Agenda item
Annual Complaints Report 2010/2011
This report provides an overview of complaints received and investigated by the Council under the Corporate Complaints procedure and by the Local Government Ombudsman. Depending on their nature, some adults’ and children’s social care complaints come under the corporate procedure while others are subject to separate procedures governed by legislation. Complaints that were dealt with under the separate statutory procedures are the subject of the two further annual reports attached as appendices A and B.
Minutes:
Phillip Mears introduced the report and confirmed that in terms of the number of complaints under the council's Corporate Complaints Procedure referred to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO), this had been the most successful year since recording had begun. A total of 72 decisions were made by the LGO in respect of council complaints, of which only four went to local settlement, representing 6% of LGO investigations where the council was requested to take action to resolve a complaint, the lowest in London against a London average of 21% and a national average of 27%. Members heard that the number of complaints had fallen by 36% compared to 2009/10 and there had been a reduction in stage two and stage three complaints of 28% and 42% respectively. One of the largest stakeholders, Revenue and Benefits, had seen a reduction of 70%. BHP had also experienced a significant reduction and this was partly attributable to changes in maintenance and repair arrangements.
Turning to annual complaints in Children and Families, Phillip Mears reported that 97% of stage one complaints were resolved at this stage, with only six complaints being escalated. By resolving complaints earlier, this helped the council achieve savings and the council was improving in this area in terms of accepting when mistakes had been made and was better prepared to remedy complaints. With regard to Adult Social Care, Phillip Mears stated that recent significant changes to legislation had led to increases in complaints, however the number received this year was still well below the number received in 2009 when the new procedure was implemented.
Phillip Mears commented that the improvements were attributable to improved training for complaints and in seeking to resolve complaints at the earliest stage possible. It was also anticipated that the Customer Services project would help increase the ability for early resolution of complaints. Members heard that the complaints process would be reduced from three to two stages next year and this would present a different challenge to ensuring that complaints were handled in an effective manner.
During discussion, Councillor Gladbaum sought further details in respect of the move from three to two complaint stages. In noting the lack of school places, she enquired whether a large number of complaints were received in respect of school admissions and what measures were being taken to address this. Councillor McLennan welcomed the progress that had been made but asked whether further savings through the One Council programme and changes to BHP and Benefits may lead to complaints rising. She also sought information with regard to a vexatious complaints policy and what percentage of complaints had been classified as vexatious.
The Chair also welcomed the decrease in complaints, however he noted the increase in compensation given in relation to complaints relating to BHP and he sought an explanation for this. Clarification was sought with regard to the LGO receiving 79 complaints but only providing 72 decisions. The Chair enquired whether there were serious concerns about the rise in the number of Children and Families related complaints. He commented that often a reason why residents may feel aggrieved about a particular issue was that they had felt that they were not being listened to and he suggested that this could be improved through greater engagement with them. Views were also sought as to reduction in complaints against the backdrop of service transformation.
In reply to the issues raised, Phillip Mears explained that the reason why the decisions made by the LGO were less than the complaints received was because a number of the complaints were still under investigation at the point at which the annual figures were compiled. Compensation payments had risen in respect of BHP despite a fall in complaints because some complaints may have a widespread and significant impact. Children and Families complaints were subject to statutory regulation and independently investigated and additionally the nature of the issues involved often made the complaints challenging and complicated to resolve. The committee noted that under changes to be made next year, stages one and two of the complaints process would be merged, with the council seeking to resolve the complaints in 20 working days. Should the complaint be escalated, it would be reviewed independently of the department by Phillip ands his team on behalf of the Chief Executive. Phillip Mears advised that there were a significant number of complaints in relation to school admissions which remained a challenging issue because the the demand for places in the borough. Phillip undertook to provide the Committee with further information on how school admissions complaints were handled within Children & Families.
Phillip Mears stated that it was anticipated that complaints would rise as further savings needed to be made and the changes to Housing Benefits came into effect. However, he cited an earlier example concerning parking permit increases where the council had fully explained the reasons for these changes, resulting in a very few number of complaints being escalated beyond stage one and such an approach would be needed in future. In the case of changes to Benefits, careful consideration would be needed to explain that this was due to a Government initiative and to explain options to residents if this presented them with difficulties. Phillip Mears acknowledged the importance of engagement with complainants and cited Children and Families as an example who invited complainants in to discuss their problems with the relevant service manager which helped to resolve issues. In addition, a new Corporate Investigations Standard would be introduced under the new two stage procedures and would include the requirement for the officer investigating the complaint to contact the complainant. With regard to the drop in complaints continuing despite the transformations in service and efficiencies, Phillip Mears commented that this was clearly not discouraging news, especially as complaints lodged to the LGO were not rising. Improvements in complaints training and a proactive and positive approach to complaints would also help the council in the future. The committee noted that around 2% of complaints were decided as vexatious.
The Chair requested an update on complaints during the next municipal year.
Supporting documents: