Compliments & Complaints Annual Report 2023 to 2024

According to the Local Government Act 1974, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has two primary statutory duties: investigating complaints against local authorities and providing advice and guidance on good administrative practices. The LGSCO documents complaints and enquiries received by subject and records decisions made, which are included in the Ombudsman Annual Review Letter (Appendix A). This letter aims to inform councils and other authorities about the number and nature of complaints dealt with concerning that authority during the previous financial year. The Ombudsman issued 27 published public interest reports, but none were issued for the Council. We have reviewed these reports and considered any lessons that the Council can apply to our own service delivery.

This year's letter provides details on complaints addressed by the Ombudsman until 31 March 2024, though some incidents might have occurred in the past two years. In 2023/24, the LGSCO received a total of 17,937 complaints and inquiries from all authorities. Among the 4,003 complaints that were investigated, 80% were upheld. The Council had an upheld rate of 79% following detailed investigations by the LGSCO, matching the average for similar authorities.

From the 31 decisions made, there were 39 comprehensive investigations. This results in a rate of 5.5 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. The average for comparable authorities is 4.6 upheld decisions per 100,000 residents. It's important to highlight that in instances where the Ombudsman has issued an upheld outcome, these cases might already have been upheld and addressed by the Council during our complaints process prior to being reviewed by the Ombudsman.

Buckinghamshire Council had 28 compliance outcomes and remains 100% compliant with the LGSCO remedy recommendations. The council resolved 6% (2 cases) of complaints before reaching the Ombudsman, a decrease from last year and below the 13% average of similar authorities. It's important to note that this percentage difference is due to just 2 more cases.

The results hinge on the number of LGSCO investigations conducted during the year for a given authority and the volume of upheld cases. As an illustration, Bath & North East Somerset (a unitary council) had the same case count as Buckinghamshire (2) that were satisfactorily resolved prior to LGO investigation but achieved 50% compared to the 13% average, as they only had 4 upheld decisions in total. We will persist in collaborating with services to stress that resolving issues is a key goal when addressing complaints. The stage 2 process provides a chance for services to act and reassess their policies accordingly. Identifying risks to services forms a strategic method to pre-empt potential problems before escalating them to the ombudsman.