Ombudsman upholds higher percentage of complaints against Calderdale Council last year

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman upheld 14 complaints out of 19 which it found needed a decision.

It is an increase of the 47 per cent of cases the Ombudsman upheld in the previous year, 2018-19.

The Ombudsman’s findings are presented to scrutiny councillors each year, where performance can be monitored and lessons learned for the future.

In all 49 complaints were made to the Ombudsman in 2019-20 of which three were invalid or were incomplete, ten were referred back to Calderdale for local resolution and 17 were closed after the initial inquiry had been made.

Of the remaining 19, five were not upheld, says the Ombudsman, which published its statistics for local authorities this summer.

Calderdale’s rate of 74 per cent upheld compares with a national average rate of 67 per cent of similar authorities.

In none of the upheld cases did the council provide a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman, compared to an average of 11 per cent of cases in similar authorities.

Nine of the cases with a compliance outcome were resolved during the year, says the report.

As with other comparable authorities, the Ombudsman was satisfied in 100 per cent of cases that the authority successfully implemented its recommendations, once made, to remedy the complaint.

The matters which led to the upheld complaints included an issue of adult safeguarding, two separate cases relating to charging for care, a traffic management issue regarding bus stop clearway markings, a case of noise nuisance, a special educational needs case relating to the council’s failure to continue with educational provision and therapy set out in a plan, an issue of planning enforcement, a court summons relating to Council Tax, a blocked drain on a highway, billing following a Council Tax exemption and the council’s failure to issue a second reminder to a person when they stopped paying their Council Tax.

Areas in which complaints can be made to the Ombudsman include adults and social care, benefits and tax, corporate and other services, education and children’s services, public protection and regulation, highways and transport, housing and planning and development.