by Trevor Bevins, Local Democracy Reporter.
Advanced technology – which Dorset Council hoped would make it more efficient – is having the opposite effect as residents use Artificial Intelligence to frame an increasing number of complaints.
Complaints against the authority, often now using Ai, have soared by more than 230 per cent, with staff struggling to keep up.
The latest figures show 2,400 complaints in 25/26, compared to under 800 five years ago.
There has been a similar, but less steep, increase in the number of Freedom of Information requests, also powered by residents using AI.
Councillors have been told that not only are there more complaints, but they are longer, more complex and often written in ‘aggressive’ language. There are now so many of them that it takes up all the time of one council officer just to input them into the council’s system.
Senior officers say that the surge has become counter-productive and it wants to limit official complaints to only those using the authority’s e-form, rather than submitting complaints by email.
That move has worried some councillors: Cllr Andy Todd from Wimborne and Colehill, said instead of effectively reducing the channels of communication open to the public it should bolster and support the hard-pressed team dealing with the complaints: “I’m uncomfortable about the idea; I know it’s common, many have removed email contact points… but I am more inclined to say we should support the team and also the complainant, using Ai. There will be a time when we are entirely digital, but we’re not there yet and we need to respond appropriately.
Blackmore Vale Cllr Steve Murcer said it was the trend in the numbers which concerns him, with the likelihood of the council being overwhelmed by Ai-generated complaints, and rather than learning from complaints and making changes it would be spending its time just dealing with the volume : “What you are saying is we can’t put things right because we are too busy dealing with complaints,” he said.
The move to only accepting complaints on the council’s e-form was supported by the audit and governance committee – after an assurance from complaints manager Tony Bygrave that the authority would still accept other means, including by phone, for people who were, genuinely, unable to deal with the online form. He said the move to e-form only followed the best practice model from the Ombudsman, who dealt with council complaints where residents felt they had been unfairly treated by complaint decisions. He told councillors that only a small number of those complaints were upheld.
The change will also allow the council to reduce complaints to what it considers are the key points and to only respond to those.
Said Mr Bygrave: “We are following the Ombudsman’s lead. Those who email in bypass all our systems … it’s not tenable: we need to provide outcomes and keep the door open. What people often want is help but what Ai does is quite aggressive and weaponises complaints… it’s causing delays.”
He said that by using the e-form complainants should get a quicker response, rather than by using email, which, he said sees them waiting longer for a response.
Council senior legal officer Jonathan Mair backed the claim that the current position is untenable, adding that he had seen some complaints where 400 other people had been copies in.
“What we really want to do is learn from complaints and put it right. Having an e- form is not a universal panacea but it helps – giving a clear and concise ways of dealing with complaints,” he said.
In backing the move for e-form only complaints the committee asked for a further report on how the change is working in six months’ time.
