BURY Council has the highest rate of complaints upheld by the local government watchdog in Greater Manchester, according to new figures.

And the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LG&SCO) has also urged the authority to look again at how it registers complaints upon receiving them.

But council bosses point out that the number of complaints (five) upheld against the authority is the lowest in the city region, as is the total number (44) referred to the LG&SCO.

The ombudsman arrives at the uphold rate by only considering the “detailed investigations” it has undertaken, rather than those dismissed for reasons such as being invalid or those referred back to the local authority.

Six detailed investigation were carried out in connection with Bury Council, of which five were upheld. By this measure it has the highest level of upheld complaints (83%) in Greater Manchester, higher than the regional average (60 per cent) and national average (57 per cent).

The top three performing authorities in Greater Manchester in terms of upheld complaints are Salford (33 per cent), Trafford (50 per cent) and Bolton (57 per cent), while the bottom three includes Bury (83 per cent), Rochdale (80 per cent) and Oldham (75 per cent).

And, in an annual review letter LG&SCO chair Michael King also raised concerns over how the council deals with public complaints.

He said: “During the year, we received a complaint that your council was not always registering complaints under a formal complaints process, and was instead treating them as ‘requests for service’.

"I would remind the council of the importance of dealing with complaints in an open and transparent manner, and in line with its published protocols. I would ask that it reflects on this, and takes the necessary steps to improve practice in this area.”

But council bosses insist the authority aims to provide the "best possible service" to customers and acts on any feedback it receives, to improve services.

A council spokesman said: “We recognise that we don’t always get it right, which is why we have an official complaints procedure. This is clearly published on our website and explains in great detail how people can report problems and complaints to us and how we will deal with them.

“The Ombudsman’s figures show that we had the lowest number of complaints (44) of the ten Greater Manchester councils, and also the lowest number (5) of upheld cases — in other words, just 11.5% of the complaints made against us.

“We should point out that we also receive a great number of compliments in any year from Bury residents who value the service that they have received.

“Where we need to make improvements to our complaints reporting system, we will do so.”

The LG&SCO annual review letter sent to all local authority includes advice on how to interpret its data.

It says: “The volume of complaints does not, in itself, indicate the quality of the council’s performance.

“High volumes of complaints can be a sign of an open, learning organisation, as well as sometimes being an early warning of wider problems. Low complaint volumes can be a worrying sign that an organisation is not alive to user feedback, rather than always being an indicator that all is well.

“One of the most significant statistics attached is the number of upheld complaints. This shows how frequently we find fault with the council when we investigate. Equally importantly, we also give a figure for the number of cases where we decided your authority had offered a satisfactory remedy during the local complaints process.”