New Ombudsman data shows London accounted for 28% of all complaints in 2025-26, with housing grievances running at more than three times the national average
London residents filed more complaints about local council services than any other region in England last year, according to new data published today by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. The figures form part of a record national total of 27,625 complaints received in 2025-26 — a 33 percent rise on the previous year and the steepest increase in more than a decade.
The National Picture First
The scale of the national increase is significant. This year’s rise is more than double the increase recorded the previous year and covers every service category the Ombudsman monitors — housing, adult social care, special educational needs, children’s services, and highways and transport among them.
The Ombudsman attributed the surge to residents increasingly feeling they are not receiving the help they are entitled to from their local councils, while acknowledging that councils themselves are operating under considerable financial and operational pressure.
Importantly, compliance with Ombudsman recommendations remains near-total — 99.9 percent of councils across England carried out the improvements asked of them when fault was found. There was also a 20 percent rise in cases where councils had already resolved complaints properly through their own processes before residents escalated to the Ombudsman.
London’s Figures in Detail
London’s complaint volumes stand out significantly against every other English region across almost every measurable category.
Overall complaints:
- London received 7,497 complaints and enquiries in 2025-26
- This represents 28 percent of the entire national total — the highest regional share by a considerable margin
- The rate of 82.5 complaints per 100,000 residents is the highest of all regions and almost double the national average of 46.1
Housing complaints — the sharpest concentration:
- 37 percent of London’s complaints concerned housing — the highest subject share of any region
- London alone accounted for 52 percent of all housing complaints received nationally
- The rate of 30.5 housing complaints per 100,000 residents compares to a national average of 9.0 and is four times higher than the next-ranked region, the West Midlands, at 7.5
Adult care services:
- London accounted for 10 percent of complaints in this category, below the national average of 13 percent by volume
- However, at 8.5 complaints per 100,000 residents, London’s rate was the highest of all regions — significantly above the national average of 5.8
Children and education:
- London recorded the lowest percentage share of any region in this category at 15 percent, well below the national average of 29 percent
- At 12.5 complaints per 100,000 residents, this was also below the national average of 13.2
Highways and transport:
- London contributed 12 percent of complaints in this area, above the national average of 9 percent
- London accounted for 36 percent of all highways and transport complaints received nationally
Upheld decisions:
- London’s overall uphold rate of 88 percent exceeded the national average of 86 percent
- At 10.2 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents, London recorded the highest rate of any region — significantly above the national average of 6.3
What the Housing Figures Reveal
The housing complaint data deserves particular attention. London accounting for more than half of all housing-related complaints submitted to the Ombudsman nationally — despite representing roughly 16 percent of England’s population — reflects the capital’s acute and well-documented housing pressures.
Common housing complaint categories handled by the Ombudsman include failures in homelessness duty assessments, delays in housing repairs by social landlords, inadequate temporary accommodation, and failures in the allocation of social housing. Each of these areas directly maps onto challenges that London residents and advocacy organisations have highlighted consistently over recent years.
The concentration of housing complaints in London is not simply a volume effect from having a large population — the per-resident rate is more than three times the national average, indicating a structural problem specific to how housing services are functioning in the capital rather than simply reflecting London’s size.
Understanding What the Ombudsman Does
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is an independent body that investigates complaints from members of the public about councils and adult social care providers in England. It operates as a free service of last resort — residents are expected to have gone through the relevant council’s own complaints process before the Ombudsman will investigate.
When the Ombudsman finds fault, it recommends practical remedies — apologies, financial payments, or service improvements. The near-100 percent compliance rate suggests councils are generally responsive to these recommendations once fault is established, though critics argue the process takes too long and reaches too few of those affected.
What the Ombudsman Said
Amerdeep Clarke, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said that behind every complaint received is a person who felt they had nowhere else to turn — a parent trying to secure the right school support for their child, an older person struggling to access care, or a family facing the prospect of homelessness.
She said the volume of complaints this year signals that residents increasingly feel they are not getting the help they are entitled to, while recognising the pressures councils face. She added that the best councils use complaint data as a learning tool to make practical improvements that prevent the same issues recurring for other residents.
How to Make a Complaint
London residents who have exhausted their council’s own complaints process can submit a complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at lgo.org.uk. The service is free to use and covers all London boroughs.
The full national data, including complaint statistics broken down by individual local authority, is available at lgo.org.uk/annualreview.
