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Nearly half of all complaints sent to a Leeds City Council department do not receive a timely response, new figures have indicated.

Just 52 per cent of grievances sent to the authority’s children and families service between January and March 2023 were replied to within the council’s target timeframe of 15 working days. The council said that the children’s and families service had been under sustained pressure due to a sharp rise in requests for support for children with special needs.

Across all departments over the same time period, 71 per cent of complaints received by the council had a timely reply. One opposition councillor labelled the statistic “dire” when it was discussed during a strategy and resources scrutiny meeting meeting on Monday.

Coun Billy Flynn, a Conservative councillor for Adel and Wharfedale, said: “The response to complaints [figures] are dire, notably in children and families. I’m particularly concerned because most of those complaints appear to be about children with special educational needs (SEN).”

Coun Billy Flynn has criticised the council's performance when it comes to providing timely responses to complaints. Picture: Local Democracy Reporting Service

A council report setting out the numbers said that in the children and families service, “performance continues to be impacted by high volumes of complaints relating to SEN services, however, increased resources in this area are leading to improvements.” It said that the 52 per cent figure still marked an improvement, from 32 per cent at the end of 2022.

Mariana Pexton, the council’s director of strategy and resources, told Coun Flynn: “We do know SEN is a service under massive pressure at the moment, not just here but nationally. That will offer some explanation for the poor performance.”

The report said that while complaint response times had improved overall across the council, it still remains “below expectations”.

Last week, it was revealed the council had been ordered to pay out more than £7,000 to a family after their autistic son was left without any schooling for three years. The council said the “significant increase” in the number of children needing support for special needs, and the resulting impact on its services, had contributed to its failings in that case.

Leeds City Council faces criticism over ‘dire’ complaint response times including for SEN support requests