Can the Ombudsman make my council pay me compensation?

Short answer

It recommends rather than orders — but councils comply in the overwhelming majority of cases. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman can recommend a payment for distress, time and trouble or quantified loss, an apology, a decision retaken properly, and service changes, where maladministration caused you injustice.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman works to a two-part test drawn from Part III of the Local Government Act 1974: maladministration causing injustice. Maladministration is about process — failing to follow the council's own policy or a statutory procedure, unreasonable delay, lost documents, no reasons given, wrong advice, or a decision made and then never acted on. Injustice is the consequence: money lost, a service missed, an entitlement delayed, avoidable distress, or the sheer time and trouble of chasing.

What it can recommend

A written apology from a senior officer.
A financial payment — commonly a few hundred pounds for moderate distress, rising into the thousands where the failure was serious and long-running, plus any loss you can quantify.
The decision retaken properly, records corrected, or a service finally delivered.
Changes to policy, training or procedure so the same thing does not happen again.

Recommendations are not strictly binding. In practice councils accept them, and where one refuses the Ombudsman can issue a public interest report the council must publish — which is usually decisive. What it will not do is fine the council, discipline an officer, or overturn a lawful decision simply because it would have decided differently.

Three gates you have to get through

First, the council must have had its chance: complete its complaints procedure and keep the final response. Most councils run a two-stage corporate process — roughly 15–20 working days at stage one and 20–25 at stage two — while adult social care runs a single statutory stage under the 2009 regulations and children's services a three-stage procedure under the Children Act 1989. Skipping stages weakens the later complaint.

Second, be in time: normally within 12 months of when you first knew about the problem. Late complaints can be accepted, but you must ask and explain why you were delayed.

Third, check you are not in a statutory appeal lane. Under section 26(6) the Ombudsman will not normally investigate where a tribunal or court remedy exists, which pushes council tax, planning, housing benefit, homelessness and SEND disputes down their own routes. Even then the Ombudsman can look at how the council handled things — delay in issuing a decision, or failing to tell you about your appeal right at all.

Read the full guide: Local Council ComplaintsCovers eligibility, the process, deadlines, and next steps in depth.

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