ALMOST 500 complaints were taken to the very top against councils in the past year but a falling number are being upheld.

The Local Government Ombudsman received 497 complaints against the 15 borough, district, city and county councils in Sussex but upheld fewer than one in eight.

The total number of complaints in 2016/17 dropped by ten per cent compared to the previous 12 months. Brighton and Hove City Council received the highest number of complaints, 134, followed by East Sussex with 87 and West Sussex with 82.

All but two councils, Rother and Brighton and Hove, saw the number of complaints reduce, while every authority, except for Adur, Hastings, Wealden and West Sussex, saw the number of upheld complaints reduce.

Almost a third of complaints were resolved between the council and the complainant before the ombudsman made their own ruling.

The number of complaints reaching the ombudsman are just a small fraction of the number levelled against council each year.

Brighton and Hove City Council received 1,550 stage one complaints in 2015/16 with more than a third upheld or partially upheld. A fifth of complaints escalated to stage two were also upheld.

A city council spokesman said: “All complaints are taken seriously and latest figures for 2016/2017 show the number of complaints made to the LGO has fallen.

“The council provides a huge range of services and the fall in complaints underlines continued improvements in the way complaints are handled.”

An East Sussex County Council spokesman said: “People’s right to go to the ombudsman is actively encouraged as a positive step if they are unhappy with our response.”

A West Sussex County Council spokeswoman said: “We treat every complaint as a learning opportunity and actively seek to use the outcome of complaints to make things better for our customers.”

An Eastbourne Borough Council spokesman said: “Complaints are an important barometer of how an organisation is performing and so we welcome and encourage feedback from the people who use our services. This latest data supports the view that our services are performing effectively and efficiently.”

An Arun District Council spokeswoman said: “The annual review of Arun’s performance is positive news, particularly in a time when the council is facing challenges from moving to a smaller organisation and constrained budgets. “

Cllr Mandy Thomas-Atkin, from Mid Sussex District Council, said: “We work hard to ensure that any complaints we receive are dealt with as effectively and efficiently as possible at the first point of contact. We aim to continue to produce the exceptional levels of customer service that our community has come to expect from us”.

Cllr Peter Chowney, Hastings Borough Council leader, said: “Very occasionally complaints are upheld and we do our best to learn from mistakes. It’s not surprising that, overall, more complaints to councils are being upheld. The enormous cuts mean it’s harder for councils to provide the levels of service they used to, and mistakes can be made.”

A Wealden District Council spokesman said the authority was seeking further guidance from the ICO over the one complaint upheld against it last year as the council believed they had adhered to guidance at the time.

A Chichester District Council spokeswoman said: “We are pleased to see a reduction in the number of complaints received and upheld by the ombudsman. The majority of those received by the ombudsman are referred back to the council to allow opportunity to resolve the issue with the customer directly.”