Compliments are up and complaints are down at Liverpool City Council.
The number of people unhappy with services fell by 18 percent from April – September 2013, compared to the same period the previous year. The number submitted through the council’s Have Your Say scheme dropped from 2,330 to 1,904.
And the number of compliments increased by 21 percent – up to 502 from 414.
There has also been an increase in the number of complaints responded to within the time limit, up from 65 percent to 71 percent for stage one complaints and from 76 percent to 79 percent for those which go to stage two.
The number of people satisfied or very satisfied with the way in which their complaints were handled is down just one percent on last year, at 74 percent.
Mayor Joe Anderson said: “We are a large organisation providing essential services to our 465,000 residents and millions of visitors. When we get things wrong we are absolutely committed to investigating and doing what we can to put things right.
“I am pleased that the overall trend of complaints is dropping. It demonstrates we have a well-established procedure for investigating complaints.
“But we can’t be complacent and continue to work hard to improve services and prevent complaints from occurring in the first place.”
The top three complaint areas were:
Recycling/domestic collections – 426 against a backdrop of 11.4 million waste collections (23 percent down)
Taxi licensing – 241 against a backdrop of 7,669 drivers and proprietors (no significant change)
Council tax – 217 against a backdrop of 342,000 bills issued (no significant change)
The figures will be considered at a meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Select Committee on 12 March.
