London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (22 011 112)

Statement Upheld Special educational needs 01-Jun-2023

Summary: Mrs Y complains the Council failed to respond to her request for a personal budget to fund her daughter’s SEN provision. She also complains about delay in the Council’s responses to annual reviews. We find the Council did not respond to Mrs Y’s request, failed to notify Mrs Y of the outcome of the reviews within four weeks and then sent confusing and contradictory letters about its intention to amend her daughter's Education Health and Care Plan. This fault caused injustice which the Council will remedy with the actions listed at the end of this statement.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (22 016 884)

Statement Upheld Other 20-Jul-2023

Summary: The Council was at fault for failing to arrange another placement for the young person, B, Mrs M fostered within the extended period of notice she gave. The Council left Mrs M and B in the lurch and was responsible for the chaotic end to the placement. This caused Mrs M considerable distress. The Council was wrong to only ‘partially uphold’ Mrs M’s complaint about the matter. This compounded her distress.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (22 015 631)

Statement Upheld Allocations 06-Sep-2023

Summary: Mr X complained about the way the Council dealt with his housing application. We have found fault by the Council, causing injustice, in failing to notify him of its re-assessment of his application and his right to request a review of its decisions about his priority banding and bedroom need, and refer him for an OT assessment. The Council has agreed to remedy this injustice by apologising to Mr X, offering him a review of its decisions, making a payment to reflect the frustration and upset caused, and a service improvement.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (21 017 488)

Statement Upheld Charging 20-Sep-2023

Summary: Miss X complained about the way the Council charged her late father Mr Y for his care and support, its failure to pay towards his care and support and about the lack of respite support provided to her as his main carer. There was no fault in the way the Council charged Mr Y for his care contributions or for a care home stay or for ending the direct payment arrangement. The Council was at fault for delay in monitoring the direct payment arrangement, poor communication around the decision to end the direct payment, delay in refunding an overpayment and for the delay in dealing with Miss X’s appeal about this. It has agreed to apologise and make a payment to acknowledge the uncertainty and frustration this caused and to review its procedures.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (22 013 221)

Statement Upheld Other 24-Sep-2023

Summary: Mr F complains the Council has not refunded top-up fees charged by nurseries where his son, B, received the Free Early Education Entitlement (FEEE). The Council has taken action to ensure a nursery’s charges comply with Government guidance and offered Mr F a symbolic payment to recognise delay in its response. This is a satisfactory outcome.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (23 007 219)

Statement Upheld Parking and other penalties 26-Sep-2023

Summary: We will not investigate Mr X’s complaint about the Council’s handling of parking on his street. This is because the Council has accepted some fault and taken action to correct the parking issues, and we would not add value by investigating.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (22 018 050)

Statement Upheld Domiciliary care 25-Oct-2023

Summary: Mrs D complains about the domiciliary care provided to her mother. There was fault which has caused distress and time and trouble to Mrs D. To remedy this, the Council has agreed to apologise, and make a payment and service improvements.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (23 005 630)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 14-Nov-2023

Summary: We will not investigate this complaint about housing support. That is because the Council has accepted there were fault in assessing a housing register application and offered a remedy in line with our guidance. It was reasonable for the complainant to appeal to County Court if they were unhappy with the Council’s final offer of accommodation.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (23 008 845)

Statement Upheld Private housing 12-Feb-2024

Summary: Miss X complains the Council failed to properly respond to her complaints about disrepair at a flat she rents. We found there were some communication issues and delays in responding to her. We found no fault in how the Council reached decisions about what action it should take. We recommended a written apology for the issues we identified.

London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (23 016 243)

Statement Upheld Homelessness 21-Feb-2024

Summary: Ms X complains the Council has not dealt properly with her homelessness application. The Council delayed assessing her circumstances. Ms X suffered avoidable distress and was homeless for 11 weeks. The Council should apologise, pay Ms X £300 for avoidable distress and £150 for time and trouble and provide training to staff.