Complaints to Knowsley Council have jumped to a “shocking” extent over the past year it has been revealed.
The number of complaints submitted has increased significantly from just under 750 to 1000 over the most recent 12 months, the borough’s audit and governance committee heard tonight.
This comes as. a stark contrast to the previous year when Knowsley Council was “congratulated” by councillors on the number of complaints it received.
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At a meeting discussing a report into the figures, Knowsley Council head of customer services Phil Aspinall said that despite the increase, figures “compare pretty similar” to pre-covid complaints numbers.
Mr Aspinall said that nearly 30% of all complaints were upheld following investigation “meaning that therefore of the thousand complaints there were over 700 where the council haven’t done anything wrong.”
The Local Government Ombudsman received 27 complaints from residents with six of those complaints upheld after being investigated by the watchdog. According to the report published ahead of the meeting this resulted in nearly £32k paid out to redress wrongdoing by the council.
Mr Aspinall said: “It is worth noting there was one payment alone that was just under £30k which was due to a chidlren’s social care complaint as a result of a change in legislation.”
Green councillor Joanne Burke said the increase in complaints was “shocking.”
Cllr Burke also questioned delays in completing complaints, in particular relating to children’s and adults social care.
Mr Aspinall said: “In terms of the increase in complaints, the 250 increase, that was because during the two years around covid there was a drop off of complaints.
“There was no specific reason to that other than we made the assumption people were involved with other stuff so weren’t complaining to the council as much.”
Referring to waiting times, Mr Aspinall spoke of “stretched resources due to central government cuts” and the impact of covid recovery. He added that it was “an area of focus at the moment” with support being provided to encourage improvements.
Labour councillor Frank Walsh asked how the complaint data compared with a similar sized borough, but Mr Aspinall replied that he didn’t have that data to hand.
Mr Aspinall said: “What I would say though is the figures we get in terms of ombudsman reports and feedback is that we compare pretty similar in terms of outcomes for investigations that they’ve held and the outcomes of them.”
Cllr O’Keefe asked if anything was being put in place to complete complaints quicker. Mr Aspinall said: “it is an area that we are focusing on but of course it comes down te resources as well and we are stretched at the moment.”
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