The number of complaints made to the local government ombudsman about Waltham Forest Council went up last year, and the number upheld more than doubled, according to a council report published this week.
Between April 2025 and March 2026, residents lodged 255 complaints and enquiries with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). That is 80 more than the 175 received in 2024/25.
Of those, 45 complaints were upheld, compared with 21 the year before.
What does the ombudsman actually do?
If you've complained to the council and you're still unhappy with the response, you can take it to an ombudsman. Ombudsmen are independent adjudicators who look at serious complaints against local authorities and healthcare providers. The LGSCO covers a council's duties to provide housing and social care for its residents. If it finds a council has failed in its duty, it will often fine the council and order it to apologise.
Housing and schools top the list
Most complaints last year were about housing and education. The ombudsman received 89 complaints about people's homes and another 40 about schooling.
The 45 upheld complaints were a fifth of the 211 cases the ombudsman assessed during the year. Six were not upheld.
In Waltham Forest, complaints rose by around 45%. Nationally, the ombudsman reported a 33% increase.
What the council says
Council leader Paul Perkins said: "We take this learning seriously: improving our performance and reducing the level of complaints from residents is a priority for our administration."
He added: "We have already initiated work to better understand why complaints are increasing and identify the immediate actions we can take to reduce them. This is an important theme for our ongoing independent financial review, and our review of how the council is working for residents."
A council spokesperson said: "Out of the 211 cases that the ombudsman issued decisions on, 143 were either referred back to the council as the correct complaint process had not been followed or were closed due to being outside the ombudsman's jurisdiction. We recognise that there has been an increase in upheld complaints – as the ombudsman report notes we have achieved 100% compliance with ombudsman recommendations around upheld complaints. We are working hard to ensure that we use this learning to improve the way we work with residents to provide the essential services upon which they rely."
This story was first reported by Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter, for the Waltham Forest Echo.
