Complaints Handling Annual Report 2025/26
The purpose of this Report is to provide Members with details of the Council’s complaints handling performance for 2025/2026.
Recommendations
It is recommended that the Council:
- Considers the contents of the Annual Complaints Report 2025/26 below
- Notes the ongoing improvement actions underway from 2026/27 onwards.
Background/Main Issues
This Report outlines the Council’s performance from 1 April 2025 until 31 March 2026 against the complaints indicators set by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).
The Council is committed to providing quality services that reflect the needs of its customers. We value complaints and use information from them to help us improve our services. The Council publishes its complaints handling performance to provide assurance in relation to our performance, and to inform delivery of continuous improvement.
Under our Complaints Handling Procedure (CHP) any expression of dissatisfaction about our action or lack of action, or about the standard of the service provided by or on behalf of the Council is classed as a complaint. However, the CHP also outlines what does not constitute a complaint. Among other points, it advises that a complaint is not a routine first time request for a service or a first-time report of a fault.
During 2025/26, the Council received 743 complaints (compared to 749 in the previous year), all of which are recorded on the CRM system. While this number is is consistent with the previous reporting period there has been a significant increase in recent years with the overall number of complaints close to double that from the 409 reported in 2022/2023.
Despite the significantly higher volume of complaints and other cases, overall number of complaints answered within designated timescales have increased slightly from the previous reporting period from 69% to 70.5%. However improvements have not been seen across all categories of complaint.
Average number of days taken to respond to complaints has also improved slightly from the 2024/25 position, however, average times remain outside of target timescales and there remains variation of performance within designated complaint categories.
Work remains ongoing to improve complaint response times and to ensure the quality of responses and full compliance with the SPSO’s model complaints handling procedure, including the incorporation more recent best practice guidance around child friendly complaints handling.
Complaints handling has been the focus of a Leadership Group presentation in October 2025 and an officer toolkit has been developed to assist officers in understanding the process for and responding to complaints. Further training and support actions have been identified as a priority going forwards.
The SPSO requires organisations to report on six complaint handling indicators. The following tables detail the Council’s performance under each indicator, showing comparison with the previous year. Progress against these Indicators is included in further down the page.
- Complaints Received Per 1,000 Population
- Closed Complaints
- Complaints Upheld, Partially Upheld & Not Upheld
- Average Response Times
- Performance against timescales
- Use of Extensions.
Complaints have been broken down by service area, however this has not been directly comparable with previous reporting periods due to the categories on the new CRM system matching the up to date organisational structures when the old system recorded them under legacy structural arrangements. A breakdown of complaints by service area and team is provided further down the page.
The SPSO requires councils to have processes in place to help them learn from complaints and review and change service delivery if required. We consider complaints as important feedback and an opportunity to improve our services, and we will continue to monitor recommendations and outcomes/responses for learning opportunities in partnership with other Council services.
If dissatisfied with our response, some customers will choose to take their complaint to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman whose office will review both our service delivery and our handling of the customer’s complaint.
If the Ombudsman upholds or partially upholds a complaint, they will make recommendations to the Council. These recommendations are discussed with the service teams and any required changes are implemented with evidence provided to the Ombudsman. Specific improvement actions will vary depending on the nature of each case. Complaints considered by the SPSO in 2025/26 compared to the previous reporting period are highlighted further down the page.
Implications
The implications for the Council are as undernoted.
Frontline Service to Customers – improved service delivery through continuous improvement and management of performance.
Workforce (including any significant resource implications) – none.
Legal Implications – none.
Financial Implications – none.
Procurement – none.
ICT – none.
Corporate Assets – none.
Equalities Implications – none.
Sustainability – none.
Corporate Parenting - none.
Other – none.
Management of Risk
The risks and control measures relating to this Report are as follows:
Ensuring effective scrutiny of service performance and driving improvement in service delivery.
Impact
Economic growth & recovery – none.
Employment & skills – none.
Children & young people – none.
Safer & stronger communities – none.
Adult health & wellbeing – none.
Older adults, vulnerable people & carers – none.
Climate change – none.
Statutory duty - this report forms part of our statutory duty of performance reporting.
Policy Checklist
This Report has been assessed against the Policy Development Checklist and has been classified as being an operational report and not a new policy or change to an existing policy document.
Complaint Numbers
Complaints Traffic 2025/26
Total Complaints made:
- 2022/23 - 409
- 2023/24 - 497
- 2024/25 - 749
- 2025/26 - 743
Service Requests:
- 2022/23 - 956
- 2023/24 - 929
- 2024/25 - 1558
- 2025/26 - 1395
Complaints numbers table
| Category | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total Complaints made |
409 |
497 |
749 |
743 |
|
Service Requests* |
956 |
929 |
1558 |
1395 |
|
Complaints Per Head of Population |
3.8 |
4.6 |
7.1 |
6.8 |
|
Total Complaints Closed |
432 |
501 |
774 |
719 |
|
% Closed at Stage 1 |
62% |
58.28% |
64.21% |
63.84% |
|
% Closed at Stage 2 |
29.4% |
31.34% |
27.13% |
26.7% |
|
% Closed After Escalation |
8.6% |
10.38% |
8.66% |
9.46% |
The overall number of complaints has risen dramatically in the last few years, however, while remaining high there have been slightly fewer recorded complaints in 2025/26 from the previous reporting period. The amount of requests that cannot be handled as complaints under our CHP shows a similar trend.
The proportion of complaints dealt with at each Stage remains consistent with prior years.
