Speed bumps, rude staff and confusing website: Complaints to Staffordshire County Council double in year
Complaints to Staffordshire County Council have doubled in a year, with bosses blaming a significant cut in government cash for the fall in standards.
Badly installed speed bumps, confusing job application forms and failure to update public websites of local traffic problems were among the criticisms.
The bulk of the gripes related to poor service, lack of communication and a bad staff attitude.
Some 305 complaints were received in 2014-15 compared to 153 the year before.
The number of grievances taken to the next stage more than doubled, from 10 to 24.
At the same time, the amount of good feedback the council received fell, with 396 compliments registered last year, compared to 542 in 2013-14.
The drop in standards is being blamed on cuts to services the authority has been forced to make because of a shortfall in the money it receives from central government.
The county council must lose £102 million from its budget by 1919.
And a report to council leaders predicts a further rise in complaints as austerity measures continue to bite. The county council is proposing £28.7m of savings in 2016-17, along with a 1.95 per cent council tax hike.
In the report to the corporate review committee on Monday, customer feedback team leader Sue Hardie said: "The amount of funding made available by central government continues to challenge how the council provides services to its residents. With an ever-growing population, councils are required to do more with less and this inevitably impacts on service delivery.
"Whilst the council continues to look at new and innovative ways in which to provide services to its residents, we should expect an increase in the volume of complaints in response to the changes to and the possible withdrawal of services."
She said that another reason for the increase in complaints could be attributed to the removal of a 'frontline' stage in the procedure where complaints were investigated quickly by the team providing the service.
Just over half of the service-related grievances were about a service not being provided; the rest concerned speed and quality.
The report highlights the fact that, overall, 17 per cent of the complaints were upheld, 'which is a positive outcome for the council'.
