Warrington council less compliant than others, watchdog says

That is according to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

The ombudsman is a government-led service that investigates complaints made against the council and decides on further action, or disciplinary measures.

The ombudsman found the council was less compliant with its recommendations than others (Image: Maps)

According to the ombudsman, Warrington Borough Council has been less compliant with its recommendations than other similar councils.

As per the watchdog, 99 per cent of similar authorities implemented the recommendations of the ombudsman in 2021/22.

Warrington Borough Council, however, was compliant only in 80 per cent - meaning that one-in-five recommendations were not satisfactorily implemented by the council.

The role of the ombudsman is to make sure that complaints against companies or organisations are investigated thoroughly and independently.

In 2021/22, 82 per cent of complaints against Warrington Borough Council were upheld by the ombudsman, which is higher than the 64 per cent in similar authorities.

This means that 18 per cent of complaints against the council in Warrington were struck down, compared to 36 per cent of complaints against similar councils.

Damningly, the ombudsman found that in none of the cases upheld against Warrington Borough Council were any satisfactory remedies made by the council before the case was brought before the independent investigation.

This compares to 12 per cent of cases in similar councils.

A council spokesperson says the online record ought to be amended (Image: Newsquest)

When questioned about the ombudsman's findings, a Warrington Borough Council spokesperson said: "We have liaised fully with the ombudsman throughout their enquiries and we accept the findings of the report.

"We have already completed all of the actions the ombudsman recommended and have put in place learning from the upheld cases with the affected services across the council."

The spokesperson then disputed the online record, adding: “Of the 11 complaints that were upheld in Warrington the ombudsman was satisfied with the outcome in all but one case.

"This has since been rectified and we have asked the ombudsman to update the rate for the year."

They concluded: “We have a robust statutory complaints process, and because of this it is rare that cases are upheld by the ombudsman.

"However, we do consider all upheld cases seriously and take on board any recommendations.”