London Borough of Haringey
Complaint overview
Between 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, we dealt with 264 complaints. Of these, 131 were not for us or not ready for us to investigate. We assessed and closed 72 complaints. We investigated 61 complaints.
More about this data
Complaints dealt with – the total number of complaints and enquiries considered. It is not appropriate to investigate all of them.
Not for us – includes complaints brought to us before the council was given chance to consider it, or the complainant came to the wrong Ombudsman.
Assessed and closed – includes complaints where the law says we’re not allowed to investigate, or it would be a poor use of public funds if we did.
Investigated – we completed an investigation and made a decision on whether we found fault, or no fault.
Complaints upheld – we completed an investigation and found evidence of fault, or the organisation provided a suitable remedy early on.
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council – the council upheld the complaint and we agreed with how it offered to put things right.
Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations – not complying with our recommendations is rare. A council with a compliance rate below 100% should scrutinise the complaints where it failed to comply and identify any learning.
Average performance rates – we compare the annual statistics of similar types of councils to work out an average level of performance. We do this for County Councils, District Councils, Metropolitan Boroughs, Unitary Councils, and London Boroughs.
For more information on understanding our statistics see Interpreting our complaints data.
Complaints dealt with
Not for us
Assessed and closed
Investigated
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Complaints upheld
We investigated 61 complaints and upheld 53.
87% of complaints we investigated were upheld.
This compares to an average of 84% in similar authorities.
View upheld decisionsAdjusted for London Borough of Haringey's population, this is 20.2 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents.
The average for authorities of this type is
9.1 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. -
Satisfactory remedies provided by the Council
In 7 out of 53 upheld cases we found the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman.
13% satisfactory remedy rate.
This compares to an average of 12% in similar authorities.
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Compliance with Ombudsman recommendations
We recorded compliance outcomes in 45 cases.
In 45 cases we were satisfied with the actions taken.100% compliance rate with recommendations.
This compares to an average of 100% in similar authorities.
Annual letters
We write to councils each year to give a summary of the complaint statistics we record about them,
and their performance in responding to our investigations.
Reports
The Ombudsman has published the following reports against London Borough of Haringey
Find out more about reports
We issue reports on certain investigations, particularly where there is a wider public interest to do so. Common reasons for reports are significant injustice, systemic issues, major learning points and non-compliance with our recommendations. Issuing reports is one way we help to ensure councils are accountable to local people and highlighting the learning from complaints helps to improve services for everybody. Reports are published for 10 years.
Ombudsman reveals huge safeguarding backlog at London council
More than 500 unread police welfare reports were uncovered during a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation into a safeguarding complaint about London Borough of Haringey.
Ombudsman reveals huge safeguarding backlog at London council
More than 500 unread police welfare reports were uncovered during a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation into a safeguarding complaint about London Borough of Haringey.
Councillor’s decision to put brakes on housing development flawed, says Ombudsman
A Haringey man was left in limbo for six years while the council decided whether to buy his house and develop the land around it, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman heard.
Family of disabled boy left without housing adaptations because of council delay
Haringey council took so long to complete adaptations to a disabled boy’s home that he had outgrown the proposals, a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman investigation has heard.
Homeless Haringey family left in bed and breakfast accommodation because of council errors
A Haringey mother of six has been living in bed and breakfast accommodation since February 2020 because her local council did not do enough to prevent her from becoming homeless, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has found.
Young family left homeless by Haringey benefits blunder
A young family, including a disabled child, had to leave their home following a miscalculation of their housing benefits by London Borough of Haringey, reports the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.
Haringey and Islington councils criticised for how they recovered business rate debts
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has criticised two London councils for the way they tried to recover historic business rate debts.
Homeless family left in damp and cockroach-infested properties by London council
London Borough of Haringey did not deal properly with disrepair issues at the two properties where it placed a homeless family, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found.
Family housed in London tower block had no cold water
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has criticised a London council after it placed a young homeless family in a tower block with no cold water and a lift that only worked infrequently.
