LG & SC Ombudsman Arvostelua 

Clearly linked to government and councils. South Cambs were acting illegally to save money and case officer agreed in findings. The outcome was for South Cambs to apologies and promise not to do it again. 5 months later, South Cambs worse than ever and must be laughing at Ombudsman. Reported there actions and was told Ombudsmen not prepared to do anything as case closed and South Cambs "promised to be better". Department should be closed down as such a waste of everyone's time and money.
I'm off to commit a few crimes now and hoping if get caught, police ask me to promise not to do it again then let me go. As long as I have my fingers crossed I think I will be ok ;)

An appalling organisation which is totally dysfunctional and basically incompetent. I speak as somebody who has been notified by LGSCO that it has found Midlands Partnership(Staffordshire County Council Adult Social Services) of a finding of maladministration against Midlands Partnership. The LGSCO would only investigate part of my complaint.
My advice to anyone else is don't waste your time with this incompetent organisation. Instead put in Subject Access Requests to the authorities being complained about.I have just received the results of my latest SAR to Midlands Partnership. Fifty seven pages confirming that Midlands Partnership had lied to LGSCO and the LGSCO were complicit in this mendacity. However, I have all of the information that I need with dates, data and more importantly the names of those involved. I intend to put all of this information in due course in the public domain.No need for me to go for an expensive judicial review when all of the information is in my possession.
Thank you LGSCO for assisting me due to your incompetence.!!!!!

As nasty an organisation as you can get. Dealing with them is like dealing with school kids and being back at primary school. They cannot answer simple questions, discriminate, patronise, refuse to accept complaints. They are a bunch of egos on a power trip. The worst thing I can say about this ombudsman is that their behaviour is worse than the council they investigate and it’s funded by the taxpayer. A complete waste of space

Thoroughly disappointed with the services, my case was closed without any notification. When i called to find out what happened the investigator basically said i posted a message on the portal and got no error messages so it's not my fault. My case was dismissed with them heavily siding with the local planning authority even when I've provided 25 documents and emails including an acknowledgement that they were wrong once i appointed a legal specialist who was paid at my expense. This issue has cost a working class family thousands of pounds in unnecessary tick box costs, has caused several anxiety issues and took a year and three separate applications for a simple approval. The financial burden has forced us to sell our family home to pay off credit cards while my partner was pregnant, thanks for making me waste even more of my time on a pointless endeavour.

Do not Trust LGSCO Investigator Matthew King or His Manager Assistant Ombudsman Suzanne De Planta. Consumers are not Satisfied with this Business or The Conduct of Staff Members. The Reviews on here are a Reflection of this. 98% of TrustPilot Reviews Regarding this Organisation Only Have a One Star Rating. I Was Directed to this Organisation by Housing Ombudsman Adjudicator Jenny Tilling (Case Reference ID : 202108038) Regarding the Bad Handling of a Community Trigger / ASB Review by The Local Authority (Ref : 040223) HO Adjudicator Jenny Tilling stated to me that the Handling of Community Triggers / ASB Reviews comes under the "Jurisdiction" of the LGSCO to Investigate. The LGSCO & HO are Simply a "Delaying Extension" of the Local Authorities Complaint Process funded by the MHCLG and assists Corrupt Council's & their Black & White Lies not Members of the Public. The Ethnics of this Company are Questioned by a Significant Number of Reviewers all stating this Organisation does not Protect or Assist Members of the Public. The LGSCO & HO are Services that "Protect" Landlords / Local Authorities...not Consumers & Members of the Public. Tenants who don't want to live in "Sub-standard" Accommodation where Social Housing Providers are "Breaking the Housing Rules & Regulations" have to take their own Action & not solely rely on the LGSCO or HO These Organisations will "Protect" the Landlord at all costs...regardless of how much rock solid evidence you submit. Civil Servants are NOT above the Law. Bevan Brittan Ref : (BB-M.F106023546)

An extension of the councils complaint process, waste of time. Agency set up to fool the public into thinking that the council will be held accountable or that any reccomendations will be enforced.
Only plus is you might finally get a council apology and reply to your query, but this is after several months of waiting and they provide you with a standard answer they should have in the first place.

I mean even in the first reply notification regarding my complaint the confidently says "You have the right to escalate your complaint at any time via the LGSO Ombudsman..." says it all. all not fit for purpose, and don't serve the vulnerable or local people, the council are probably waiting for a envelope full of cash to land on their desk before they treat us with care.

