South East leads in successful Children and Education complaints
The region holds two English records this year
South East residents can now see outcomes of their council’s local government complaints for the past year in an interactive map**.**
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) looks at individual complaints about local public services and social care providers in England.
South East stands out in two complaint categories: Children and Taxes
The South East region as a whole holds two English records this year: In complaints regarding Children and Education, it has the country’s highest uphold rate nationwide with 85%.
At the same time, people in the area seem relatively content with their financial situation: The share of complaints about Benefits and Taxation was with 6% the lowest in England.
"Covid-19 is widening the cracks that were already there"
Nationally, over the past year the Ombudsman has upheld a greater proportion of investigations– 67% – than ever before. This continues an upward trend since the Ombudsman started publishing its uphold rate.
Despite being closed to new complaints at the height of the first lockdown, the Ombudsman still received 11,830 complaints and enquiries from members of the public.
Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said:
“We’ve been issuing our annual reviews for the past seven years now, and while every year has seen its challenges, this year seems to have been the most difficult for local authorities.
“While the way local authorities dealt with the pressures of Covid-19 is still being played out in our casework, early indications suggest it is only widening the cracks that were already there, and has deepened our concerns about the status of complaints services within councils. These concerns are not new and cannot be wholly attributed to the trials of the pandemic.”
Investigations unveil systemic issues rather than one-off mistakes
The investigations undertaken over the past year have led to 3,104 recommendations to put things right for individuals.
The LGSCO says more importantly, there were 1,488 recommendations for councils to improve their services for others – such as revising procedures and training staff.
This is a higher proportion of the total number of recommendations than previous years, and suggests Ombudsman investigations are increasingly finding systemic problems than one-off mistakes with local government services.
Ombudsman Michael King said:
“I am concerned about the general erosion to the visibility, capacity, and status of complaint functions within councils.
“Listening to public complaints is an essential part of a well-run and properly accountable local authority, committed to public engagement, learning, and improvement. I know the best councils still understand this and put local democracy and good complaints handling at the forefront of their services.”