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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. 

 

Type
Type
Health cases only
Organisation made complaint handling error
Summary 644 |
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 |
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).
Legal Aid Agency mishandled complaint
Summary 637 |
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 |
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.