NEARLY half of all complaints made to East Lothian Council last year were not answered in time.

A report on the number of complaints received by the local authority has revealed that, while fewer were made, the time it took to respond increased.

Only 55 per cent of those recorded at the first stage received a response within five working days – down from 65 per cent.

In total, the council received 717 complaints over the last year compared to 922 the year before.

The local authority is looking to increase working between departments to improve the time it takes to respond.

It revealed that stage one complaints – the ones that can be dealt with immediately  – made up 634 of those received, with only 83 taken to stage two which requires an investigation.

The biggest source of stage one complaints was property maintenance, which made up 27 per cent; however, more than half of them were not upheld.

Overall, 59 per cent of stage one complaints were not upheld with only 13 per cent upheld and 19 per cent “partially upheld”.

Of the complaints which were taken through to stage two, more than a third related to education and more than two-thirds were not upheld. Only seven per cent were upheld, with 28 per cent partially upheld.

The report noted that during the year the council also received 244 compliments about its services.

A council spokesperson said: “There has been a welcome 22 per cent reduction in the overall number of complaints. We have also seen a 37 per cent increase in the number of compliments, and would like to thank council employees for all their continuing hard work and focus on delivering high-quality services across the county.

“Our customer service and feedback teams are working closely with service areas to focus on improved response times.”