Agenda item

The Complaints and Information Officer (CIO) updated the Committee.

The number of corporate complaints increased by 55% during 2021-2022 compared to 2020-2021. It was also 29% higher than the period 2019-2020.

In 2020, the Council upheld 50% of complaints whilst that figure had fallen to 36% in 2021. The CIO highlighted that, when considering that the total number of complaints rose by 50% year on year, the reduction in the percentage of upheld complaints showed that the Council was driving continuous improvement.

71% of complaints were responded to within the agreed timescales of ten days, which was less than the target of 90%.

The CIO noted that 19% of the complaints which were submitted related to the refuse service and missed bin collections. The Council’s policy was to uphold complaints unless there was sufficient evidence to suggest that the missed collection was the fault of the complainant. Of the 1,659 upheld complaints, 624 related to missed bin collections, meaning that only 1,035 complaints had been upheld against other services.

The CIO stressed that the Council continued to strive to learn from the complaints data. As part of this, the Customer Feedback team had set up improvement meetings involving key service areas which received a high level of complaints. The CIO cited, as an example, the meetings which were held with BD Group, which focused on learning from complaints and turning this learning into service improvements. The CIO then cited the example of BD Group implementing an internal tracker which considered all aspects of a complaint and the root causes for the complaint being raised. This key information was used to track key service areas which were generating high levels of complaints compared against the others. The complaints data illustrated recurring patterns:

·  Delays in appointments occurring;

·  Follow-on works not been scheduled; and

·  Dissatisfaction with the works undertaken.

These themes remained consistent year on year and remained a topic of conversation into how the BD Group could address concerns using the tools in place currently, whilst considering what additional steps needed to be taken to ensure these themes were addressed fully. The CIO cited, as an example, the work undertaken to employ more multi-skilled tradespeople who could attend jobs and undertake more than one service, allowing for jobs to be completed faster.

The Chair, noting the progress that had been made in relation to tradesmen keeping to appointments, emphasised that greater focus was required on the quality of the work and asked for feedback on action that was being taken to monitor work quality.

In relation to Be First, most complaints related to delays within Building Control and functional problems with the Planning Portal. Of the complaints received for Be First:

·  65% were answered within the timescale of 10 days;

·  36% were not upheld;

·  11% were partly upheld;

·  19% were upheld; and

·  11% were withdrawn.

The CIO then discussed complaints against Community Solutions, which included revenues and benefits as well as housing allocations.

The CIO explained the reasons for the rise in complaints in 2021-2022. In 2020-2021, Revenues and Benefits were fully integrated into the Council from Elevate. Additionally, the change in support, via various grants and legislation under Covid-19 being withdrawn, meant more contact was being made. For example, the ability to apply for furlough officially ended in September 2021 meaning residents, regardless of working status, received no additional funds but were still expected to pay council tax and rent. As a result, levels of dissatisfaction rose during this period.

Complaints over housing allocation and the time taken to get allocated was an ongoing theme and mostly related to the wait for appropriate housing. Those who bid for housing would often complain when they were not successful and complain that they were having to wait extended periods of time. In terms of complaints:

·  80.1% were answered within the timescale of 10 days;

·  5.8% were not upheld;

·  16.9% were partly upheld;

·  21.5% were upheld;

·  1.5% were resolved at first point of contact; and

·  9.2% were withdrawn.

The CIO then discussed Core Services, which included parking and street enforcement as well as leisure centres. In relation to leisure centres, complainants were directed to the centres.

Enforcement Services generated the largest number of complaints. The CIO cautioned that this was not unusual as they were responsible for services that tended to generate controversy, such as parking and street enforcement. In 2021-2022, complaints rose by 104.4%.

The CIO said that the Customer Feedback Team had been working with parking services directly, refining the process on what constituted a complaint. Parking had several legal procedures which needed to be followed by those who received a penalty, and so complaints had to be dealt with subject to the relevant piece of legislation. In terms of complaints:

·  21.9% were upheld;

·  15.9% were partly upheld;

·  49.2% were not upheld;

·  0.5% were resolved at first point of contact; and

·  6.4% were withdrawn

The CIO then briefly discussed Members’ casework. There was an increase of 3% in casework received during 2021-2022. 78% of casework was answered within the timescale of ten working days. This was below the Council’s target of 90%.

The Chair noted that she often had to follow up with the casework owing to responses not being forthcoming. The CIO responded that weekly reports, showing the status of enquiries, were automated and sent out on Mondays to team managers. This method helped services to focus on all cases which remained open across the system. Chaser emails were sent out on the seventh and tenth days. Where the response was not forthcoming by the tenth day, an email would be sent to the Councillor informing them that the response would be delayed. However, there had been issues and the Chair’s concerns would be fed back.

The Chair suggested that weekly reports, sent to Directors and Team Managers, should also be shared with Councillors and asked that this also be fed back to the Head of Customer Contact.

A significant increase of 16.8% in complaints was reported for My Place from 2020. The CIO explained that this was not surprising as it covered a vast number of services which residents utilised, such as street cleansing, refuse and landlord services.

The CIO said that Freedom of Information (FOI) requests had risen by 16% across the Council.  Subject Access Requests had risen by 36%, with many requests relating to adult and children’s social care files.

Responding to questioning, the CIO said that FOI responses were published on the Council’s website. At present, there was no process to inform a Councillor of an FOI that related to their ward.

The Committee expressed concern that, of the 12 complaints that reached the Local Government Ombudsman, 11 were upheld. The Committee also expressed caution on the use of comparative data with neighbouring boroughs, as they had larger populations.

The Council’s target of responding to 90% of complaints within 10 days was also discussed with the Committee, which questioned whether this was a realistic timeframe given that no department was able to achieve it. The Committee also noted that the timeframe had resulted in formal responses which were unsatisfactory, vague, contained spelling errors or had poor grammar.

The Committee also requested statistics in relation to the processing and outcomes of complaints, that were subject to statutory procedures, relating to Adult Social Care, Children’s Social Care, Schools, Councillors and reports of fraud.

The CIO explained that complaints may cover several different services and so the responses were a collated from different departments. The Customer Feedback Team would notify the relevant services, as well as collate the responses and forward these to Members. However, the CIO acknowledged that some responses had fallen short of the quality requirements.

The Committee noted the report.