West Sussex County Council
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 202 complaints. Of these, 49 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 72 complaints. We investigated 81 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 81 complaints and upheld 72.
89% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 89% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for West Sussex County Council's population, this is 8 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 8 out of 72 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
11% 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 62 cases.
In 62 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 West Sussex 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.
Disabled boy missed out on education and support because of poor council practice
A West Sussex boy missed out on vital support because the county council decided he had the ‘wrong’ type of disabilities, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has reported.
Councillors considered wrong Ombudsman report
Councillors in West Sussex have been asked to revisit an Ombudsman’s decision, after they considered the wrong version of a critical report at a council meeting.
Councils reminded of their duty to provide alternative education
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is reminding council school attendance teams that their duty to provide alternative education may arise for reasons other than exclusion and illness.
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: 25 003 836
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Transport
- The Council will review the faults identified in this complaint and produce/amend practice guidance to officers so they correctly apply paragraphs 3.4 and 4.9 when looking at how people access day support. In particular that they properly consider whether there is a suitable alternative before making the decision to remove funding for transport to day support and they are mindful of the general wellbeing principle
Case reference: 25 003 813
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Transport
- The Council will review the faults identified in this complaint and produce/amend practice guidance to officers so they correctly apply paragraphs 3.4 and 4.9 when looking at how people access day support. In particular that they properly consider whether there is a suitable alternative before making the decision to remove funding for transport to day support, and they are mindful of the general wellbeing principle and the impact of decisions on carers.
Case reference: 24 020 226
Category: Education
Sub Category: Alternative provision
- The Council has agreed to review its processes to ensure it meets its S42 and S19 duties when a child is out of school and to include consideration of interim reviews.
- The Council has also agreed to put a system into place that allows oversight of SEND Officer's cases during unexpected or long absences.
Case reference: 24 018 933
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- Take steps to review its procedures around communication and tell the Ombudsman what it has put in place to ensure people are updated when their cases are reallocated to new officers.
Case reference: 24 018 646
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council failed to arrange suitable alternative provision when a child was unable to attend school, due to a lack of available providers. It has agreed to review its approach to delivering section 19 alternative provision to ensure it explores all avenues to meet its section 19 duties, regardless of provider availability.
Case reference: 24 018 275
Category: Other Categories
Sub Category: Other
- The Council has agreed to provide us with a report from Service B confirming the action it has taken to address the failure to follow expected procedure and strengthen its processes in response to the lessons learned from Mr X’s death.
Case reference: 24 017 495
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- 2. Within three months of the final decision the Council has agreed to:-a) review the assessment delays in this complaint and what action the Council will take to reduce future delays;
- 2. Within three months of the final decision the Council has agreed to:-b) remind relevant staff by staff circular, team meeting or other method about the importance of properly recording what action has been taken including where a person has refused an assessment.
Case reference: 24 016 899
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- In writing, remind officers to complete assessments within a reasonable time frame.
Case reference: 24 013 239
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council agreed to consider how to improve monitoring of annual reviews which are delegated to schools to identify potential failings at the earliest possible opportunity.
Case reference: 24 012 905
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council agreed to produce an action plan showing how it will meet the statutory timescales for needs assessments and issuing Education, Health and Care plans.
Last updated: 4 April 2015