North West Leicestershire District Council have responded to criticism from the North West Leicestershire Labour Group. 

In a statement published earlier this week, the Labour group said: 'The [District] Council's own Quarter 1 2025/6 Performance Monitoring Report tells a sad story: housing dissatisfaction, complaints going unanswered, finances mismanaged, and environmental targets repeatedly delayed.' 

In response, the district council have said: 'Whilst we know we have some areas where we need to improve, these complaints are a very small proportion of nearly 25,000 customer interactions handled by our Customer Services team during the same period. 

'We're certainly not blind to our complaints, and we are making improvements. Between April and June this year, we received 96 formal complaints, which is a 10% drop compared to the same time last year. 

'We're pleased about this reduction, but we know there's always more to do. 

'We encourage our customers to provide feedback, and complain if we fall short of their expectations – without this knowledge, we wouldn't be able to improve. 

'Most of the complains were about Housing Repairs, with common concerns around delays and communication. We take this seriously. In fact, 73% of complaints were linked to service issues and we're using this feedback to make real changes. 

'We're also working hard to respond to complaints more quickly. While 74% were answered on time, we know we need to do better to meet national standards – and we're committed to getting there. 

'It's also important to highlight the positives. During the same period, we received 46 formal compliments from residents from residents and service users. These are a great reminder of the many teams delivering excellent service every day.  

'We know there are even more compliments that go unrecorded, and we're working on better ways to capture and celebrate that feedback too. 

'We're hear to listen, learn and improve – and we're grateful to everyone who takes the time to share their experiences with us.' 

The council are working to improve the level of complaints by holding cross-learning groups to share lessons and drive improvements, analysing the root cause in Waste Services to reduce avoidable contact, offering targeted training for our Housing Repairs team, customer care training for all staff this autumn, and tracking progress every month to make sure they stay on course and keep improving.