A watchdog investigated more than 400 complaints about Greater Manchester councils in the past year.
Some 855 people made contact with the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) with concerns about the way their council was functioning during 2010/11. Of those, 412 were followed up by investigators – and more than 80 settlements reached between town halls and residents.
The ombudsman has written to every chief executive reviewing their performance over the past year. Housing, education and children’s services, tax and benefits and planning were the most common causes for grievance, the letters show.
Manchester, the largest of Greater Manchester’s 10 councils, received the highest volume of letters to the ombudsman – 190, of which 98 were referred for investigation.
The council settled in 29 cases, including one highlighted by ombudsman Dr Jane Martin in which the town hall paid out £15,500 after failing a disabled woman and her disabled son.
She noted that the council had agreed to settle and been willing to learn lessons in the majority of cases.
Across Greater Manchester, a total of 73 complaints that were investigated were found to be outside the watchdog’s jurisdiction and a conclusion of no maladministration was reached in 147 cases.
Others were discontinued at the ombudsman’s discretion, for example if a complaint was withdrawn or the watchdog decided there was insufficient injustice to warrant an investigation.
Most councils fell within the 28 day response-time target, except for Trafford, Oldham and Bolton who took 44.3 days, 40 days and 34 days, on average, to reply.
Dr Martin said: "The LGO provides an increasingly significant mechanism for local public accountability and we have continued to develop our liaison with the Local Government Association, Citizens Advice, local councils and advocacy bodies to ensure that, as well as providing redress for individual citizens, lessons from complaints improve local public service delivery and benefit the wider community."
Complaints made about councils last year
| Council | Total complaints/inquiries | Investigated |
|---|---|---|
| Manchester | 190 | 98 |
| Salford | 92 | 38 |
| Bolton | 83 | 42 |
| Wigan | 83 | 36 |
| Stockport | 80 | 36 |
| Oldham | 76 | 33 |
| Bury | 73 | 35 |
| Tameside | 72 | 30 |
| Rochdale | 55 | 31 |
| Trafford | 51 | 33 |
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The first probe should be as to why there were ONLY 400 complaints!
The attitude of some Council employees is beyond belief. I have been a customer of SMBC for over 30yrs and rang the Council tax dept to tell them I was vacating a property I have paid council tax on for the last 10 years (although I didnt live there, I rented the building). The woman who answered the phone snapped "name, address, date of leaving, and then put the phone down on me.
She was very rude for no reason whatsoever.
The biggest complaint of all should be the large number of people doing lucrative non jobs and getting paid handsomely for their token ''efforts'' whilst people in front line services are being cut by those above protecting only themselves.