All the complaints that a government ombudsman investigated in Bracknell have been upheld in favour of the person who raised the issue.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSO) investigates complaints made by members of the public against councils.
Asking for the ombudsman to investigate is a form of ‘last resort’ for people who are unsatisfied with a council’s official complaints process.
Of the 11 complaints to Bracknell Forest Council that the ombudsman investigated in 2024/25, all of these were upheld.
The investigators have the power to recommend that the council give payouts to people who complain as a form of compensation.
This information featured in a report to the council’s overview and scrutiny commission by Jen Lawson, the head of corporate complaints.
Notably, the report did not contain the total amount the council paid out to people who complained.
Ms Lawson pointed out that there was no distinction between ‘upheld’ and ‘partially upheld’.
Giving an example, she said: “So one of the complaints covered had four points of complaint about housing, and the four points of complaint were discrimination due to homelessness and disability that the council didn’t support the individual properly, that they were asked to sign a tenancy agreement without having viewed the property and that there was poor communication and the investigator didn’t find any fault on the first three points and found that for the majority of a very prolonged case there was good communication from the council.
“There was, however, an occasion when the individual asked for an update, and the council took two and a half weeks to provide the response, and so the investigator understandably found fault on that point.”
She also stated that the council had provided a satisfactory remedy in three of the cases which an ombudsman investigated, amounting to 27 per cent of those dealt with.
Ms Lawson said: “That is significantly higher than the average of 10 per cent amongst similar authorities and 12 per cent nationally. So it shows the council offers appropriate remedies to put things right.
“We also have 100 per cent compliance in delivering the LGSCO recommendations.
“So again, it demonstrates that commitment to redress and to making improvements.
In seven of the cases that were investigated, a ‘symbolic payment’ was made.”
However, it was not made clear how much the council paid in total in 2024/25 during the meeting.
Councillor Georgia Pickering (Labour, Binfield South and Jennet’s Park) asked how much these symbolic payments are.
Ms Lawson replied that these amounts are variable depending on the case.
Cllr Mike Forster (Liberal Democrats, Sandhurst) asked whether the council published how much is paid out on an annual basis.
Ms answered that the payments are published on an individual basis on the LGSO website.
The report was given at the overview and scrutiny commission meeting on October 16.
