Flintshire Council sees 22% drop in complaints to Ombudsman for 2023-24

Flintshire County Council recorded a 22% reduction in complaints referred to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales in 2023-24, with figures falling to 51 complaints from 65 the previous year.

This brings Flintshire in line with the Welsh average of 0.36 complaints per 1,000 residents and reflects improvements in handling public concerns.

Separately, the council directly received 363 complaints between April and September 2024, significantly fewer than the 448 complaints recorded during the same period last year.

Of these, 74% were resolved within the council’s 10-day target, and 92% were addressed within 20 working days, showing a slight improvement in response times.

Frontline services, particularly Streetscene & Transportation and Housing & Communities, accounted for the highest proportion of complaints received by the council.

Common issues included service delivery failures, which have been the focus of targeted improvements in recent years.

The council reported notable reductions in upheld complaints for several key issues:

-Missed waste collections: reduced from 23% to 12%.

-Assisted collections: reduced from 7.4% to 3.9%.

-Garden waste complaints: reduced from 4.9% to 3.3%.

-Responsive repair issues: reduced from 3.4% to 1.4%.

The council attributed these improvements to its Complaints Officer Group, which regularly reviews performance and shares lessons learned across departments.

The group has refined procedures, enabling quicker resolutions and better outcomes for residents.

While progress has been made, some areas saw a slight rise in complaints.

For example, concerns about the Absorbent Hygiene Products (AHP) Scheme rose from 2.9% to 3.9%, prompting a review of processes.

Complaints about grass cutting also increased, rising from 0.5% to 1.7%, a change linked to resource limitations.

The Ombudsman’s Annual Letter, which will be discussed by Flintshire’s Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee next week, highlights the council’s progress in handling complaints.

Of the 57 cases closed by the Ombudsman involving Flintshire in 2023-24, 86% were resolved or rejected without further action.

Premature complaints—those referred before the council’s internal procedures were completed—dropped significantly from 36.9% to 15.7%.

A report, to be presented to the Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee during its 14 November meeting, states:

“Overall, portfolios are making good progress to improve complaints handling as greater awareness is promoted by the most senior officers of the Council.”

“The following actions will be taken forward to further improve complaints handling across the organisation: maintaining positive and productive engagement with the Complaints Standards Authority; continuing work with Councils across Wales and the Ombudsman to record complaints performance data to help drive improvement in public services for citizens in Wales; ensuring compliance with recommendations by the Ombudsman are communicated in a timely manner; and implementing recommendations following the publication of the Ombudsman’s Own Initiative Investigation into Carer’s Needs Assessment in 2024.”

Further measures include reviewing the council’s programme of mandatory complaints training, redesigning its electronic complaints recording system, and completing a toolkit for schools and elected Members to address unacceptable behaviour on social media.