1 in 5 complaints upheld against Wiltshire Council, say watchdog
Over a fifth of complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman about Wiltshire Council in the past year were upheld, figures from the watchdog confirm
Over a fifth of complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman about Wiltshire Council in the past year were upheld, figures from the watchdog confirm.
In the year 2024-25 the Ombudsman received 82 complaints about Wiltshire Council. While half (41) were closed after initial enquiries, the watchdog found against the council in 18 cases – and in some cases awarded costs and compensation.
The number of complaints is broadly similar to recent years: 93 in 2023-4, 89 in 2022-23, 81 in 2021-22, and 78 in 2020-21.
Complaints about Education and Children’s Services made up the greatest number of investigations (29), followed by Adult Social Care (18), Planning and Development (13), Corporate Services (nine), Environmental Services (seven) and Highways and Transport (six).
In March, the Ombudsman upheld a complaint against the council over its failure to provide an education for a child with special educational needs and a rare medical condition.
The council was ordered to pay the mother of the child £4,800 towards the child’s education and £400 compensation for the distress she suffered.
In September 2024, a resident complained that because the council’s list of maintained streets was not up to date he could not access broadband services.
The council wrote to apologise to the complainant about the delay in updating its list of streets, which the Ombudsman found adequate while upholding the man’s complaint.
In the same month, the Ombudsman upheld the complaint of a father who said the council failed to provide his son, a young adult who had been evicted from supported living accommodation, with alternative accommodation when he presented as homeless.
The complainant, who paid for hotel accommodation for his son when the council failed to act, said both he and his son had suffered distress as a result of council inaction.
The council agreed to pay £300 each to the father and his son in compensation, and £3,234.84 to reimburse the father for the expenses he incurred.
In August last year, the Ombudsman upheld the complaint of a couple who said the council “inappropriately acted with prejudice and on an untrue view of their religion” when considering a safeguarding referral it received about their child.
The council argued its social services case worker had made a decision based on a professional view, and not solely on the religion of the parents, but acknowledged a written record “had wording which made it sound as though the alleged religious practices were fact,” and apologised.
Upholding the complaint, the Ombudsman considered that the council’s apology to the couple was sufficient.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigates complaints about local councils in England and about independent adult social care providers – regardless of whether the local council is involved or if people pay for the care themselves.
Its aim is to put things right for people who have suffered injustice, and to hold local services to account when they have got things wrong. The Ombudsman’s service is free to use.
Amerdeep Somal, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “Sitting at the apex of the complaint system for English local authorities, the complaints we receive – and the faults we find – can act as a bellwether for the state of local services across the country.
“I appreciate national pressures in the key areas of Special Educational Needs, availability of housing and adult care are putting enormous strain on local authorities, but we still hold them accountable to the law and guidance and the high standards people expect from their local services.”