The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), Paul McFadden, has today published the SPSO annual report for 2025-26, reporting a further record rise in complaints about public services and highlighting increasing strain on the complaints system.

The Ombudsman has reported an unprecedented 31% rise in complaints compared to the year before, with the number of people seeking SPSO’s help increasing to a historic high of 6,500. 

Nearly three quarters of complaints received relate to health, social care and local authority services. However, for the first time in recent years, complaints about local authority services accounted for the largest proportion of complaints, making up around 33% of all complaints received.

The SPSO has continued to meet this growing demand through large increases in efficiency, streamlined and proportionate approaches to complaints, and improvements in how it explains decisions. 

Across 2025-26, the organisation increased the number of its complaints decisions by 17% compared to the previous year, following similar levels of increase in recent years. This brings the increase in its output to nearly 50% over 6 years.

Whistleblowing concerns and contacts from NHS staff also increased by a third, to their highest levels since the Independent National Whistleblowing Service was established in 2021. Whistleblowing investigation times reduced by around a quarter. 

Despite these achievements, the accelerating growth in complaints continues to outstrip the organisations’ ability to investigate and respond to complaints in a timely way. The Ombudsman has highlighted his concerns over a substantial and growing gap between demand and capacity and SPSO’s ability to sustain levels of service. 

He also comments on the drivers of increased complaints, with growing numbers reflective of public service pressures and a consistent pattern seen by other Ombudsman throughout the UK. 

The increasing use of Artificial Intelligence tools to generate complaints is a significant contributing factor, bringing changes in the number, nature and complexity of complaints. While these tools can help citizens articulate concerns, understand their rights and access complaints processes more easily, they are also, more often, generating submissions that are longer, containing information not relevant to the circumstances of their complaint, or taking the complaint away from the root issue.

Reflecting on the year’s performance, Paul McFadden, Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, said:

"SPSO has responded effectively to the challenges placed on our service, delivering record levels of complaints decisions and demonstrating significant resilience and agility to continue to change and evolve how we deliver our service. 

However, the upward trend in complaints is continuing through 2026-27 and brings risks to delivery and growing wait times.

As these pressures increase, we continue to evolve how we work, focusing our resources and new technologies where there is the greatest need, the most significant public interest and the highest risk of injustice.

In the midst of these pressures, we must not lose sight of SPSO’s wider value to public service improvement with insights from complaints having an essential contribution to make to prevention and seeking to retain the trust and confidence of the public.”