Compliments & Complaints Annual Report 2022 to 2023

Last updated: 24 August 2023 Complaints annual report 2023 - Print version (pdf, 576.0 KB)

9. Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Annual Review

9.1.

Each year, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) issues an Annual Review Letter for each council. The letter relates to the complaints made to the LGSCO about the Council in the previous financial year. This section is an update for the Committee on this area of governance for the year 2022/23, reflecting on those complaints that were considered by the Ombudsman up to 31 March 2023.

9.2.

The data and information contained in this report is regarding complaints that may have fallen in the previous two years. It should be noted that in 2022/23 the Ombudsman changed their investigation processes, which has contributed towards an increase in the average uphold rate across all complaints. The main change is how they are deciding which cases to investigate the Ombudsman says in his annual review letter (appendix A) ‘We are less likely to carry out investigations on ‘borderline’ issues, so we are naturally finding a higher proportion of fault overall.’.

9.3.

During 2022/23 the LGSCO received 15488 complaints and enquiries from all authorities. A higher number of complaints were upheld against the Council during 2022/23 than in 2021/22 (31 as opposed to 29).

9.4.

The Council’s rate of cases upheld following detailed investigation by the LGSCO is 79%. This compares with an average of 72% for similar authorities. There were 39 detailed investigations out of the 135 decisions made. looking at this figure gives us an overall upheld rate of 22%. It should be noted that cases where the Ombudsman has given an upheld outcome these cases may have already been upheld and remedied by the Council in our complaints process before being reviewed by the Ombudsman.

9.5.

The Ombudsman issued 38 published reports but for the third year in a row there were no published reports for the Council.

9.6.

For the second year Buckinghamshire Council was 100% compliant with the LGSCO recommendations for remedies.

9.7.

Buckinghamshire Council has successfully completed the remedies before the complaint had reached the Ombudsman in 13% of cases which is the same as the average in similar authorities.