Agenda item

(Councillor Clare Smalley joined proceedings)

Emily Holmes, Assistant Director Transformation and Strategic Development:

a)   presented the annual complaints report which included reference to the Annual Review of Local Authority Complaints issued by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO), and details of the decisions of the Housing Ombudsman.

b)   reported also on the overall number of complaints received by the Council including response times and percentage of complaints upheld on a directorate basis for the full year 2022-23.

c)    highlighted the background to the council’s complaints procedure at paragraph 2 of the report.

d)   advised that the Housing Ombudsman had published a Complaint Handling Code, details of which were contained at paragraph 2.3 of the report.

e)   explained that as a result of the guidance, and in consultation with the Resident Involvement Panel, new time targets for handling complaints had been introduced:

·         Initial acknowledgment within 5 days

·         Level 1 complaints to be responded to within 10 working days

·         Level 2 complaints to be resolved within 20 working days.

f)     reported that the number of complaints received over the year had increased on the previous year, and the previous five years. There were some council services that had suspended their operations for several months, in year 2020-2021 which would have reduced the potential for something to go wrong in that time and consequently kept complaints low.

g)    further detailed the breakdown of directorate complaints at paragraph 4 of the report

h)   highlighted that of the 459 complaints responded to in 2022-2023, 55% (254) were upheld, this was an increase on the percentage upheld in the previous two years which were 49% and 40% respectively.

i)     referred to paragraph 5 of the report and detailed the complaints that were investigated by LGSCO.

j)     referred to paragraph 6 and gave an overview of the one complaint that was investigated and upheld by the Housing Ombudsman Service.

k)    highlighted the trend in complaints as detailed at paragraph 7 of the report.

l)     highlighted the number of compliments received from members of the public acknowledging professionalism of staff across all service areas

m)  invited members' questions and comments.

Question: Why had there been an increase in the number of complaints received regarding Parking in 2022-23 compared to previous years?

Response: An answer would be provided following the meeting.

Question: What was the process for dealing with complaints?

Response: There was a two stage complaints process. A level 1 complaint was investigated by an officer within the service area and a response provided to the complainant. If the complainant was not satisfied with the response they could escalate their complaint to level 2 which would be investigated by another officer and a response provided. If the complainant was still not satisfied they could then escalate the complaint to the ombudsman.

Question: Did the Council compare complaints with other Councils?

Response: The Council regularly met with Customer Service Departments at the District Councils where common themes in complaints and concerns were addressed.

Question: Were any changes in procedures or processes resulting from a complaint tracked to ensure that they were carried out?

Response: They were monitored through each Directorates Departmental Management Team.

Question: Referred to the table at paragraph 3.3 of the report and asked if the percentage of time taken to respond related to the 12 weeks response time?

Response: It was measured against the Councils response times which was 10 working days for level 1 complaints and 20 working days for a level 2 complaint.

RESOLVED that the content of the 2022-2023 complaints report be noted.