Compliments & Complaints Annual Report 2024 to 2025
10. Summary of complaints and enquiries received by the LGSCO
Reflecting national trends and past years, Education and Child Services received the most complaints about the Council to the LGSCO. Highways & Transport had an increase despite a slight reduction in stage 1 complaints. Adult Care services also increased and this falls in line with the increase in ASC Statutory complaints mentioned in 6.1 above, although it should be noted that some of the complaints considered by the Ombudsman will have been received by the Council in previous years.
Notably there was a reduction in Benefits & Tax which could in part be due to changes made with the new system Revenues & Benefits system in the previous year. A small reduction is noted in Planning & Development as well.
| LGSCO Category | Number of Decisions 2023/24 | Number of Decisions 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|
| Education & Child Services | 55 | 80 |
| Adult Care Services | 24 | 30 |
| Planning & Development | 28 | 26 |
|
Environmental Services & Public Protection & Regulation |
12 | 18 |
| Highways & Transport | 13 | 18 |
| Housing | 12 | 14 |
|
Corporate & Other Services |
5 | 8 |
| Benefits & Tax | 10 | 3 |
| Other | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 160 | 197 |
The table in Appendix C presents the complaints categorised by outcome and by services, as defined by the LGSCO.
The majority of upheld cases for Buckinghamshire Council, totalling 28 or 56%, were related to Education and Children’s Services.