Brighton & Hove Residents made the most complaints in Sussex last year

In the past year, the Local Government Ombudsman received almost 500 complaints from Sussex residents – made against the 15 borough, district, county and city councils in Sussex.

Brighton and Hove City Council received the largest number of complaints (134), East Sussex were second with 87, closely followed by West Sussex who received 82. Every council except for Rother and Brighton and Hove, saw the number of complaints drop.

The ombudsman sees only a small number of the complaints levelled against a council each year. Around a third of complaints received are resolved between the complainant and council without the ombudsman making their own ruling.

The number of complaints being upheld is also falling. Of the 15 authorities in Sussex, 11 saw the number of upheld complaints reduce. Of the 497 complaints that were received by the ombudsman in 2016/17 less than 1 in 8 were upheld.

More than 1,500 complaints were made against Brighton and Hove City Council last year. Of the 134 complaints reaching the ombudsman, almost two thirds of these (85) were made up of complaints about social care (29), housing (29) and education and children’s services (27). The other issues included environmental services, planning and development and benefits and tax.

By Clare Calder