How did Wigan council handle its complaints?

A watchdog has published its annual data on how Wigan Council has handled complaints made against it.
Wigan Town HallWigan Town Hall
Wigan Town Hall

Four investigations were carried out in 2020-21 against the town hall by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO), with three of them being upheld.

Wigan Council was unable to provide a satisfactory remedy in any of the cases before the ombudsman got involved, but implemented the watchdog’s recommendations satisfactorily in every case.

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The number of cases referred to the LGO this year is quite small because the ombudsman did not accept new complaints and stopped investigating existing cases between March and June 2020 to allow local authorities to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wigan Council’s rate at which cases against it were upheld (75 per cent) is slightly higher than the average of 72 per cent for similar-sized local authorities.

The town hall also did slightly worse than comparative councils when it came to providing remedies before the watchdog got involved, with an average of 11 per cent compared to Wigan’s zero.

The council has reassured residents it takes complaints seriously and welcomes opportunities to learn from its mistakes.

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Lesley O’Halloran, director of customer services and culture at Wigan Council, said: “We always strive to provide the most efficient, value for money services to our residents.

“We take all complaints very seriously and welcome constructive criticism and feedback to help us improve our services.

“When a complaint is received, we will always seek fair and transparent resolutions in a timely manner.”

The three cases involving Wigan Council upheld by the LGO were one about assessing noise recordings in an anti-social behaviour probe, one about needing to review care plans to ensure a mum and her daughter’s needs are met and one about issues involving a council tax bill.

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Across the North West 65 per cent of council complaints were upheld by the ombudsman, an increase from 58 per cent the previous year. The region accounted for 11 per cent of the watchdog’s total workload.

The largest volume of complaints was about children and education, while issues with corporate and other services had the highest rate of being upheld.

Nationally, over the past year the ombudsman has upheld a greater proportion of investigations– 67 per cent – than ever before.

The ombudsman received 11,830 complaints and enquiries from members of the public and made 3,104 recommendations to put things right for individuals, with 1,488 recommendations for councils to improve their services for others, such as revising procedures and training staff.

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The ombudsman suggests this means local authorities across the country are increasingly facing systemic rather than one-off problems.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: “This year seems to have been the most difficult for local authorities.

“While the way local authorities dealt with the pressures of Covid-19 is still being played out in our casework, early indications suggest it is only widening the cracks that were already there, and has deepened our concerns about the status of complaints services within councils.

“These concerns are not new and cannot be wholly attributed to the trials of the pandemic.

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“I am concerned about the general erosion to the visibility, capacity, and status of complaint functions within councils.

“Listening to public complaints is an essential part of a well-run and properly accountable local authority, committed to public engagement, learning, and improvement.

“I know the best councils still understand this and put local democracy and good complaints handling at the forefront of their services.”

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