Compliments & Complaints Annual Report 2023 to 2024
8. Summary of Complaints and Enquiries Received by the LGSCO
8.1.
Reflecting national trends and past years, Education and Child Services received the most complaints about the Council to the LGSCO.
| LG&SCO Category | Number of Decisions 2022/23 | Number of Decisions 2023/24 |
|---|---|---|
| Adult Care Services | 11 | 24 |
| Benefits & Tax | 8 | 10 |
| Corporate & Other Services | 4 | 5 |
| Education & Child Services | 45 | 55 |
| Environmental Services & Public Protection & Regulation | 25 | 12 |
| Highways & Transport | 6 | 13 |
| Housing | 4 | 12 |
| Planning & Development | 30 | 28 |
| Other | 2 | 1 |
| Total | 135 | 160 |
8.2.
The table below presents the complaints categorised by outcome and by services, as defined by the LGSCO.
| 2023/24 Decision Classification | Outcomes for 2023/24 | Outcomes for 2022/23 | Services and numbers of Complaints in brackets | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upheld | 31 | (31) |
Adult Care (3) Benefits & Tax (3) Education & Children’s (13) Environmental Serv Public Prot and Regulation (5) Housing (1) Planning & Development (6) |
Fault found by LGO. (NB The fault may have already been previously satisfactorily remedied by the Council.) |
| Not Upheld | 8 | (8) |
Adult Care (1) Corporate & Other (1) Education & Children’s (2) Housing (1) Planning & Development (4) Environmental Serv Public Prot and Regulation (1) |
No fault found by LGO. |
|
Advice given |
3 | (6) |
Planning and Development (1) Education & Children’s Services (1) Housing (2) |
No record of these complaints – we assume advice given to complainant by the LGO without reference to the Council. |
| Closed after initial enquiries | 71 | (64) |
Adult Care (8) Benefits & Tax (7) Corporate (2) Education & Children’s (17) Environmental Serv Public Prot and Regulation (4) Highways & Transport (3) Housing (3) Planning & Development (5) |
Initial information supplied by the complainant and/or the Council results in the LGO deciding not to investigate these complaints (for a variety of reasons, such as that the matter falls outside of the LGO’s statutory jurisdiction, or there was insufficient maladministration and/or injustice found). |
| Incomplete/Invalid | 6 | (2) |
Environmental Serv Public Prot and Regulation (1) Housing (1) Highways & Transport (2) Education & Children’s (1) Planning & Development (1) |
No record of these complaints as not communicated to the Council – we can only assume that all these complaints were not progressed with LGO. |
| Referred back for local resolution | 39 | (24) |
Adults Care (10) Benefits & Tax (2) Corporate & Other (1) Education & Children’s (11) Environmental Serv Public Prot and Regulation (4) Highways & Transport (1) Housing (4) Planning & Development (6) |
The Council is not aware of all these cases; however, we can assume that some were where the LGO told the complainant to contact the Council, but the complainant chose not to pursue the matter. In other cases, the LGO asked us to put the complaint through the relevant complaint procedure. |
| Total | 160 | (135) |
8.3.
The majority of upheld cases for Buckinghamshire Council, totalling 13 or 42%, were related to Education and Children’s Services. This aligns with the national trend, where the LGSCO found fault in 92% of the education complaints they investigated, as noted in the Annual Review of Local Government Complaints.