Watchdogs have criticised Bristol City Council for sending a complainant a “brief, poorly written, unprofessional” apology which “undermined its value”. In another case investigated by the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), the local authority “failed to reassess a person’s care and support needs” in the time agreed.
The ombudsman said in its annual review that the council’s “disappointing” response to a finding of maladministration in both instances was “not what we would expect”. But a City Hall officer told an audit committee meeting that the authority had made great strides since the previous damning assessment and had complied with 100 per cent of the LGO’s recommended remedies to complaints it upheld between April 1, 2021, and March 31 this year.
In a letter to city council chief executive Mike Jackson, Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman chairman Michael King said: “It is disappointing that, in two cases, your council’s response to our recommendations was not what we would expect. In one case, an apology was agreed as part of the remedy.
