The number of complaints against Conwy Social Services have gone down but costs have gone up.

A report before members of the council’s social care scrutiny committee, which meets on Wednesday, said there had been a drop in the number of complaints from from 57 last year to 29 this year.

This was compared with the service getting 180 compliments in the last financial year.

But despite the drop in the number of complaints the cost of investigating these issues has shot up.

The cost of investigations in 2017/18 totalled £17,966 up from £10,036 in 2016/17.

One investigation was identified as being particularly complex, costing the council £5,174.35, a quarter of the allocated complaints budget of £20,000.

The report said: “The investigation undertaken was of high quality, thorough and comprehensive, as a result the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales refused to investigate the complaint any further, once it was escalated to them by the complainants concerned.”

It added: “The main theme for complaints is communication, this is wide ranging and includes, ability to contact staff, contact made to citizens when agreed, written communication sent when agreed and perceived attitude of staff.

"These themes can be addressed by the relevant teams and also addressed by the complaints department in team meetings.”

The number of complaints against adult social services fell from 21 in 2016/17 to 20 in 2017/18 and for children’s services the number of complaints fell from 36 to 9.

Cllr Elizabeth Roberts, Conwy County Council's Cabinet Member for Adult and Community Services and Housing, said: “It is pleasing to see a reduction in the number of formal complaints received, especially with the number of compliments being received on the increase.”