One in 10 council complaints made in the West Midlands, watchdog reveals
One in 10 complaints made against councils nationally were made in the West Midlands with problems with education being a major issue, a watchdog has revealed.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman bosses revealed they have directed more councils in the region to improve in the past year than ever before.
But it revealed the number of complaints actually upheld was 70 per cent, which represented a drop from the 76 per cent recorded by councils the previous year.
The council watchdog revealed 10 per cent of all complaints made came from the West Midlands, with children and education being the main issue at 21 per cent.
Michael King, a Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: "One complaint can have immense power to change things for the better, and we’re increasingly focusing on to how we, and the local authorities we investigate, take the learning from those complaints and improve service provision.
“The vast majority of councils agree to the recommendations we make and see them as common-sense ways of providing better services for people in their area. However this can only happen when councils act swiftly when they have committed to do so."
Meanwhile the fewest complaints fell into corporate and other services at six per cent – but this category had the highest uphold rate for complaints with nine in 10.
This rate was higher than the national average of six in 10, whilst six in 10 complaints about planning were approved compared to the national average of around four in 10.
The lowest uphold rate fell under the highways and transport category with only half being approved. The region also has the joint highest percentage complaints about environmental services at 14 per cent, compared to the national average of 12 per cent.
Mr King said the organisation was seeing some councils "taking longer" to make the changes recommended which can put them at risk of making the same mistakes again, with almost one in five cases of compliance being late.
He added: "While I welcome the professional way in which the majority of councils continue to work with us, I would urge those authorities who are having problems to pay close attention to this final, but crucial, step in the complaints process."