Haringey family re-housed thanks to Ombudsman investigation
A disabled Haringey woman and her family have been re-housed after a Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) investigation ensured that a council put right errors it had made processing her housing application.
Service improvements
The Council has agreed to make the following improvements to its services following an Ombudsman investigation.
Find out more about service improvements
When we find fault, we can recommend improvements to systems and processes where they haven’t worked properly, so that others do not suffer from these same problems in future. Common examples are policy changes; procedural reviews; and staff training. Service improvements from decisions are published for 5 years and those from reports are published for 10 years.
The latest 10 cases are listed below – click ‘view all’ to find all service improvements.
Case reference: 24 023 222
Category: Transport and highways
Sub Category: Parking and other penalties
- The Council will issue written reminders to relevant staff to ensure they provide accurate information to residents who enquire about who can park across dropped kerbs.
Case reference: 24 021 776
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- • Review the Council’s handover process for when relevant staff leave or change. Ensure relevant staff are properly updated on cases and any outstanding actions to be taken to ensure continuity.
- • Review its process for sourcing and arranging transport for service users.
- • Remind relevant staff of the importance in provide updates to service users/relatives, particularly when there are ongoing delays.
Case reference: 24 021 154
Category: Education
Sub Category: Special educational needs
- The Council agreed that it would brief its Special Educational Needs Caseworkers on the importance of bringing forward reviews of Education, Health and Care Plans where children or young people's circumstances significantly change. For example, where there has been a breakdown of a school placement and the Council cannot secure another placement immediately. The briefing would encourage officers to not only focus on searching for alternative placements, but also encourage them to use reviews as a way of considering how the Council can deliver the education provision set out in a Plan while the child or young person is out of school. This was after this investigation found the Council failed to arrange a review, or make that provision, afterexhaustive searches for an alternative school placement yielded no success.
Case reference: 24 019 953
Category: Environment and regulation
Sub Category: Antisocial behaviour
- By training or other means, remind relevant staff of the importance of taking reasonable steps to properly investigate noise disturbance and anti-social behaviour concerns raised by the Council’s service users. Also, ensure the Council’s assessment and investigation into these concerns are completed in a timely manner.
- Ensure the Council properly communicates with its service users and provide them with sufficient information about how the Council considers and investigates noise disturbance and anti-social behaviour concerns.
- Provide its service users with clear information about the anti-social behaviour review process in a timely manner should they wish to request the review.
- Remind relevant staff the importance of adhering to the Council’s complaint process timescales.
Case reference: 24 017 577
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- Provide evidence of the reduced backlog regarding the number of requests for reviews.
Case reference: 24 016 201
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Looked after children
- The Council will consider the range of people who may be appointed to undertake Stage 2 statutory complaint investigations and inform this office of the actions it will take to expand the pool of investigators and panel members it can call upon to consider statutory complaints.
Case reference: 24 014 802
Category: Adult care services
Sub Category: Assessment and care plan
- •Remind relevant staff the Council cannot apply blanket cost policy when considering placements and must have genuine alternatives to offer.
- •Remind staff of the need to involve service users, and their representatives, when it proposes to make significant adjustments to their care support.
Case reference: 24 014 544
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Allocations
- o Implement service improvements to ensure staff are reminded not only:· that conducting an assessment is a legal obligation, not a matter ofdiscretion; and
- ensure staff are reminded not only: of the requirement to issue decisions that clearly outline statutory review rights, even in cases where there is no change to the applicant’s banding.
Case reference: 24 012 740
Category: Children's care services
Sub Category: Child protection
- The Council agreed to remind relevant social work staff of the importance of good communication with parents from the outset of child safeguarding concerns and of the information which should be explained to parents in such cases.
Case reference: 24 009 865
Category: Housing
Sub Category: Other
- The Council will share the Ombudsman’s guidance on the principles of good administrative practice with relevant officers and managers. This will help to ensure that communication and complaint handling are timely, effective and accurate.
Last updated: 4 April 2015