The LGO (Local Government Ombudsman) is a completely ineffective and bureaucratic black hole. Despite clearly following the correct complaint process with Transport for London and providing all the documentation, they’ve done nothing but bounce back the case with template responses and zero initiative. Their refusal to engage or even acknowledge the substance of the issue is appalling.

It’s outrageous that this organisation is funded by public money. If this is what government grants are supporting, layers of pointless admin instead of actual help; then funding should be cut immediately. They serve no practical purpose for citizens seeking accountability from public bodies.

Useless, Birmingham City Council referred them to me, i was told they cant and wont do anything about missed bin collections. Literally will have you going around in circles, i will be booking time off all my rubbish will be delivered directly to the case worker who dealt with my query Robert Heath

I guess the one positive is some of the complaints are looked at quite quickly but that is about the only redeeming feature. I have raised a few complaints about our local authority. One triage manager has failed to recognise that I had used proper complaints process and the LA had underhandedly not treated my complaint as a complaint. The triage manager was forcing me to get a response that I had no control over. This has led to a delay by 3 months in my complaint being looked at. Another investigator seems to be using AI to respond to questions so that what he writes is unintelligible and does not relate to the specific question being asked. The internal complaints system to LGO is nonsense - either hand your complaint to the case worker or send a snail mail to an anonymous address (no title given). Feedback on the website is not feedback, but just a demographics data gathering exercise. Obviously, like the Local Authorities, are gaming the system so their inadequecies are not reported. Just another corrupt civil service in the UK.

This organisation is useless to complain about social services. They apparently are unable to assess if social services have provided an adequate budget to support a person with learning disabilties and are not trained to tell if SS are contravening the Care Act. All they can do is see if your complaint to SS has been investigated and if a lead disability person from SS (who has never met the person in question) has written one e-mail about it that is considered sufficient!

I turned to the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman ("LGSCO" / "LGO"), hoping for an impartial referee. Instead, I found a body that bends over backwards to defend councils while stonewalling disabled complainants like me.

1. Dismissive, box-ticking “investigations”:

1.1. Despite the London Borough of Newham Council admitting multiple faults (wrongly recording my name, delaying a Stage-2 review by nine months, giving unclear instructions about student council-tax discount, failing to grant my student council tax discount, etc.), the LGO refused to investigate because the “likely fault has not caused significant injustice.”

1.2. The investigator decided that a then-unpaid token £100 from Newham Council was a sufficient remedy and closed the case without even asking the council to put things right or prove if/when they paid said remedy.

2. Equality Act? What Equality Act?:

2.1. I repeatedly asked for reasonable adjustments (plain-English emails only, numbered paragraphs). Instead I received unreadable portal messages and generic letters.

2.2. When I complained, an assessment manager, coolly replied that the Equality Act does not require the LGO to answer as many questions as I might want to ask. That contemptuous tone tells you everything about their attitude to disabled people.

3. Threats instead of answers:

3.1. After I requested a review, the LGO warned that if I tried judicial review, they would pursue me for £2,000 to £3,000 in costs — an intimidation tactic more befitting an aggressive law firm than a public-service ombudsman.

4. Stonewalling service-complaint process:

4.1. When I lodged a formal service complaint under the Equality Act detailing unreadable correspondence and an unqualified “readability analysis” of my disability-related emails, the response ducked every substantive point and blamed “human error,” offering only another hollow apology.

5. Forcing litigants into court:

5.1. Their own solicitor later bragged that the Ombudsman’s findings show my claim is “trivial,” and threatened cost orders if I pursued the matter.

5.2. The watchdog’s default stance seems to be: Save councils money at any cost — even if that means crushing the citizen.

6. Bottom line:

6.1. The LGO markets itself as “independent and fair.” My experience shows it is anything but.

6.2. If you are disabled, expect patronising brush-offs, procedural hurdles, and veiled cost threats.

6.3. The organisation that should champion accountability has instead become a gatekeeper, shielding local authorities from scrutiny.

6.4. Use with extreme caution — and don’t count on them for justice.

Absolutely useless, don't waste your time dealing with these people.
I spent a lot of time explaining the issue and in jumping through all of the bureaucratic hoops to submit the case. 3 months on and they will not even look at it : "It would not be a proportionate use of our limited resources to investigate this
matter further." I agree with many others in their criticism of this organisation and that it should be scrapped as it is clearly not fulfilling it's purpose.

