Shropshire Council had 1,000 complaints in last financial year

The council received 1,989 cases of formal feedback, 922 of which were complaints, according to its annual customer feedback report.

The number of complaints rose by five per cent from the previous year, but fell in proportion to all comments received by the council.

More than two thirds of the complaints received relate to five main service areas: adult social care and children’s services, highways and street scene, planning, waste/recycling and revenues and benefits.

The report explains: "This is consistent with patterns for previous years and reflects the size of budget and number of staff, the nature of the services provided, and the number of people and/or organisations which come into contact with, or receive, these services.

"Complaints for most service areas relate to quality of services and failure to deliver a service or take action.

"Communication and information provision were the most common theme and ranged from responding to correspondence and comments in a timely manner and keeping people up to date, through to clear communication about the level and reach of services that were provided.

"Service quality provided another key area of learning and included issues such as access to services, the quality of work done, and the attitude and behaviour of those providing services."

There are a number of recommendations included in the report which highlight areas of development designed to improve customer feedback handling.

The council also received 646 compliments and 374 comments in the last financial year.

In the previous financial year the council received 462 compliments, so this year the amount of compliments rose by 40 per cent.

Councillor Steve Charmley, portfolio holder for corporate support, spoke at Shropshire Council's cabinet meeting yesterday to comment on the compliments the council had received.

He said: "It's great to see the compliments are rising by 40 per cent, it's nice to get a thank you.

"Someone said they used the new archives website for the first time and said how easy it was to use and that it was very visual.

"It's nice to see we've got some positive feedback coming through the system."

Councillor Nic Laurens, portfolio holder for economic growth, congratulated the council on the report.

He said: "I'd like to highlight and congratulate everyone about the communication.

"People do come and talk to us, we do listen and you can see from this that it's working."