Residents are more likely to compliment Hertfordshire County Council than to complain about it, according to data presented to councillors.

The compliments and complaints data for 2024/25 was presented to the latest meeting of the resources and performance cabinet panel.

It showed that in the 12 months, 1,966 complaints had been made to the county council, 195 more than the year before.

But during the same period, there were 683 more compliments than complaints, which at 2,649 was 200 more than in 2023/24.

The highest numbers of both complaints and compliments related to the provision of children's services and adult care services.

Presenting the data to the cabinet panel, assistant chief legal officer Victoria Wilders said compliments and complaints were used as an indicator of service performance and to inform continuous improvement.

She acknowledged there had been an increase in the number of compliments received – and "a slight increase" in the number of stage one and stage two complaints, as recorded under the council's corporate complaints procedure.

She told councillors common themes for the compliments had included the professionalism of staff and customers having felt "listened to and supported".

advertisement

And she said common themes for complaints were delayed response times and the quality of the service received.

Stage one complaints are those which are resolved at the first formal step of the council's complaints procedure, while stage two complaints are followed by a formal review.

According to the overall data presented to councillors, 1,680 complaints in 2024/25 were resolved at stage one and 286 at stage two.

Of those stage one complaints, 849 were reported to relate to children's services and 401 to adult care services.

And of the harder to resolve stage two complaints, 27 related to adult care services and 224 to children's services.

Elsewhere, the report records that 17 stage one complaints and one stage two complaint were made against the council's community protection division, while 144 stage one complaints and 27 stage two complaints were made against growth and environment.

There were, according to the report, 211 stage one complaints made against libraries and heritage, and just five relating to public health.

In addition, 53 stage one complaints were made against resources and seven stage two.

advertisement

The report also highlights the 169 complaints about the county council that were made to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, between April 1, 2024 and March 31, 2025.

Of those, the report says 43 were not for the LGSCO or were not ready for the LGSO to investigate. And a further 57 were closed.

Sixty-nine of the complaints were investigated by the LGSCO, of which 65 were upheld by the Ombudsman

And commenting on these LGSCO investigations, Ms Wilders told councillors that they had " reduced significantly" based on the previous year.

Cllr Ian Albert (Labour, Hitchin North) commented that the report "feels a little late", given that it related to complaints and compliments in 2024/25.

Executive member for resources and performance, Cllr Chris Lucas (Liberal Democrat, Hitchin South), said he took "ownership" for the delay, because he had wanted greater detail reflected in the report to show the 'direction of travel'.

Ms Wilders reported that the complaints and compliments report for this year (2025/26) would be reported to councillors towards the end of this year (2026).

The meeting of the resources and performance cabinet panel was held on Wednesday, April 15. And the webcast of the meeting can be viewed at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk

advertisement