Warrington Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 45 complaints. Of these, 17 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 22 complaints. We investigated 6 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 6 complaints and upheld 5.
83% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 80% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for Warrington Council's population, this is 2.4% 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 2 out of 5 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
40% 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 4 cases.
In 4 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 Warrington 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.
Fifteen-minute care calls criticised by Ombudsman as ‘rarely enough’
Councils need to ensure any care visits they arrange give enough time for care workers to do their job properly the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has said.
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: 23 016 966
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council has agreed to remind officers of the statutory timescales for completing EHC Plan reviews and the requirement to comply with these timescales.
Case reference: 23 005 182
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council was at fault for not properly considering whether a child out of school was getting alternative education provision. It also delayed finalising an Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP), which delayed special education provision. This meant a child was without suitable education for three school terms. The Council should ensure its case workers have read the LGSCO focus report which deals with its responsibilities when a child is out of school. The Council already have an action plan dealing with how SEN caseworkers manage EHCP's
Case reference: 22 017 198
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council will provide the evidence of monitoring timeliness of annual reviews, as suggested in its response to Miss X's complaint.
- The Council will improve communication between the special educational needs team and the transport team to ensure there are no delays in making transport arrangements once a child's or young person's eligibility is established.
- Senior leaders of the Children and Education and Adult Social Care departments will review the Council's process for deciding when a transition for adulthood assessment should be carried out to ensure that for every young person it happens at the right time.
Case reference: 22 013 107
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The council should ensure the SEN staff are aware of the EHCP timescales, improve the monitoring of EHCP timescales, and are aware of the importance of thorough and timely communication with parents / carers.
Case reference: 22 005 296
Category: Planning
Sub Category: Enforcement
- The Council will remind staff who deal with enforcement complaints they should update complainants on key actions and decisions reached during their investigation.
Case reference: 21 015 132
Category: Education
Sub Category: Other
- The Council has agreed to review and update its home to school transport policy.
Case reference: 21 013 725
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Drainage
- The Council agreed to remind officers of the need to keep records of works carried out on their behalf.
- The Council agreed to review why it could not provide copies of all complaint responses.
Case reference: 21 003 450
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: COVID-19
- The Council has agreed to take action to ensure officers deal with decisions on deprivation of capital in line with the Guidance.
Case reference: 20 004 016
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Direct payments
- The Council agreed to review how it monitors and calculates changes in direct payments for people with complex care needs to ensure it: keeps accurate records of its calculations and any changes; makes changes or amendments to direct payments promptly following reviews; and uses the correct figures when calculating and underpayments due.
Case reference: 20 000 864
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Charging
- The Council will confirm the outcome of its action plan to prevent the miscalculation of care charges and ensure better handling of direct payments requests.
Last updated: 4 April 2015