Council pays £40k after complaints from residents

A council paid residents more than £40,000 in compensation last year after 19 out of 119 Ombudsman complaints were upheld.

North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) was criticised mainly for delays in providing help for children with special educational needs and in issuing care assessment plans in the 2024/25 financial period.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO), which received the complaints, said it was disappointed to see a third consecutive year of grievances failing to be dealt with promptly by the unitary authority.

NNC has promised to conduct a self-assessment of its complaint handling process and said it intends to share the LGSCO's findings with the relevant services.

Residents also lodged complaints in the same year about adult care services, public protection, housing, and environmental services.

Of 119 complaints received, 19 were upheld – this compares to 101 complaints in the previous year, of which 17 were upheld.

According to an audit report, the total sum North Northamptonshire Council has been ordered to pay to complainants to remedy its failures for 2024/25 was £43,350.

Simon Mills, assistant director of customer experience at NNC, told an audit meeting on Monday that there has been a 144% increase in complaints to the Ombudsman about children and education since 2021, which was "consistent with a national surge in complaints due to external pressures".

The Chair of the LGSCO wrote: "Most of the delays involved payments being made to complainants. These should be straightforward to administer, and delay can cause additional frustration to complainants."