Complaints to Ceredigion County Council have more than doubled since 2021, a new report has shown.

The council’s annual Compliments, Complaints, and Freedom of Information report for 2024/25 shows that the number of complaints received by the council has risen every year since 2020, reaching 275 for 2024/25 – more than double the number of 133 recorded in 2021.

The number of complaints referred to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales also rose – up to 43 in 2024/25 from 32 the previous year.

32 of the 43 Ombudsman complaints were concluded without requiring any intervention, with 10 requiring action and one still ongoing.

The report said that the number of Ombudsman referrals increasing is a “cause for concern” but “can be attributed, in part, to the staffing problems experienced by the Complaints and FOI Team during this year.”

Of the 275 complaints received by Ceredigion County Council, 99 of them related to Highways and Environmental Services – primarily regarding missed bin collections.

Rounding out the top three are the social care services under the Porth Cynnal banner and Economy & Regeneration Service – mostly due to planning matters.

The report said that “some services will be more likely to attract complaints than others, therefore the number of complaints by service should be viewed in the context of their business.”

“These services likely record hundreds, if not thousands, of contacts with the public each year, so in these terms, the number of complaints are minimal,” the council report adds.

The council report said that the rise in complaints “is consistent with the expectation of the Complaints Standards Authority, who advised that some authorities were under-reporting their complaints activity.”

The report also found that fewer compliments were recorded during 2024/25 then previous year, but the council says this is “likely to be due to the capacity constraints on the Complaints and FOI Team - as it has not been possible to develop the improvements in order to ensure staff are aware of how positive feedback can be recorded.”

The report says that the 275 complaints “are a relatively low proportion” of the contacts it receives, adding the council “welcomes complaints and is always keen to resolve as many as possible.”

The council’s compliance with Freedom of Information requests “requires significant improvement” with only 72 per cent of requests answered within the correct timescale.

The report says: “Poor communication remains a key theme in respect of complaints received by the council, and those made to the Ombudsman.

“Improvements in this regard have been hindered by resource issues during 2024-2025, despite there having been a broader corporate commitment to manage complaints and information requests more effectively during this year.

“Every effort is being made during the current period to achieve the improvements identified previously, and it is hoped that this will be reflected in future reports.”

The Compliments, Complaints, and Freedom of Information report for 2024/25 is set to be put before the council’s Corporate Resources Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 15 July.