Case summaries

These short, anonymised stories show the profound impact that failures in public services can have on the lives of individuals and their families.

Please note we have not published any new case summaries on this page since 2015. In April 2021 we began publishing our casework decision statements and investigation reports on our decisions portal.

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Organisation made complaint handling error

Summary 644 | January 2015

Ms B complained about the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service's (Cafcass) decision not to consider her complaint about allegations made about her because the complaint was outside the six-month permitted time limit.

Mother concerned about court adviser's referral

Summary 643 | January 2015

A family court adviser became concerned about Ms A's children and made a referral to the local authority. Ms A was very unhappy about this and the work of the family court adviser in general, and complained to the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass).

Small but repeated errors amounted to unacceptable level of service

Summary 642 | January 2015

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) failed to give Mr C the level of service he was entitled to expect. It was not customer-focused, and Mr C lost confidence in it.

Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency failed to properly investigate complaint of racism and failed to put things right

Summary 641 | January 2015

Mr P complained that Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) test centre staff treated him disrespectfully and wrongly accused him of attempting to impersonate other candidates and take the driving test on their behalf. Mr P said the staff discriminated against him because of his race.

Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service wrongly used information then failed to spot this when challenged

Summary 640 | January 2015

The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) added incorrect information about an alleged assault to a report that it was preparing for the family courts. The information was wrongly taken from a handwritten note of data held on the Police National Computer.

HMCTS failed to consider man's needs when it wrote to him about a tribunal claim

Summary 639 | January 2015

After Mr B submitted a claim at an employment tribunal, HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) sent him two different letters on the same day. This caused confusion over how the tribunal would deal with the claim.

Asylum seeker waited 18 months for routine decision on application to settle in the UK

Summary 638 | January 2015

UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) delayed making a decision on Mrs M's application to settle in the UK. Mrs M was an asylum seeker who had been living here for over nine years.

Legal Aid Agency mishandled complaint

Summary 637 | January 2015

Mr P received legal aid for a court case. This was stopped part way through the case. The Legal Aid Agency held onto the final settlement until it could calculate how much Mr P owed it. Mr P felt this was wrong because he did not get legal aid for the entire case.

Poor administrative handling by courts caused woman loss of over £3,700

Summary 636 | January 2015

Mrs T paid more than £3,700 to a High Court enforcement officer. She then tried to get it back. HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) gave conflicting advice and failed to pass a court order to the enforcement officers, so the money was incorrectly given to the company that had brought the claim against her. Mrs T was unable to get the money back.

Vulnerable asylum seeker waited thirteen months for decision from UK Visas and Immigration

Summary 635 | January 2015

Mr N complained about UK Visas and Immigration's (UKVI) delay in deciding his application. He said that he suffered from depression and anxiety and that UKVI's delay caused his health to get worse.