Issue - meetings

This report sets out complaints performance in Brent Council and Brent Housing Partnership (BHP) for the period April 2016 to March 2017.  High level data for the previous 2 years has been included where available for the purpose of comparison over a 3-year period. 

RESOLVED that:

6.1         The Council and BHP’s performance in managing and resolving complaints be noted;

6.2         The following specific recommendations be noted and agreed:

Root cause of complaints

a.         Work with service area and departmental management teams to review key service delay/failure hotspots and develop improvement plans.

b.         Develop a tailored training plan on communication and staff behaviours to be implemented in priority service areas across the Council.

c.         Support the new Housing Management Service during the redesign of the repairs process by feeding in the lessons learned from complaints.

Decision making and outcomes

d.         Review LGO referrals and identify any future opportunities for early resolution and minimisation of premature LGO referrals.

e.         Review our internal approach to complaint decisions, corrective actions and compensation in light of LGO outcomes in 2016/17.

Complaint handling and monitoring

f.          Continue to improve internal processes and working arrangements with service managers to increase the timeliness of Stage 2 responses.

g.         Work closely with the Housing Management Service management team to establish a new and effective complaints process and implement improved working arrangements to manage Stage 2 complaints

h.        Implement a weekly Corrective Actions Tracker for all departments to monitor the timely completion of agreed remedial actions

6.3         The fact that BHP had been reported as a separate organisation for the purposes of this annual report for 2016/17 be noted.

Councillor Margaret McLennan, Deputy Leader of the Council, introduced the report setting out complaints performance in Brent Council and Brent Housing Partnership (BHP) for the period April 2016 to March 2017. She informed members of Cabinet that high level data for the previous 2 years has been included where available for the purpose of comparison over a 3-year period. 

Councillor McLennan stated that complaints concerning the Adult Social Care and Children and Young People departments come under separate statutory complaint procedures and separate analysis reports have been provided in Appendices A and B respectively. Appendix C summarises departmental performance across the Council in 2016/17.  BHP service-level analysis in 2016/17 is summarised in Appendix D.

Members of Cabinet welcomed the report and commented on the improvement in overall performance. Councillors Tatler and Southwood expressed concern that staff attitude and failure to communicate are two significant causes of complaints that also need to be addressed more widely across the council.

Councillor Muhammed Butt, Leader of the Council, encouraged Cabinet Members to look at the statistics and data for complaints within their portfolio on a regular basis.

RESOLVED that:

6.1         The Council and BHP’s performance in managing and resolving complaints be noted;

6.2         The following specific recommendations be noted and agreed:

Root cause of complaints

a.         Work with service area and departmental management teams to review key service delay/failure hotspots and develop improvement plans.

b.         Develop a tailored training plan on communication and staff behaviours to be implemented in priority service areas across the Council.

c.         Support the new Housing Management Service during the redesign of the repairs process by feeding in the lessons learned from complaints.

Decision making and outcomes

d.         Review LGO referrals and identify any future opportunities for early resolution and minimisation of premature LGO referrals.

e.         Review our internal approach to complaint decisions, corrective actions and compensation in light of LGO outcomes in 2016/17.

Complaint handling and monitoring

f.          Continue to improve internal processes and working arrangements with service managers to increase the timeliness of Stage 2 responses.

g.         Work closely with the Housing Management Service management team to establish a new and effective complaints process and implement improved working arrangements to manage Stage 2 complaints

h.        Implement a weekly Corrective Actions Tracker for all departments to monitor the timely completion of agreed remedial actions

6.3         The fact that BHP had been reported as a separate organisation for the purposes of this annual report for 2016/17 be noted.