A boss at Bracknell Forest Council has admitted to failures and lessons learned as nearly £8,000 has been paid to people who have made complaints.
A boss at Bracknell Forest Council has admitted failings after nearly £8,000 was paid to people who complained to the local government and social care ombudsman (LGSO).
If someone feels they have not been dealt with correctly, complaints are first handled by council officers at stage one or a senior manager at stage two. If still unhappy, they can ask the LGSO to investigate, and the ombudsman can recommend compensation.
Over the last year 11 complaints against Bracknell Forest Council were upheld, with a total of £7,950 paid out. An annual report on LGSO decisions was noted at the council’s Labour-run cabinet.
Kevin Gibbs, the council’s executive director for communities, said: "Although there is only 11 complaints, each of those has a story behind it, and the council always looks to see the impact on those individuals to ensure that the decisions we make are reasonable and have their best interests at heart."
He added: "The fact that in these cases we have not met our own high standards is something that we will work on and have worked on with these individuals."
Mr Gibbs also said: "That said, as a proportion, 11 complaints represents just a subset of the complaints that the council handles over a year and a subset of the hundreds of thousands of transactions that we undertake. So in recognising that these are the cases that we need to learn the most from, we also recognise that in comparison to other unitary authorities, this is a very low number."
"We have been working incredibly hard in improving our management of complaints," he added, and the council complied with all of the ombudsman’s recommendations in each case. "This is part of our process of acknowledging our position in public and making sure that people understand how we manage what is a very complicated set of arrangements, but where we fail, we make it clear why we have failed and then deal with those appropriately."
Labour councillor Iksander Jeffries, cabinet member for public protection and democracy, said complaints are on a downward trajectory — lower than the 15 complaints upheld in 2023/24 and the lowest since 2021/22, when eight were upheld.
Separately, the council had to pay out £13,050 over a complaint about a child missing two years of full-time education. That case, resolved on June 26, fell outside the period covered in the report by Jen Lawson, head of civic services, which does not mention any payout amounts.
Cllr Megan Wright (Labour, Town Centre & The Parks), cabinet member for adults and public health, asked whether the complaints identified any emerging risks around special educational needs and disabilities. Mr Gibbs replied: "Clearly, SEND is an area where we have a lot of focus." He added: "It is an early indication warning of where we have issues, but it is always a backwards-looking indicator."
The LGSO decisions report was noted at the cabinet meeting on December 16.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
