Ms A complained that Caerphilly County Borough Council failed to respond to the majority of the issues she raised in her Social Services complaint. Ms A said that the Council inaccurately claimed that it had addressed the issues in a previous meeting. Ms A said she was told that the meeting was not the appropriate forum to discuss her concerns.
The Ombudsman concluded that there was no evidence that Ms A’s concerns had been previously discussed. When Ms A submitted a formal complaint, the Council declined to respond to all but one of the issues, and therefore failed to adhere to its complaint policy. The Ombudsman decided to settle the complaint without an investigation.
The Ombudsman sought and gained the Council’s agreement, within 2 weeks, to apologise to Ms A, and to respond to her complaint in line with Stage 1 of the Council’s Social Services Complaints Policy.