BRADFORD Council was the subject of more than 100 complaints and enquiries to the ombudsman about its actions last year, new figures show.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is responsible for investigating wrongdoing in local public services.

If it finds that the council has acted in an unfair or unjust way, the ombudsman will offer recommendations on how to make things right.

According to figures from the body, there were 136 complaints or enquiries made about Bradford Council in the year to March – up from 110 the year before.

After investigation, the ombudsman found the council to have acted unjustly on 30 occasions last year.

A Bradford Council spokesperson said: “We take all complaints we receive seriously and obviously we always seek to provide an excellent service to all our residents so will be wanting to learn lessons from those complaints upheld.”

The most common reason for coming to the ombudsman in Bradford was for issues related to education and children's services, with 43 complaints or enquiries. There were also 32 around benefits and tax, and 15 on planning and development issues.

Last month the Telegraph & Argus reported the Council had been criticised by the Local Government Ombudsman for showing a “lack of commitment” in dealing with some complaints.

Writing to the Council, Michael King, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, criticised the authority for how it dealt with one complaint.

Of the 30 upheld complaints, which led to a recommendation by the Ombudsman, all but one of these recommendations were carried out by the Council.

Across England, councils were found to have acted unjustly on 2,678 occasions, a 27 per cent increase on 2,104 the year before.

Mr King said of the national picture: "One complaint can have immense power to change things for the better.

“The vast majority of councils agree to the recommendations we make and see them as common-sense ways of providing better services for people in their area."

He said that while councils act on nearly every recommendation they are given, uptake can be slow, with one in five failing to take them on within the timeframe set out by the Ombudsman.

Nationally, the number of complaints rose compared to last year, with 15,826 in the year to March, up 25 per cent from 11,830 last year, but did not quite reach the 17,019 recorded in 2019-20.

Problems with education and children's services were the most common reason to get in touch with the organisation, with 3,145 complaints and enquiries, while there were more than 2,000 each for planning and development, adult social care, and housing.

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