Lambeth residents made the second highest number of complaints in London to the local government watchdog last year, new figures reveal.

The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) investigates complaints about councils and some other bodies providing public services in England and Wales.

The data shows 207 complaints were made in 2018-19, second to Croydon where 213 complaints were made over the same period.

Housing had the highest proportion of complaints followed by benefits and tax, and highways and transport.

The figures also show 35 complaints were upheld – only 1 per cent of all complaints the council dealt with, a Lambeth Council spokesman said.

He said Lambeth’s large population also played a role in the figures.

GLA population estimates for 2017 place Lambeth as the seventh largest borough in London with 328,9000 people.

Croydon is the second largest borough with 386,500.

A Lambeth Council spokesman said: “The Local Government Ombudsman provides a really important function in resolving often serious issues for residents.

“However, residents should follow the council’s own complaints procedure in the first instance, where we satisfactorily resolve the vast majority of all issues brought to us.

“Having a higher population compared to many other London boroughs will obviously put us towards to the top of tables like this, but it should be noted that the 35 complaints upheld represent less than 1 per cent of all complaints dealt with by Lambeth Council.

“However inevitable, any number of complaints escalated to the LGO is disappointing. We acknowledge that mistakes can be made and as an organisation we always strive to learn and improve,” he said.

Nationally, the Ombudsman registered 16,899 complaints and enquiries about local authorities in 2018-19. The service completed 4,232 detailed investigations, and upheld 58 per cent of those investigations.

More than a third of the complaints and enquiries received were about children’s and education services, and adult social care.