Cheshire East Council was found to have caused "injustice to complainants" via "maladministration" four times in two months last year.

The council received four "decision notices", issued by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, in September and October 2020.

A pre-meeting report for CEC's audit and governance committee on Thursday (28 January) showed that two of the complaints were in regard to planning decisions, with one more to the council's special educational needs and adult social care teams each.

Maladministration causing injustice notices mean that the council is found to have done something wrong, which directly affected the complainant.

That can include a broad variety of topics, such as delay, incorrect action or failure to take any action, failure to follow procedures or the law, failure to provide information, inadequate record-keeping, failure to investigate, failure to reply, misleading or inaccurate statements, inadequate liaison, inadequate consultation, and broken promises.

Effects on the complainant also are not strictly defined, but includes: hurt feelings, distress, worry, or inconvenience, loss of right or amenity, financial loss or unnecessary expense, time and trouble in pursuing a justified complaint, not receiving a service.

You can read the full report into the maladministration claims on Cheshire East's website.