The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has found that Leeds City Council has issued 78% of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans more than 30 weeks after receiving educational psychologist advice, with 614 of 791 plans delayed beyond this timeframe. The investigation followed a complaint where one EHC Plan took 72 weeks versus the statutory guidance maximum of 20 weeks. The council agreed to pay £1,000 compensation, provide an apology, update webpages with current timescales and submit an action plan to improve timeliness and communication with families.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has highlighted that the shortage of educational psychologists is having a ‘significant impact on councils’ ability to set out the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)’. This observation by the LGSCO comes during its investigation into a complaint made by a family against Surrey County Council. In this case the LGSCO found that Surrey County Council took 37 weeks to produce an educational psychologist report for the child in question, when it should have taken six. The LGSCO has said that the Council has a backlog of 1,000 Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan that need input from an educational psychologist, and this is the reason for the delay. In this matter, the Council agreed to apologise for the delay and pay £1,000 for their failings.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has issued an Adverse Findings Notice against Wayside Care Ltd, the company that runs Wayside Nursing Home after it has failed to provide evidence that it has complied with the LGSCO’s recommendations. The LGSCO had ordered the care provider to refund the estate of one of its patients that had passed away after it had overcharged them, and to ensure its contracts were in compliance with Competition and Markets Authority (CMA)’s guidance on the matter. The LGSCO has said it will share its findings with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has investigated a complaint regarding The Grange Care Home's handling of Funded Nursing Care (FNC) payments. The investigation revealed that the care home's contract lacked clarity on the treatment of FNC payments. Despite the Ombudsman's recommendation to reissue the final invoice with FNC payments deducted, the care home failed to provide the suggested financial remedy. Consequently, the Ombudsman has issued an adverse findings notice against the provider, emphasising the importance of clear contracts in line with Competition and Markets Authority guidance and Care Quality Commission regulations. The case underscores the need for care homes to explicitly state their policies on FNC payments in resident contracts to avoid similar disputes in future.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has issued new practitioner guidance for housing officers administering Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs). The guidance aims to improve council practices in housing adaptations by addressing common issues identified through LGSCO investigations. It outlines specific timescales for different types of works, from 55 working days for urgent simple works to 180 working days for non-urgent complex works. The document includes case studies demonstrating proper implementation of DFGs and emphasises considerations required for children's applications, which are not means-tested but capped at £30,000.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has ordered Wandsworth Council to pay compensation to a homeless and disabled mother for placing her in accommodation which was too far from her disabled child’s school. Initially, the mother was placed in an unsuitable flat which was difficult to access. The family was then placed in accommodation which was far from the school named in the child’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. The school raised concerns over the child’s attendance and the impact of the consequently longer days on the child. Although the mother was offered another more suitable accommodation in November 2022, it was not ready for the family to move into until May 2023. Investigating into this matter, the LGSCO saw significant delays by the council, failure to assess the family’s housing needs, property suitability and failure to ask about the child’s EHC Plan when determining where to place the family. Wandsworth Council agreed to apologise to the mother and pay her £10,000 as well as a further £3,800 for additional transport costs in reaching her child’s school.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has published its Triennial review, outlining four key recommendations to improve public services and enhance its investigative capabilities. The proposals include expanding the LGSCO's remit to investigate education, health and care plan implementation in schools, mandating signposting to the LGSCO by independent adult social care providers, updating its jurisdiction to encompass emerging local government services and establishing a statutory duty to monitor compliance with the forthcoming complaint handling code. These recommendations aim to address accountability gaps and modernise the Ombudsman's service in response to increasing case complexity, particularly in areas such as special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), adult social care and homelessness.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has published decisions made in January 2024. The reports cover the LGSCO’s decisions in relation to complaints raised regarding health, children’s care services, benefits and tax, education, environment and regulation and housing.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has published its annual review of adult social care complaints for 2024–25, reporting an overall 8% increase in its adult care caseload. The review indicates a 28% rise in complaints regarding care service charging, with the Ombudsman upholding 79% of the cases investigated. Notably, the areas of assessment and care planning generated the highest number of complaints, while residential care experienced the highest uphold rate at 83%. The LGSCO also highlighted that self-funded care users—who account for 23% of the care user population—are underrepresented in the complaint statistics. With a 99% compliance rate with its recommendations, the review underscores the importance of integrating robust complaints handling into the broader agenda for adult social care reform.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has published its ‘Annual Review of Adult Social Care Complaints 2025–26’, which reports a 22% increase in complaints and enquiries about adult social care in England, to 3,938. Complaints from people who fund their own care increased by 10% to 368. Of the 904 cases investigated, 77% were upheld and 99.8% of cases in which the LGSCO made recommendations were completed to its satisfaction. The review also found that private social care providers had appropriately remedied 33% of upheld complaints before an LGSCO investigation, a 13-percentage-point increase from the previous year. Responding to the review, the Local Government Association (LGA) states that the findings reflect continuing pressures on adult social care and notes improvements by councils and care providers in handling complaints. It calls for sustained and predictable funding and infrastructure to enable councils to meet growing demand and fulfil their duties under the Care Act 2014.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has published its findings against Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) following a complaint by an individual who was left homeless after the Council failed to offer the individual interim accommodation. The individual had fled his home due to abuse and the Council had said that it did not recognise that he was personally connected to the alleged abuser. The Council failed to offer the individual interim accommodation, failed to check how long the individual could stay with a friend and whether it was settled accommodation, and took 11 weeks to provide a Personalised Housing Plan (PHP). The LGSCO has ordered RBKC to train its staff to avoid this issue happening again, apologise to the individual and make a payment of £300. The Council will also review the homelessness duty owed to the man, notify him of the decision and his rights to seek a review.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has published its findings following an investigation into Essex County Council after a complaint was made. In this case, a child with significant educational needs was not provided with appropriate alternative education after being unable to attend school for medical reasons. The LGSCO has said that the Council should have taken lead on this matter and should have acted in a time manner, but instead, passed this to the neighbouring council where the child attended school. The LGSCO has ordered the Essex County Council to: apologise to the family; pay £3,120 in compensation; and conduct a review into why previously agreed changes to its alternative education provision have not improved the current service. The LGSCO has also made recommendation to improve the alternative education provision service.