THE amount of complaints made to councils in Worcestershire increased slightly last year, but the number of those which were upheld dropped.

Figures released by the Local Government Ombudsman showed 67 complaints were made to Worcestershire County Council between April 2014 and March this year.

Of those made to the county council, a detailed investigation was carried out into 21 and 10 – or 47 per cent – of these were upheld. Although the number of complaints is up slightly compared with the previous year, fewer were upheld.

The county council’s cabinet member for transformation and commissioning Marc Bayliss said it was inevitable mistakes would be made, but that the organisation was committed to learning from errors and ensuring they were not repeated.

"Worcestershire County Council is a large organisation delivering many different types of services,” he said. “On occasion mistakes are made due to human error.

“What we are firmly committed to doing is that when standards do fall, we admit our mistakes and make necessary changes.

"We are confident that all measures which have been recommended have been implemented to the Local Government Ombudsman's satisfaction."

The greatest number of complaints were regarding adult care, education and children’s services.

Significantly fewer complaints were made to the district councils in Worcestershire, including 16 to Malvern Hills, 15 to Wychavon and 12 to Worcester City.

Of the complaints made to Malvern Hills District Council, seven were investigated by the LGO, of which four were upheld. Investigations were also carried out into five complaints made to Wychavon District Council and one to Worcester City Council but none of these were upheld.

Dr Jane Martin from the Local Government Ombudsman said complaints figures were shared publicly in an effort to ensure councils were made accountable. But she said councils needed to improve the way complaints were handled.

“Our survey’s findings point to a local complaints system that is under real pressure,” she said. “Complaint handling teams are having to do more with less and the process is not as accessible and timely as it should be.”

She encouraged councils to increase investment into the investigation and handling of complaints, as well as changes made as a result.

“Complaints must be seen as a positive,” she said. “They can provide an early warning system for issues and are an indicator of public sentiment.”

Nationally 18,211 complaints were made against councils and 46 per cent of those which were investigated were upheld.

The full report is available at lgo.org.uk.