Watchdog complaints rise over new waste system (From This Is Local London)

Watchdog complaints rise over new Croydon waste system

9:51am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Where I Live

Watchdog complaints rise over new Croydon waste system

Complaints to the council watchdog about services have risen by up to 150 per cent since last year.

Figures released by the Croydon Council’s Standards Committee show complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman over corporate resources and customer services have leapt from only six last year to 15 this year.

And complaints about adult services, health and housing has risen from 18 to 35, a rise of 89 per cent.

The LGO receives complaints against councils if people are not satisfied by the authority’s response to the initial problem.

Over the last year, the most common themes for complaints have been delays in service and quality in service.

One issue which caused a huge rise in complaints is the rollout of the council’s new waste collection.

Papers to the committee said the changes led to an increase in both calls into the contact centre and emails to the contact the council inbox.

As such, some customers experienced very long waiting times and this led to some making official complaints.

But first and second stage complaints to the council have fallen for both departments.

A council spokesman said: “There is a national trend for increases in the number of complaints being looked into by the Ombudsman, as outlined in their annual report last year.

“There’s no one reason for this rise but it may be due to cuts that councils are having to make, and also changes to the way in which the Ombudsman now operates.

“Overall, the council has seen improvements in the way it deals with customer complaints.

“In the last year there has been a decrease in the number of stage one and stage two complaints and a decrease in the number of complaints that end up being investigated by the Ombudsman.

“Last year there were no findings of maladministration against the council.”