MORE than 100 complaints were filed against Buckinghamshire Council to the ombudsman about its actions last year, new figures show.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is responsible for investigating wrongdoing in local public services.

If it finds that the council has acted in an unfair or unjust way, the ombudsman will offer recommendations on how to make things right.

According to figures from the body, there were 132 complaints or enquiries made about Buckinghamshire Council in the year to March – up from 93 the year before.

After investigation, the ombudsman found the council to have acted unjustly on 29 occasions last year.

The most common reason for coming to the ombudsman in Buckinghamshire was for issues related to education and children's services, with 37 complaints or enquiries.

The increase in complaints is parly due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, explains the local council.

John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Affordable Housing & Resources said: “Buckinghamshire Council takes all complaints made about any of our services extremely seriously. We recognise that there has been an increase in complaints to the Ombudsman in the past year but in part this is due to the impact of the Covid pandemic when their investigations were halted for a period."

The number of issues raised about the children's services sector rose from 1,670 in 2020-21 to 2,139 in the year to March – including 13 in Buckinghamshire.

The Local Government Association meanwhile praised councils for the work they are doing in tricky circumstances.

“Whilst it is the case that complaints relating to children’s services in Buckinghamshire are broadly in line with figures for other local authorities in the country in terms of the percentage of overall complaints, we are not complacent," said Mr Chilver.

"As a council we are focused on addressing and reducing all complaints by improving communication with our service users and increasing visibility for our senior management teams on issues, outcomes and learnings.

"Additionally we have recently identified a number of areas of good practice in the council which have improved the complaints process for residents and we are taking active steps to ensure that this learning is widely disseminated.” 

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: "One complaint can have immense power to change things for the better.

“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."

Peter Fleming, chairman of the organisation's improvement and innovation board said: "Councils continue to deliver the crucial services that communities rely on, while also managing the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and the challenges it brings to their areas.

"It is positive that in 99.7% of case councils are implementing recommendations made, showing that local authorities are determined to make sure these issues do not occur again."