New remedies guidance | We provide a wide range of free resources on our website for the organisations we investigate. One of these is ourGuidance on Remedies. This is the framework our investigators use to ensure our recommendations to remedy injustice are consistent and fair. We have recently completely refreshedthis document, taking into account the significant changes in both the local authority and care provider sectors in recent years. While this is not formal guidance for organisations we investigate, we do encourage them to use this document when resolving complaints before they reach our desks |
Housing disrepair - our powers to investigate | A recent published report has highlighted where we can get involved if people are experiencing disrepair problems in their privately-rented homes. The case, which involved a woman living in Worcester, saw us criticising the local council for not doing enough when the woman reported damp, mould and heating and electrical problems in her home. The woman had to move out of the flat for seven months while her landlord remedied the identified issues. While our colleagues at the Housing Ombudsman investigate complaints from council tenants about disrepair, we can investigate complaints from private tenants where councils have not properly used their enforcement powers under Environmental Health and Safety legislation to compel a landlord to make the required improvements. |
Did you know....? | We provide online training on effective complaint handling to local authorities and care providers. The aim of the training is to encourage organisations to resolve complaints properly before they come to us. This means members of the public, who have potentially been caused harm or inconvenience as a result of something the organisation has done, get a quicker resolution to their complaint. We encourage organisations to use learning from complaints to identify underlying problems in their services and to make improvements to avoid recurring problems causing harm or inconvenience to others. In 2022/23 we trained almost 1,500 delegates from more than 100 organisations. Delegates reported an average 24% increase in confidence in dealing with complaints after the training and 98% reported that they enjoyed the course. You can find more information about our training courses on our website www.lgo.org.uk/training |
Working with unusual bodies in jurisdiction At LGSCO we don't just investigate councils and care providers there are also some less obvious organisations that fall within our scope to investigate, such as fire and rescue services and drainage boards. This year, we are working to engage with more of these types of bodies in jurisdiction, and will have a special focus oncombined authorities, an increasingly powerful type of local government. Our Professional Practice Co-Ordinator, Michael Hyatt, shares his recent experiences of speaking with representatives from some of our lesser-known authorities. "Last month I met with representatives of two of our more unusual bodies in jurisdiction fire and rescue authorities and internal drainage boards to help them better understand what we do. "My first meeting was with complaint lead officers from 35 fire and rescue authorities across England. I explained our jurisdiction to look at a wide range of complaints, including operational fire and rescue matters.They told me most of the complaints they deal with locally are about speeding or other types of bad driving by firefighters getting to incidents. "I explained what we do by using some case examples including this one where we criticised a fire and rescue service for the way it communicated with relatives after a fatal road accident, this one, about a house inspection after a fire involving a deep fat fryer and this oneabout a service's actions after a fire at a block of flats. I also took them through examples of complaints we could not or would not investigate. Often these concern personnel matters where a current or former firefighter complains to us about an authoritys disciplinary actions. "My second meeting was requested by the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) the government department that sponsor Internal Drainage Boards (IDBs). These organisations manage water levels, for example doing work to reduce flood risk and manage water levels for farming. I took DEFRA through recent cases including this onewhere we found fault in the way a board communicated with someone complaining about potential flooding at a golf club. "We agreed to work more closely in future to help DEFRA correctly refer people to us in their complaints processes, and effectively manage peoples expectations." News you may have missed Ombudsman issues guide on temporary accommodation for homeless people Council asked to repay fathers nursery fees following ombudsman investigation Billing confusion prompts Barnet bailiff action | 