THE Ombudsman upheld 12 complaints against City of York Council last year – and decided not to uphold another seven.

A further 17 complaints were closed after initial inquiries and six were referred for local resolution.

The complaints included nine about planning, eight about highways, six about adult social care, six about education and children’s services and two about housing.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which has published complaints data for every council in the Yorkshire and the Humber region for 2020-21, said that nationally, over the past year, it had upheld a greater proportion of investigations– 67 per cent – than ever before.

It said it had made 1,488 recommendations for councils to improve their services for others – such as revising procedures and training staff.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said its concerns about the status of complaints services within councils were deepening.

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

“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.”

Janie Berry, Director of Governance & Monitoring Officer at City of York Council, thanked the Ombudsman for its constructive feedback which had highlighted some good practice as well as areas the authority was working on to improve.

“Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we have worked very hard to respond in the required timescales and welcome the acknowledgement of this work,” she said.

“It is also pleasing that the Ombudsman has acknowledged that we have implemented their previous recommendations and we will build on this work following this year’s feedback.”

She said that recently, the council had strengthened its complaints procedures and would work closely with the Ombudsman to ensure this was as effective as possible, as it strived to further improve its service. She added that the data showed there had been a drop from 75 per cent of cases being upheld to 63 per cent.

“This highlights the ongoing improvements by the Corporate Governance Team in supporting the council in its handling of, responding to and learning from complaints.”