Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 79 complaints. Of these, 33 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 38 complaints. We investigated 8 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 8 complaints and upheld 7.
88% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 81% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council's population, this is 2.4 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 1 out of 7 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
14% 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 11 cases.
In 11 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 Walsall Metropolitan Borough 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.
No reports published
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: 24 009 914
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council has agreed to remind relevant staff that if the Council agrees to amend an EHC Plan, it must allow the parent of young person at least 15 calendar days to comment or make representations on the proposed amendments, and must issue a final amended EHC Plan within 12 weeks of a review, in line with the statutory guidance.
Case reference: 24 006 858
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Remind relevant staff of the importance of good record keeping. This is to ensure all Education, Health and Care Plan annual review documents such as invitation letters and decision letters to parents are properly kept on the Council’s system for audit purposes.
- Ensure the Council holds the correct contact details for parents on its system and communicate with them in a timely manner. This is to make sure relevant documents of their children’s Education, Health and Care Plan annual reviews are correctly issued to them, and they are kept updated about their children’s cases.
- Provide guidance and training to relevant staff about the Council’s non-delegable duty under section 42 of Children and Families Act 2014. This is to ensure the Council provide the specified special educational provision contained in Section F of an Education, Health and Care Plan for the child or young person.
- Remind relevant staff to consider and complete re-assessments of a child and young person’s needs in accordance with statutory timescales, Regulation and Code.
Case reference: 24 005 662
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- •Remind relevant staff of the importance of effective complaint handling.
- •Remind relevant staff of the Council’s statutory duties in issue decision notices within four weeks of the annual review and ensure the final amended Plans are issued within the relevant timescale.
Case reference: 23 020 235
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Refuse and recycling
- The Council should review its current process in place for its bin men to be able to raise issues they come across when collecting bins. It should take this case into consideration when doing so.If there is not a system in place, the Council should consider implementing one.
Case reference: 23 010 532
Category: Education
Sub Category: School transport
- The Council will remind staff involved in free school transport appeals that when deciding if there were closer suitable schools, they must check a school place was available to the child at the time of the admission applications.
Case reference: 23 008 852
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- Provide guidance and training to its staff about when and how it should consider its Section 19 duty to provide education. The Council should refer to the Ombudsman’s guidance, Out of school… out of mind? How councils can do more to give children out of school a good education,published in 2016, when providing this guidance and training to its staff.
Case reference: 23 005 518
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they are aware of the guidance which states within four weeks of a review meeting, a council must notify the child’s parent of its decision to maintain, amend or discontinue the EHC plan. (Section 20(10) Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.176); following comments from the child’s parent or the young person, if the council decides to continue to make amendments, it must issue the amended EHC plan as soon as practicable and within eight weeks of the date it sent the EHC plan and proposed amendments to the parents. (Section 22(3) SEND Regulations 2014 and SEN Code paragraph 9.196); councils need to have a strategic overview of the provision available in their area and to identify and resolve gaps in provision. (participation of young people in education, employment or training statutory guidance for council’s); and councils are required to collect information about young people so that those who are NEET can be identified and given support to re-engage
Case reference: 23 004 475
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council agreed to review its policies and procedures to ensure it is able to identify when EHC plan assessment cases have failed to meet the statutory twenty-week target and confirm what action it will take following identified delays, including any escalation timeframes and procedures. If the Council has already completed such a review in the last 12 months, it will share its action plan with us.
- The Council agreed to undertake a detailed review of its working practices and policies so that it retains oversight and responsibility for its duties to children unable to attend school.
- The Council will provide training to all staff involved in EHC plan arrangements relating to the Code, specifically:a) when a EHC plan should be finalised and issued; andb) about the Council’s alternative provision duties under section 19.If the Council has already implemented training in the last 12 months, it will share an overview of what training was delivered to whom and when.
- The Council agreed to provide a report to a relevant overview and scrutiny committee about the timeliness of EHC plan assessment progress with the Council’s action plan, and what further steps need to be taken to ensure assessments are completed, final EHC plans issued within statutory timescales and alternative provision put in place when required by law. If the Council has already completed such a report in the last 12 months, it will share a copy of said report with us.
Case reference: 23 002 105
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Produce an action plan to demonstrate how the council will meet statutory timescales for EHCP annual reviews.
- Complete a review of its policy regarding the making and recording of reasonable adjustments in relation to Council services.
- Provide us with evidence it has complied with the actions it has already said it will take, together with evidence of any outcomes, outlined below:• Reviews its EHCP process to ensure there is no confusion in responsibilities.• Reviews its Personal budget process to ensure there is clear process for review.• Ensure staff receive training on the Equality Act.• Reviews its business continuity plan to ensure key performance timescales are protected when normal business is interrupted.• Support staff named within the complaint to understand the limits of their role and provide appropriate training.
Last updated: 4 April 2015