READING Borough Council had 57 complaints reviewed by a government body last year – and just 10 of them were upheld.
New figures released last week by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman show that the largest number of complaints lodged were for education and children’s services. There were 22 cases reported.
Adult social care was the next largest, with 11 complaints.
Across the south east, the ombudsman upheld 66% of complaints, an increase from 64% last year. In Reading, there were 12 cases investigated. The 10 upheld was a rate of 83%.
In 2021-22, the Ombudsman made 1,848 service improvement recommendations nationally, with all but a vanishingly small number of councils complying (99.7%).
In one case, a council insisted a family pay a top-up fee for a relative’s care home place, despite not offering one where they did not need to pay extra.
Following the Ombudsman’s investigation, the council reviewed its processes and reimbursed a further 29 families.
In another case, the Ombudsman found a council was not paying friends and family foster carers the correct allowance. It asked the council to look at whether other foster carers were being similarly underpaid. Six other families received their missed support, and the council put in place changes to ensure this would not happen again.
Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “One complaint can have immense power to change things for the better, and we’re increasingly focusing on to how we, and the local authorities we investigate, take the learning from those complaints and improve service provision.
“The vast majority of councils agree to the recommendations we make and see them as common-sense ways of providing better services for people in their area. However this can only happen when councils act swiftly when they have committed to do so.”
But he warned that some councils were taking longer to make changes, putting them at risk of making the same mistakes again.
“While I welcome the professional way in which the majority of councils continue to work with us, I would urge those authorities who are having problems to pay close attention to this final, but crucial, step in the complaints process,” he said.
A spokesperson for Reading Borough Council said that the number of complaints should be viewed in the context of the sheer volume of people it helps across the year.
“In the context of the many hundreds of social care services the Council provides to residents every year, a total of 57 cases were reviewed by the Ombudsman, of which only 12 were investigated and 10 were upheld,” they said.
“It means 79% of cases were not investigated or were resolved without any need for an investigation.
“It is also worth noting that due to the pandemic the Ombudsman paused investigations for three months which explains the rise in the number of cases investigated last year.”
They said that the council aimed to resolve all concerns raised within five working days where possible.
“Where an issue is unresolved, complaints are managed through the Council’s complaints procedure,” the spokesperson said.
“Residents have the right to refer their complaint to the Ombudsman if they wish or are not satisfied with the response.
“We always welcome feedback and the recommendations from the Local Government Association.
“Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman decisions are helpful in identifying any learning points and making future service improvements.”
Reading’s complaints
Adult social care 11;Benefits and tax 2; Corporate and other services 5; Education and children’s services 22; Environment, public protection, and regulation 6; Highways and transport 5; Housing 4; Planning and development 1; Other 1.
Of the 57, 12 were investigated by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, and 10 were upheld.
People can search for their local council’s data using the Ombudsman’s interactive online map, where they can find details of upheld complaints, service recommendations and their authority’s annual letter, detailing how the council has responded to the Ombudsman’s investigations.
For more details, log on to: https://www.lgo.org.uk/your-councils-performance
