Agenda item

To receive a presentation on Formal complaints - annual report summary 2021/22.

The Committee received the annual report summary 2021/22 from Jackie Whitney, Head of Customer Excellence, Clare Mundzar, Corporate Complaints Manager and Michael Bateman, Complaints Manager Children’s Services.

During the discussion of this item, the following points were made:

·       71% of complaints (including enquiries as well as formal complaints) had been resolved early, using early resolution. 

·       The number of formal complaints handled in 2021/22 was 305 (from 203 individual customers) this was an increase of 61, compared to 2020/21.  It was thought that the rise may be the result of customers feeling more confident to submit a complaint post Covid.  Complaints had become more complex and therefore could take longer to resolve.

·       Other local authorities had seen the same trend with their complaints.

·       Members were informed of a new programme to improve writing skills to ensure that language used was easier to understand.  A new approach was being taken to communication; the three C’s; Care, Clarity, and Confidence.

·       Jackie Whitney indicated that those who complained were asked how they felt that their complaint had been dealt with.  Ratings were currently good.

·       Michael Bateman added that a decrease had been seen in the volume of formal Children’s Services complaints received and an increase of complaints resolved at the early resolution stage.  The number of cases escalated to Stages 2 and 3 remained consistent with the last 2 years.  There had been an increase in the number of cases dealt with via the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.  However, the LGSO had been dealing with a heavy backlog due to the pandemic when they had closed for some time, and were only now beginning to catch up with cases once more.  Members were informed that the number of formally recorded compliments outnumbered the number of complaints received in Children’s Services.

·       Michael Bateman advised Members that Children’s Services complaints often related to alleged inaccuracies in social worker assessments or decisions reached by staff.  Bite sized training sessions and staff supervision sessions had been run.

·       Michael Bateman highlighted areas of development, including training for managers across Children’s Services around the complaints process, and best practice of handling complaints.  Sessions had been delivered on sharing the learning from complaints, with staff.  Two sessions had been held so far and more would be undertaken.

·       Councillor Harper noted that the data went back to Quarter 1 2021/22. He asked whether information could be circulated from several years as it was difficult to establish long term trends.  Jackie Whitney agreed to provide the data going back 3-4 years.  She indicated that the complaints process and recording had improved which might mean that the data was not fully comparable.  An increase would be seen but this was partly the result of a tightened recording process.  A new online system for recording complaints had been introduced and training had been carried out.

·       In response to a question from Councillor Davies regarding early resolution, Jackie Whitney explained that early resolution was when a complaint came in, Officers apologised and the situation was quickly resolved or expectations managed, without it escalating to a Stage 1 formal complaint.  The total number of formal complaints had increased by 61 on the previous year.  Clare Mundzar clarified that early resolution had been in place in the previous year, but recording had improved.

·       The Chair requested that the Committee be sent data on the level of early resolution from the previous year.

·       Councillor Smith questioned if there was a mean time for the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman to determine complaints by, and if there was a matrix of what matters were referred to the LGSO.  He was noted that there were still several cases which were to be determined by the LGSO. Clare Mundzar explained that the LGSO looked to undertake its work within 6 weeks.  However, closing during the pandemic had created a backlog as requests had continued to be sent in.  The resultant backlog was starting to be addressed.  The LGSO would only look at complaints which were under 12 months’ old.

·       With regards to corporate complaints, officers aimed to respond to Stage 1 complaints within 15 working days and within 20 working days for Stage 2 complaints.  

·       Councillor Harper asked whether officer time spent addressing complaints was recorded and was informed that it was not.  There was a full-time officer who dealt with complaints at Stage 2 and the LGSO but information was also provided from the specific service area.

·       Councillor Smith indicated that some residents had informed him that they had filled in an online form and had not received a response.  He questioned whether such interactions were recorded.  Clare Mundzar explained that if someone filled in an online form, they received an automated response acknowledging receipt from the Complaints Team, indicating that they should receive a response within 5 working days.  The Complaints Team passed the correspondence to the relevant team for a response and reminded them of deadlines.  More staff had been recruited to ensure that this was carried out.  Jackie Whitney added that delays were more likely to occur if someone emailed an officer directly and copied in several others, for a number of reasons, for example, the officer was on leave, or there was confusion as to who was responsible for providing a response.  Members were informed that a mediated process could also be run for those who could not access the online form.

·       Councillor Smith asked whether many complaints were received regarding councillors not responding to residents and was informed that complaints regarding councillors were dealt with via a different route.

·       Councillor Gee questioned how 71% of complaints had been resolved via early resolution when she had calculated that it was 58%. Clare Mundzar agreed to check on the calculations and feed back to Members.

RESOLVED:  That the formal complaints annual reports summary 2021/22 be noted.