The State Comptroller’s report for 2022 published this afternoon (Monday) reveals the number of complaints to the Comptroller’s office and the Public Complaints Ombudsman, the record of complaints in the public sector, the percentage of justified complaints and what Israelis complain about the most.
21,000 complaints were received in 2022 at the Public Complaints Commission in the State Comptroller’s Office, and 36.4% of the complaints related to public service, according to the comptroller’s report.
The State Comptroller, Matanyahu Englman, said that “in 2022, a new record was set in the number of complaints received by the commission since its establishment, regarding the services provided by the state authorities. The commission received about 21,000 complaints, and 44% of them were found to be justified or to be corrected. The increase in the number of complaints shows that the public is more aware of the possibility of turning to the Commission for any problem they encounter with the government authorities.”
According to him, “Government bodies must conduct themselves as service providers in a competitive market, and improve the treatment and service they provide. I urge anyone who has been wronged by the state authorities to complain to our office. It is important that the state authorities learn from the cases presented in the report and work to correct the deficiencies.”
The ten bodies that received the largest number of complaints are:
Ministry of Transportation and Road Safety – 1,626 complaints
Ministry of Economy and Industry – 1,353 complaints
The National Insurance Institute – 1,341 complaints
Population and Immigration Authority – 1,160 complaints
Israel Police – 790 complaints
Israel Post Company Ltd. – 691 complaints
Israel Tax Authority – 637 complaints
Ministry of Health – 630 complaints
Ministry of Education – 584 complaints
Ministry of Construction and Housing – 486 complaints
On the question of which public complained more, the report claims that although the proportion of women complaining is smaller than the proportion of men complaining, in 2022 the gap between men and women in filing complaints narrowed compared to 2021 (41.8% women compared to 58.2% men).
Women filed more complaints about pensions, social security, housing and housing, and education. Men filed more complaints about public service, taxes, and consumerism. In 2022, 87% of the complainants were members of the Jewish religion. The proportion of Muslim complainants was only 7%, less than their proportion in the population.
In 2022, while the proportion of complainants belonging to the general sector decreased by approximately 14%, the proportion of complainants belonging to the haredi sector increased by approximately 53%. Most of the complainants to the Public Complaints Commission (about 52%) have 12 years of education or have a high school diploma. The districts where the number of complainants was the largest are the Judea and Samaria District (21.4%), the Tel Aviv District (19.9%), and the Jerusalem District (19.3%).
In the matter of whistleblowers, an issue that receives attention on behalf of the ministry, it was revealed that 61 employees complained that their superiors violated their rights after they disclosed acts of corruption, an increase of about 48% in the number of people complaining about this compared to 2021. Seven of the complainants received temporary protection orders from the State Comptroller.
