Council receives more complaints – and more compliments

Complaints have gone up a quarter in the past year, according to Brighton and Hove City Council’s annual report on customer service.

The Customer Insight Annual Report for 2022-23 said that 2,201 “stage one” complaints were received, up 25 per cent compared with 2021-22.

The increase was above average for housing repairs and maintenance – the most contacted department – with complaints rising 44 per cent from 264 to 276. The same department also had a big increase in compliments.

Complaints about Cityclean, the council’s rubbish and recycling service, went up about a fifth, or 66, from 331 to 397, compared with 2021-22.

Complaints to the council’s parking team went down by 94 – or 24 per cent – from 392 to 298. They had more than doubled the previous year after a new software system caused issues for hundreds of people trying to renew their parking permits.

The report also said that the council received more than a million inquiries in the past year, with just 40,000 from people visiting the offices.

Almost two thirds of people who contacted the council last year were satisfied with the experience, the report states.

Most complaints across the council were resolved at the first stage, with 214 being escalated to stage two and, of these, 164 became the subject of an investigation. Of those, 70 complaints were upheld.

Compliments rose 1 per cent to 1,477, according to the report which is due to go before the council’s Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration Committee on Thursday (13 July).

The report included details of 5,803 responses to the council’s customer experience survey, with 59 per cent of “customers” saying that they were satisfied with services, up from 57 per cent in 2021-22.

The “national benchmark” for satisfaction increased from 56 per cent last year to 60 per cent this year.

“Dissatisfaction” with the council decreased, with 30 per cent of responders saying that they were either “fairly” or “very” dissatisfied with the council’s customer services.

Just 51 per cent of people who responded to the survey found council services easy to access.

The report said: “Some council teams deliver regulatory, enforcement or tax collection services which may result in the customer not getting the outcome they wanted, for example, planning application being rejected.

“Data from the survey indicates that when customers did not receive the outcome they wanted, it directly impacted how they perceived the standard of service they received during their interactions with the council.

“Seventy-five per cent of respondents who indicated they received what they needed from their interaction with council services were fairly or very satisfied with the level of customer service, 16 per cent higher than the average of all respondents.

“This compares to only 1 per cent of respondents who indicated they didn’t receive what they needed from their interaction with council services and 25 per cent satisfaction of respondents who indicated they received some of what they needed from their interaction with council services.”

The departments with the highest percentage of satisfied customers were

• Register office – 99 per cent of 499 customers
• Housing repairs and maintenance – 90 per cent of 2,544 customers
• Adult social care – 86 per cent of 99 customers
• Concessionary travel – 78 per cent of 74 customers.

…

The departments with the lowest percentage of satisfied customers were

• Housing needs – 24 per cent of 106 customers
• Council tax – 25 per cent out of 1,049 customers
• City environment – 33 per cent of 680 customers
• Planning enforcement and policy – 33 per cent of 66 customers