More than one in five remedies by councils who have received complaints are being implemented late, Ombudsman finds.
The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman says a lack of resources means councils are struggling to remedy complaints within the agreed time period.
In its annual review of complaints, the Ombudsman found nearly 60% of all authorities against whom a remedy was required has a late compliance registered against them.
The review also details how it is now upholding 80% of the investigations it carries out, up from 74% in 2022-23.
Ms Amerdeep Somal, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said: ‘What we’re seeing in the majority of cases isn’t a lack of care or an inability to take responsibility for what has gone wrong, but a sector struggling to cope.
‘Councils want to comply with our recommendations, accept responsibility when things go wrong, and provide good services to residents, and our 99.5% compliance rate indicates this is the case. But all too often resources and finances prevent them from doing so as swiftly as they should.’
Ms Somal added that there was ‘a small number of councils’ that are unwilling to respond to the Ombudsman’s investigations as they are expected to.
