Brighton and Hove council acted unjustly last year

The Local Government and Social Care ombudsman ordered it to correct 21 complaints made in the year to March.

Some 103 allegations were filed against the city council during the 12 month period.

This is an increase of 44 from the previous period.

The most frequent issues were relating to education and children's services, or highways and transport, with 18 complaints or enquiries each.

“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,” said Michael King from the ombudsman.

"One complaint can have immense power to change things for the better.”

Mr King said one in five fails to take on the recommendations within the timeframe set out by the ombudsman.

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

Problems with education and children's services were the most common cause for complaints, with 3,145 recorded in England.

Healthwatch England, a health and social care champion, said they were particularly concerned about the national rise in complaints about adult social care, suggesting that financial pressures may be to blame.

There were 16 cases raised in Brighton and Hove.

But the Local Government Association has heaped praised on councils for the work they are doing in “tricky circumstances”.

Peter Fleming, chairman of the organisation's improvement and innovation board said: "Councils continue to deliver the crucial services that communities rely on, while also managing the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and the challenges it brings to their areas.

"It is positive that in 99.7 per cent of case councils are implementing recommendations made, showing that local authorities are determined to make sure these issues do not occur again."

Brighton and Hove City Council said it welcomes customer feedback to improve its services.

A spokesman said: “The rise in complaints to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is no real surprise given that prior to this reporting period - because of the pandemic - the Ombudsman was unable to receive complaints and peoples’ contact with local government was reduced.

“Out of 21 cases investigated by the Ombudsman, there were only 8 cases where we had the opportunity to resolve the complaint before the case went to the Ombudsman.

“The remaining 13 were either sent immediately to the ombudsman giving us no opportunity to resolve the issue, or where we had identified a resolution, but the customer chose to take their case to the Ombudsman with no dialogue with us.

“Careful analysis of the information provided by the ombudsman informs our improvement plan which will ensure better and faster responses to customers’ enquiries, better communications with customers during the complaints process, and better resolutions to complaints.

“We have implemented 100% of LGSCO recommendations and are committed to improving the customer experience; we will always accept and apologise when we get it wrong.”