Shropshire council branded 'self-serving despot corporation' in complaint shared with officials
A furious customer labelled Shropshire Council as “a self-serving despot corporation acting under the guise of a council”.
It is one of just 2,386 complaints that people made about the local authority during 2024/25.
The person said he wanted to raise a formal complaint regarding the general enquiries line, saying “it is hopeless” to get through to one of the options, with the 10 minutes he was waiting adding to his telephone bill “at a premium rate.”
“The council is quick to take money from people but are reluctant to provide services that meets the needs of this town and if they do it is always at a high price,” said the customer.
“This cannot continue without some redress.”
In a report that has been sent to Cabinet ahead of its meeting on Wednesday (July 9), the council said 952 investigations were carried out as a result of the complaints.
Other examples it has provided include complaints relating to children’s services, revenues and benefits, building control, social services, waste management, and housing.
The council recorded learning, action or outcomes notes against 705 complaints in 2024/25, with 138 including detailed actions or lessons. This is when complaints are upheld or partly upheld.
Of the actions that were recorded, 56% were to provide an apology, 16% included the provision of additional information or explanation, and 11% were actions linked to arranging employee training or guidance. A total of 43% of learning releation to communication or provision of information.
“Communication is consistently a dominant theme within complaints,” reads the report.
“Complainants often highlight disappointment that they were not contacted, were not communicated with enough, or information was not shared effectively.
“More effective communication at an earlier stage can lead to a better understanding of the issues or the processes council staff work to and prevent the development of a formal complaint.”
The new Liberal Democrat administration has said it wants to improve the customer service experience for people.
The report has set out a number of areas to focus on for the year ahead in terms of how the council applies its complaints procedures and obtains and responds to customer feedback.
These are:
Provide a more detailed report covering the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) Complaint Handling Code
Review Shropshire Council’s corporate complaints procedure
Develop guidance on remedies
Develop guidance on reasonable adjustments
Third party complaints
Staff training and feedback culture
Engagement and surveys
Focus on service request responses
Focus on response quality
Contuinue to focus on response times
Complaint progression
Learning and actions
Implementation of new national performance measures
New structures
Changing customer behaviours