Took 13+ weeks to reach a decision and didn't even ask for any evidence from myself before closing the case. Absolutely useless.

Since my last review nothing has happened except more dumb ignorance from Hampshire CC who just keep telling me to contact the LGSCO. They have been no use at all and after two letters to "THE OMBUDSMAN" Amerdeep Somal who never answers or acknowledges personal mail why waste your time. Have now written to Mrs Williamson CEO of Hampshire CC and again never replied or acknowledged my communication. Could not even get her to answer why Hampshire CC have ignored the Ruling by the Ombudsman. I have now been unemployed for a year due to the dumb ignorance of both bodies. Amazing how when you get paid by the Public Purse any principles go out with the rubbish. The only positive from Hampshire CC was a Order of "No Contact" with me. That was after the Ombudsmans ruling which they never even mentioned to me which questioned their action against me. Why does it need one useless organisation to police another which then takes no notice. Ms Somal it would be nice if you would give me the validation of your ruling and inform me of how to get an Independant Review. Something Hampshire CC refused me after never giving me any Due Process of allowing me to Appeal. The Leader of Hampshire CC, Adams-King has also been as helpful as a dead dog ignoring my communications. Better to be ignorant than to have to be seen to be pro-active in something.

Didn't even investigate! This is their response -
"We will not investigate this complaint about the Council closing the complainant’s council tax account in error. This is because there is insufficient evidence of fault causing injustice."

The Council stopped my direct debit after receiving information 'in good faith' from Purplebricks that I had left the property. I had not left.

I didn't noticed this until 6 months after they cancelled it. In the end I had to pay back a whole years council tax because of their error, due to them using incorrect information 'in good faith'. Sounds like a robust system, doesn't it! Ridiculous!

At the end of the day I didn't do anything wrong, except fail to notice my Council Tax wasn't being taken.

Ombudsman couldn't even be bothered to investigate this, apparently due to lack of evidence, despite the emails from the Council stating they had acted on third party information 'in good faith' which led to them cancelling my direct debit, isn't that alone enough evidence?!

If I had the money to take this to Court I would. This was not my fault, it was theirs. Injustice.

Quasi Quango setup by central government to say you can complain about councils leaving the elderly alone to die, when in reality the councils know they never go against them. Starmer now abolishing all these quangos, leaving this one alone proves it is the central government way of protecting these councils starved of government cash.

Very poor indeed in outcomes, the organisation either needs to be defunded or revised. It certainly does not represent the people who need help! It fobbs you off at every turn even though you have facts and concrete evidence. This organisation requires regular Audits by a non-biased body as they side more on the wrong doings then the right. Waste of Tax payers money! They mislead and fail to represent you in gaining justice!

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) is an absolute disgrace—a pathetic, useless organization that exists only to protect councils and screw over the public.

They don’t investigate properly, ignore evidence, twist facts, and make excuses for corrupt councils. I sent them clear proof of wrongdoing, and they couldn’t be bothered to look at it. Instead, they dismissed my complaint without any real effort, and when I challenged their pathetic decision, they shut down communication entirely—because they can’t handle being called out on their incompetence.

This is not an ombudsman. It’s a spineless, biased, back-covering operation designed to rubber-stamp council lies. The whole system is rigged against complainants, and these cowards know it. They hide behind bureaucracy, waffle on about “fairness,” but in reality, they are just puppets for the councils they’re meant to regulate.

If you’re thinking of complaining to the LGSCO, save yourself the stress. They are a complete waste of time, and the only thing they’ll do is gaslight you into thinking your complaint was never valid in the first place.

The LGSCO is a disgraceful, corrupt, and utterly incompetent bunch of bureaucratic clowns. They do not care, they will not help you, and they are not fit for purpose.

The LGO, HSE and the Charity Commission are all unfit fit for purpose.
UK Parliament and the PHSO know this.
My advice is take the time and effort to draw up your own detailed plan of action. Include factual evidence of misconduct by the concerned parties. Images where necessary. Inform those you have tried dealing with that you will make it public knowledge.
Don’t be afraid of contacting the hierarchy.
Beware of MP’s though.
Good luck and keep fighting.
Yes, the country has gone to the dogs. These regulatory bodies are a major cause.

Absolutely appalling and useless case workers. Close the case without proper investigation. Bribed by the Council surely.

Allowing useless people to be in position of power instead of the unemployment office were they belong.