Rise in complaints about council

THE number of complaints lodged with Dumfries and Galloway Council has increased again – for the second year running.

A total of 637 complaints were submitted from unhappy members of the public in 2024/25, and 43 of those were escalated to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman because residents weren’t happy with the handling of their issues.

There were 65 grievances around the professionalism of staff, making this the joint top issue, along with inadequate or poor standard of service.

Behaviour/bullying at schools was third as 40 such complaints were registered.

Last year’s total was a slight increase on the 2023/24 figure of 631, and 56 more than 2022/23.

Of the complaints, 77 percent were made digitally by email/council website form, 13 percent were given over the phone, four percent were made at the contact centre, four percent arrived by letter, and just two percent were made in person.

Other issues which made the top ten included: road condition/maintenance; communication; waste collection; potholes; drains; additional support needs; and children and families social work.

The stats were revealed in an annual complaints report, which will be presented to councillors next week.

In it, council chief executive Dawn Roberts, above, underlined that they had also received 131 pieces of positive feedback from the public.

She wrote: “Although there is no statutory requirement to report on compliments we receive, the report contains an indication of the positive feedback recorded across the council during 2024/25.

“I am grateful to all those who have taken the time to contact us to acknowledge the effort made by our valued workforce.

“Thank you for your encouraging support. We value all feedback we receive from our customers as this helps us to improve the way we do things.”