Council complaints are on the increase

ANGRY residents are increasingly taking the council to task and seeking redress through the official complaints process.

In the last decade there has been a steady rise in the number of protests about services provided by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council.

The 174 gripes received from April 2016 to March 2017 compares to just 27 in 2006-07, a jump the authority attributes to the recent introduction of an online complaint form and a general national trend towards voicing dissatisfaction.

However, the borough has one of the lowest rates in the country of moans being passed onto, and backed up by, the Government ombudsman.

Areas where people expressed frustration ranged from the unexpected - elections and street naming - to the predictable - planning (17 complaints) revenues and benefits (24 complaints) and housing repairs (42 complaints).

These three issues, along with street scene services (47 complaints) were by far the most maligned sectors.

According to a recent report to the council’s ethical governance and personnel committee, which detailed the number of corporate complaints, the high level of discontent with housing repairs was largely down to difficulties with the previous gas services contractor.

This contractor no longer works for the council and a different supplier has been engaged.

The report explained the authority has a two-stage procedure where gripes will be dealt with by the relevant manager, responding within 10 days and stating whether the criticism is accepted.

If the complainant isn’t happy the next stage kicks in where a more senior officer or officer from a different department takes a second look.

Should the complainant remain dissatisfied they can then refer the problem to the Local Government Ombudsman of the Housing Ombudsman who will investigate further.

Last year the council upheld 57 of the 174 complaints at the first stage, although no compensation was paid out.

At the second stage 26 were reviewed with just one upheld and 14 then submitted to the ombudsman.

Of these not all were pursued, three were referred back to the council, eight were closed after initial enquiries were made and seven were investigated in detail with four thrown out and three upheld.

According to the ombudsman the East Midlands had the lowest upheld rate in the country at 44%. Hinckley and Bosworth’s was slightly lower at 43%