Fewer complaints about Portsmouth City Council made last year than year before

An annual report compiled by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which takes on final stage complaints about local authorities, showed there were 36 complaints and enquiries about Portsmouth council in 2019.

Of these 15 were closed after initial enquires and six were upheld.

This is a reduction compared to 2018 when 45 complaints were made, with eight upheld.

David Williams, chief executive of the council, said complaints provide an opportunity 'to get things right.'

'It is always regrettable when customers are dissatisfied with our services and have cause to complain, and resolving complaints quickly and satisfactorily is really important to us,' he said.

'The reduction in the number of complaints being referred to the ombudsman this year is good news, as it suggests we are satisfactorily resolving more complaints for our customers ourselves.

'As an organisation, we know we won't always get things right. That's why we welcome complaints, because they provide us with the opportunity to put things right when we've made a mistake, and they enable us to learn and make improvements to avoid making the same mistake again.'

As in previous years, and in line with the rest of the south east, the highest number of complaints made in 2019 in Portsmouth were about education and children's services, with eight recorded.

A total of 139 complaints and enquires were made in the same year about Hampshire County Council. Of these 37 were closed after initial enquires and 21 were upheld.

Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Keith Mans, said: 'We always try to do our level best to get things right first time for Hampshire residents, and we take all complaints very seriously.

'Where we haven’t been able to resolve things directly with the member of the public, we work closely with the Ombudsman to resolve any issues raised and ensure we try to learn from our mistakes and improve our services along the way.

'This is reflected in the figures which show that the county council accepted all the recommendations made by the Ombudsman on the cases they upheld, with a 100 per cent compliance rate.'

In 2019, 23 complaints and enquiries were received about Havant Borough Council and none was upheld.

Four complaints and enquiries were made about Gosport Borough Council, with none upheld.

And 13 complaints and enquiries were made about Fareham Borough Council. None was upheld.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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