NEARLY three-quarters of official complaints about Dudley Council services that were investigated by the Ombudsman in the last year were upheld, figures show.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has today published complaints data for local councils as part of an annual review.

In Dudley 24 detailed investigations were carried out by the Ombudsman between April 1, 2020, and 31 March 31, 2021, with complaints about care and services upheld in 71 per cent of cases (a total of 17 decisions) - up from 65 per cent the previous year.

The most recently upheld complaints, from 2021, related to concerns about poor adult social care, the handling of a schoolgirl's education, health and care plan, unnecessary enforcement action taken after the council failed to update an address on its council tax database, inadequate consideration of a woman's disability before an application for a blue badge was refused and anger over a remedy offered by the authority after it looked into a complaint about a child protection investigation.

The rate for upheld decisions in Dudley this year was slightly lower than the average of 72 per cent for similar authorities but greater than the national rate of 67 per cent.

In all cases in the last year the Ombudsman was satisfied Dudley Council had successfully implemented recommendations given after investigation of the complaints and in 12 per cent of cases the Ombudsman found the authority had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the LGO - up from nine per cent the previous year - and higher than the average 11 per cent rate for similar authorities.

Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, 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.”

In the wider West Midlands region 76 per cent of complaints about councils were upheld, with most complaints (22 per cent) relating to services for children and education - and of those complaints 83 per cent were upheld compared to 77 per cent nationally.

The region also had the smallest proportion of complaints about environmental services - just 10 per cent.

All complaints can be seen on the Ombudsman’s website.

Dudley Council has not yet responded to a request for comment.