Housing Services most complained about sector of Sheffield City Council, new figures reveal
Sheffield City Council has been the subject of more than 140 complaints made to the Government and Social Care Ombudsman this year.
The majority of complaints lodged against the council were regarding its housing services.
The Ombudsman is the final stage of complaints about councils if residents are not happy with the outcome of complaining directly to their local authority.
New figures obtained by Legal Expert via Freedom of Information Requests reveal that a total of 3,641 complaints have been lodged against Metropolitan Councils in the last year alone (2023/24). These do not include complaints settled by councils on their own.
A total of 149 complaints were made about Sheffield City Council, the majority of which were about Housing Services, which could include disrepair issues or tenancy disputes.
Some 38 such complaints were assessed by the Ombudsman, accounting for 24% of all complaints lodged against the council in 2023/24.
The second most common issue plaguing Sheffield City residents was Adult and Social Care which had 26 complaints.
Other common grievances were concerning: Education and Children’s Services (21), Highways and Transport (20), Benefits and Tax (15), and Planning and Development (11).
Of these complaints, 16 were upheld and another 39 ‘referred back for local resolution’, while ‘advice’ was given in 18 other cases.
Some 53 were ‘closed after initial enquiries,’ meaning there was no case for the council to answer, while another 6 were not upheld.
Elsewhere in South Yorkshire, 63 complaints were made about Doncaster Council and a further 51 were for Rotherham. Another 47 complaints were lodged against Barnsley Council. The most common issue for all three was Education and Children’s Services.
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