West Lothian council dealt with almost 1,000 fewer complaints in the last year.
The decrease is largely down to a drop off in the number of complaints made to Operational Services around cleansing, though it still remains the council service people moan about most.
And complaints about poor communication between Housing and Building Services and the public remain stubbornly static.
A meeting of the Corporate Policy and Resources PDSP in Livingston heard that in 2025/26, the council closed 3,389 complaints, representing a decrease compared to the 4,342 complaints closed in 2024/25.
The number of complaints received per thousand of population has fallen steadily since a high point of 23.2 in 2023/24. In the last year- 2024/25 it dropped to 18.2. That figure is still substantially above the pre-Covid number of 15.2 per thousand.
Answering questions from SNP group leader Councillor Janet Campbell, Joe Murray, the council’s Project and systems Manager said changes in he way official complaints were recorded had been responsible for the dramatic fall in complaints to Operational Services.
In the past missed bins were treated as a complaint from the first report. Additionally waste collection has gone through significant policy changes in recent years including the reduction in recycling centre opening, the introduction of a booking system and the introduction of changes for brown bins.
Mr Murray said: “The number of complaints to Operational Services has fallen as these policy changes have become embedded in the service provision.”
Councillor Campbell asked: “ In terms of poor communication and employee attitude, it hasn’t really fallen dramatically as compared to the total number of complaints received. What steps are being taken to address both of these concerns?
Mr Murray said communication was one of the challenging areas. “We are looking at technical approaches to keep people informed.”
He added that council departments including Housing Customer and Building Services and Education were looking to use technology to improve communications with the public and with parents.
The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) developed and published a model Complaint Handling Procedure (CHP) in 2012.
The model CHP was to ensure a standardised approach in dealing with customer complaints across the local authority sector. The SPSO definition of a complaint in the model CHP is: “An expression of dissatisfaction by one or more members of the public about the local authority’s action or lack of action, or about the standard of service provided by or on behalf of the local authority.”
The report to councillors detailed: “The current service level complaint performance varies across the council and is linked to the complexity and quantity of complaints received. Housing, Customer and Building Services (HCBS) and Operational Services are the main complaint generators by service, accounting for 77.2% (2,615) of all recorded complaints (3,389) during 2025/26.
“The main contributors in Standard of Service complaints are Operational Services (1,170) and HCBS (430) which account for 77.8% (1,600) of all recorded complaints in the category. The equivalent quarters in 2024/25, HCBS (517) and Operational Services (1,776) had a combined total of 2,293 complaints categorised as Standard of Service. 69.9% (242) of all Poor Communication complaints (346) were generated by HCBS (144) and Operational Services (98).
There was a decrease in complaints for this category of 31 when compared to the previous year.
“The decrease in Policy Related complaints has been driven by Operational Services (140) and HCBS (136) which account for 74.0% (276) of all recorded complaints in this category. During 2024/25, Operational Services (356) and HCBS (132) had a combined total of 488 complaints categorised as Policy Related.”
By Stuart Sommerville Local Democracy Reporter
