Complaints about public services in England have risen by more than a third since 2016 – research

According to a leading think tank, complaints about public services have risen by more than a third since 2016, with significant jumps in benefits, prisons, the NHS and higher education.

Demos, a cross-party organisation, found that between 2015-16 and 2023-24 the number of complaints to key public services rose steadily by more than 100,000, from 309,758 to 425,624 – apart from a sharp drop during the pandemic.

It says complaints about the Department for Work and Pensions have doubled in this period, and those about higher education have risen by 70%.

The think tank released the findings ahead of the publication of its year-long taskforce study into the future of public services. A final report will be published this week stating that politicians must urgently embrace reforms to restore trust.

It found that written complaints to the NHS rose by 20% to 241,922 in the period, doubled at DWP to 120,509 and rose by 94% in prisons and probation to 4,575. In higher education they increased by 69% to 3,137.

Areas where complaints remained largely the same were local government with 15,438 and social care with 2,982.

In addition to the data, the Demos report will call for the transfer of management of public services to central government, to give communities more flexibility and discretion over how they are delivered.

Speaking about the complaints data, Polly Curtis, CEO of Demos, said: “At worst, public services feel like a battlefield, with citizens feeling like they have to fight to get what they need. It doesn’t help people, it’s terrible for those who work in public services and it happens at a time when public sector productivity is declining. It also contributes to increasing distrust of the state and politicians.

“The solution is to work together with citizens, communities and local leaders to fundamentally change the way we deliver public services, and build stronger relationships between those who use public services and those who manage them. Our task force has found that if we free frontline professionals and transfer power to local places – with appropriate accountability measures – we can build better services and rebuild trust between politicians and the public.”

The report says that returning public sector productivity to pre-pandemic levels will require a new model of ‘liberated’ service delivery, in which frontline workers are given more power, flexibility and discretion over how they help people.

The analysis estimates that if public services returned to pre-pandemic productivity levels by 2033, this would generate £41 billion in additional output per year.

It highlighted an idea called the ‘liberated method’, developed by Changing Futures Northumbria in Gateshead, which gives more freedom to decision makers as long as they follow two general rules: ‘stay legal’ and ‘do no harm’.

The taskforce was advised by experts including Victor Adebowale, chairman of the NHS Confederation, Simone Finn, former deputy chief of staff to Boris Johnson, Patricia Hewitt, former Labor health secretary, and Jonathan Slater, former permanent secretary of the Department for Education.

It is expected to be launched later this week at a future public services summit, which will be addressed by Public Service Reform Minister Georgia Gould.

Since taking office, Keir Starmer has made it clear that one of his priorities is to restore crumbling public services, accusing the last Conservative governments of overseeing a decline in standards.

He has faced a prison crisis, with not enough places in prisons and prisoners released early in their sentences, and huge healthcare waiting lists, which have been exacerbated by Covid.

However, the data shows that complaints about many public services were already increasing before the pandemic.

Last week Starmer said he was willing to reform public services to deliver improvements, as well as invest more money in them.

“Given the unprecedented challenges we have inherited, we will not achieve this by simply doing more of the same. That is why investments are accompanied by a program of innovation and reform,” he said.

Commenting on the report, Gould said: “After the last fourteen years, too often people feel they are competing when they use public services.

“This government has a relentless focus on delivering results for people. We will not make policy in a closed room in Whitehall, but in partnership with communities and those delivering services on the frontline.

“We will stand behind public sector innovators and give them the tools and support they need to put people first.”