Complaints by Category 2025/26
- Percentage closed at stage 1 - 64%
- Percentage closed at stage 2 - 27%
- Percentage closed after escalation - 9%
Outcomes
Stage 1 Complaint Outcomes
| Category | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Upheld |
33.2% |
40.2% |
32.19% |
56.43% |
|
Partially Upheld |
31.3% |
26.47% |
30.18% |
18.74% |
|
Not Upheld |
26.5% |
30.72% |
34% |
18.74% |
|
Resolved |
9% |
2.61% |
3.62% |
6.1% |
2025/26 has seen a significantly higher number of complaints upheld at stage one than in previous reporting years.
Stage 2 Complaint Outcomes
| Category | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Upheld |
22% |
12.18% |
11.9% |
9.9% |
|
Partially Upheld |
29.9% |
32.05% |
23.81% |
22.4% |
|
Not Upheld |
44.9% |
53.21% |
59.05% |
|
|
Resolved |
3.1% |
2.56% |
5.24% |
2.6% |
The number of Stage 2 complaints that are not upheld has risen in the last few years with a lower number of upheld and partially upheld outcomes.
Escalated Complaint Outcomes
| Category | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Upheld |
24.3% |
26.4% |
20.9% |
38.24% |
|
Partially Upheld |
43.2% |
35.85% |
43.28% |
30.88% |
|
Not Upheld |
27% |
35.85% |
34.33% |
29.41% |
|
Resolved |
5.4% |
1.89% |
1.49% |
1.46% |
There is generally more annual variation with escalated complaints due to the lower overall proportion. 2025/26 saw a substantial increase in the number of escalated complaints that were upheld which was reflected in a reduction in all other outcomes.
Average Response Time
Average Response Times (Days)
| Category | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Stage 1 |
15.34 |
4.88 |
5.52 |
5.18 |
|
Stage 2 |
27.48 |
24.59 |
22.26 |
22.42 |
|
Escalated |
36.46 |
23.36 |
15.69 |
14 |
Average response times have improved in all areas in recent years, however there was a slight increase in response times to stage 2 complaints from the previous reporting period.
Complaints Answered within Timescales
| Category | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | 2025/26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
All Complaints |
62.55 |
68.26% |
68.99% |
70.51% |
|
Stage 1 |
64.9% |
71.57% |
70.82% |
68.63% |
|
Stage 2 |
57.5% |
64.1% |
61.43% |
64.58% |
|
Escalated |
62.2% |
64.15% |
79.1% |
85.29% |
In 2025/26 the number of complaints answered within statutory timescales went up overall, however there was a slight decrease in Stage one responses meeting target times from the previous reporting period.
Complaints by Council Service Area
Assets & Facilities: 44
Community Services: 51
Customer Services & Organisational Development: 13
Education: 74
Finance & Digital Services: 79
Land Planning & Development: 46
Legal & Regulatory Services: 30
Roads & Neighbourhood Services: 391
The vast majority of recorded complaints are for the Road’s and Neighbourhood services strategic portfolio. This includes Waste Services, Roads, Greenspace and Streetscene. A further breakdown of complaints by teams with the highest number of complaints is provided below. Please note that it only includes the teams with more than 10 complaints over the reporting period.
Complaints received by Team 2025/26
| Team | Number | % |
|---|---|---|
|
Finance |
11 |
1.5% |
|
Social Work -Children & Families |
12 |
1.6% |
|
Legal Services |
12 |
1.6% |
|
Homelessness & Prevention |
13 |
1.7% |
|
Property Maintenance |
22 |
3% |
|
Development Applications |
23 |
3.1% |
|
Adult Social work |
32 |
4.3% |
|
Housing Operations |
33 |
4.4% |
|
Roads (Network & Technical) |
46 |
6.2% |
|
Greenspace & Streetscene |
50 |
6.7% |
|
Revs & Benefits |
63 |
8.5% |
|
Education- Primary & Secondary |
67 |
9% |
|
Waste Services |
295 |
39.7% |
|
Other (combined total of remaining teams with less than 10 per team) |
64 |
8.6% |
Waste services have the vast majority of recorded complaints making up almost 40% of all complaints. Of complaints to Waste Services over 65% are specifically in relation to missed bins which make up 26% of all recorded complaints.
Use of Extensions
Use of Extensions
| Category | 2022/2023 | 2023/2024 | 2024/2025 | 2025/2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Stage 1 |
8% |
6.2% |
8.5% |
2.4% |
|
Stage 2 |
27% |
22.3% |
30% |
21.9% |
|
Escalated |
27% |
26.9% |
32.8% |
17.6% |
Despite the number of complaints being consistent with prior years, there was a notable reduction in in the number of extensions requested at Stage one, overall numbers of requested extensions are low leading to a higher likelihood of variance between reporting periods.
SPSO Referrals
Complaints Considered by SPSO
| Category | 2022/2023 | 2023/2024 | 2024/2025 | 2025/2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total Number Complaints Received by SPSO |
25 |
24 |
26 |
35 |
|
Complaints Investigated by SPSO |
1 (Not Upheld) |
2 (1 upheld, 1 not upheld) |
1 (open) |
1 (open) |
|
Complaints Not Taken On by SPSO |
21 |
21 |
26 |
31 |
|
Complaints Still Open at SPSO |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
Despite a significant rise in complaints escalated to the SPSO following a Stage 2 response, the number of complaints investigated remains consistent with prior years. In 2025/26 as well as the 31 complaints taken on and 1 investigated 1 complaint was withdrawn and in a further 2 cases the SPSO asked the Council to consider a revised Stage 2 response.