Agenda item

Report by the Director of Law & Governance and Monitoring Officer

Each year, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) issues an Annual Review Report about each council. This relates to the complaints made to the LGSCO about the Council in the previous financial year. This report updates the Committee on this area of governance for the year 2024/25, reflecting on those complaints that were considered by the LGSCO up to 31 March 2025.

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to receive and comment on the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Review of Oxfordshire County Council for 2024/25, and the work undertaken by the Council regarding its handling of complaints.

The Monitoring Officer introduced the report. She highlighted the following:

-       In 2024-25, the Ombudsman received 89 complaints and dealt with 84.

o   29 were not for them.

o   33 were assessed and closed.

o   22 were investigated (compared to 34 in 2023-24).

-       56 complaints related to children (compared to 75 in 2023-24), and housing and adult social care were the next highest categories of complaint.

-       100% of cases under investigation were upheld, which was 2.9 per cent of decisions per 100,000 residents. (It was 5.9 per cent nationally.)

-       On 13 June, the Education and Young People Scrutiny Committee considered an action plan relating to 13 of those cases, as directed.

-       The Council was on track to implement the new requirements of the Complaint Handling Code in Spring 2026.

-       Overall, there were 725 complaints in 2024-25.

Officers clarified that the plan considered on 13 June related to the Council’s Section 19 Duty, which entailed responsibility for arranging suitable, usually full-time, education for children of compulsory school age who, because of exclusion, illness, or other reasons, would not otherwise receive such a provision. They said that all 13 complainants had received apologies.

Officers further clarified that most of the cases relating to children were to do with SEND provision, which was a national problem. They highlighted the following:

-       Prior to the 2023 inspection, just 4 per cent of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) were considered within 20 weeks. (t was now 38.5 per cent.)

-       While 94 per cent were considered within 30 weeks, it was the failure to consider plans or offer special school places that led to complaints.

-       8,000 pupils in Oxfordshire had EHCPs, compared to 2,000 in 2014, and special school places were going to rise by 500 over the next five years.

On SEND, the Committee asked if there was an inverse relationship between deprivation and successful appeals for places at special schools. Officers said that pupils on free school-meals were possibly underrepresented in terms of EHCPs, and they were co-producing guidance on complaints to facilitate access for deprived communities.

On the report more generally, firstly, the Committee asked about financial redress. Officers said that the figures in Annex 2 could be added up in future reports.

Secondly, the Committee asked about ‘fixmystreet.com’. Officers said that highway cases reported there were not included in the overall figures, if dealt with accordingly, because they were regarded as service requests, not formal complaints. The Chair said Fix My Street should be considered by either the Performance or Place Scrutiny Committee.

Thirdly, the Committee asked why corporate complaints had increased and whether more could be done to prevent them. Officers made the following remarks:

-       In relation to SEND, it took 3-4 years to build special schools, and as such nothing could be done to prevent complaints today.

-       Lots of complaints were sent back from the Ombudsman because individuals had by-passed the Council’s processes for review.

-       Some complaints related, for instance, to care homes and came to the Council because of commissioning arrangements.

-       All services worked collaboratively with complaints teams every quarter to improve service delivery,

Thirdly, the Committee asked about the processes involved in closing a complaint. Officers said that it was for the Ombudsman to be satisfied that the Council had taken appropriate action. They added that the Ombudsman’s involvement was expected to satisfy the complainant; there was no further right of appeal against their decision.

NOTED the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Review of Oxfordshire County Council for 2024/25, and the work undertaken by the Council regarding its handling of complaints.