THE Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman received 43 complaints and enquiries about Warrington Borough Council's (WBC) services last year.

The Ombudsman service received more than 16,500 complaints and enquiries about councils across the country.

A total of 1,919 complaints were made about local authorities in the north west, with the highest uphold rate in the region coming in the area of children's services and education at 65 per cent.

Of the 43 matters about WBC, 12 arose in adult social care services, 11 in education and children's services, six in planning and development and four in environment services.

Two of the complaints were upheld following detailed investigations.

The Ombudsman received 27 complaints and enquiries about Halton Borough Council, with five upheld, 44 about St Helens Council, with 10 upheld, 117 about Cheshire East Council, with 12 upheld, and 71 about Cheshire West and Chester Council, with seven upheld.

WBC has responded to the latest figures.

A spokesman said: "The figures represent a year on year improvement since 2013 and demonstrate our ongoing commitment to improving customer service.

"We are pleased that our figures compare favourably to other, neighbouring local authorities.

"It shows that we are heading in the right direction.

"We will continue to work hard to improve the services we deliver for our communities and find ways of working that help us overcome the challenges created by the significant cuts to local authority services."

Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Michael King said 'the best councils' use the data 'to scrutinise the services they provide'.

He added: "I urge all councils to do that to make their services better in future.

"Our annual data release is a great opportunity for the public, councillors and council officers to gauge how their local authority responds to, and learns from, the complaints we receive about them.

"How an organisation deals with complaints says a lot about its culture.

"The data we have issued, and wealth of information we publish on our website, are a valuable source of information about complaints handling and council performance.

"I would urge people to take a look to see how they can use it to improve or scrutinise their authority's performance."

The Ombudsman is also 'keen' to point out that a high number of complaints 'does not necessarily mean a council is performing poorly'.

The body said it may indicate that an authority welcomes and encourages feedback through a 'transparent system' which signposts people appropriately when its own processes have been 'exhausted'.

The Ombudsman's investigations are held in private.

All decisions are published at lgo.org.uk.