the Valuation Tribunal.
Case reference: 23 021 148
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Provide a copy of the EOTAS policy to evidence it is acting following the fault identified in this case.
Case reference: 23 017 818
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council has agreed to provide the Ombudsman with evidence it has reminded education staff that the Council should consider its section19 duty to pupils from the fifteenth day of absence from school and clearly record its decision making at that time.
Case reference: 23 015 273
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- By training or other means remind relevant staff of the importance of adhering to the Council’s complaint policy times.
Case reference: 23 007 943
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Transport
- The Council has agreed that it will review its Blue Badge Scheme policy to ensure it complies with national guidance.
Case reference: 23 004 844
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to review how it commissions its speech and language therapy to ensure it can secure this type of therapy when it is a requirement of young people's Education Health and Care Plans.
- The Council has agreed to remind its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities staff that the Council's duty to secure the provision in Section F of Education Health and Care Plans is non-delegable.
Case reference: 23 004 629
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Residential care
- The Council has agreed to work with Valley Wood care home to identify the action it needs to take to ensure:a) it does not overlook the need to prompt people to take fortified drinks and documents this properly;b) its staff have access to people’s care plans and follow them when delivering care; andc) care records are not misplaced after someone has left the care home.
Last updated: 4 April 2015