Rise in complaints made to council watchdog last year, but improvements are being made

The number of complaints made about Devon County Council that were referred to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) increased last year (2024-2025) to 165 compared to 151 the previous year.

However, during that period payouts to resolve complaints fell by a quarter with more complaints being resolved earlier and by meditation, and improvements are currently being made to the way complaints are handled.

Last year’s figures were presented to members of the Standards Committee earlier this week.

Councillors heard that the LGSCO upheld 85 per cent of complaints, slightly below the previous year’s 89 per cent but still above the average for comparable authorities.

Adjusted for population, Devon recorded 8.3 upheld complaints per 100,000 residents – higher than the national average of 5.3.

The report shows that education and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services continue to be the main reasons for complaints.

Payments to complainants totalled around £54,000, down from £72,000 in 2023–24, with significant reductions in categories such as ‘Loss of Education, down 66 per cent, and ‘Delay in Issuing Education Health Care Plans’ down 90 per cent.

The report also detailed how we had fully complied with all Ombudsman recommendations, which include staff training, policy reviews, and measures to strengthen SEND services and the work underway to improve complaint response times.

The full report is available on the Council’s website.