Wiltshire Council’s complaints have increased by over 60% since 2021-22, figures have revealed.
According to the council’s Annual Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report 2024-2025, the local authority received 605 complaints this year.
Data found that the local authority’s total number of complaints this year had risen by 22% since 2023-24 and 63% since 2021-22.
During the council’s overview and scrutiny management committee meeting last Wednesday, it was revealed that roughly half of the increase could be attributed to a spike in complaints about housing services and assets, which rose by 69% since the year prior.
The covering report confirmed that the trend across housing services was associated with improved ‘awareness and promotion of complaint channels’, as well as enhanced complaint recording systems, greater encouragement of reporting among residents and ‘stricter interpretation of what constitutes a complaint’.
Additional services that received a large number of complaints were adult social care and education and skills.
The committee was told that the Ombudsman considers housing services, adult social care and education and skills the three most ‘popular topics’ for complaints, rendering the council ‘in alignment with the national picture’.
