Page 1 of 21

Children, Families and Education

Annual Complaints and Representations

Report: 2014 – 2015

Contents

Part / Section
Background and Context
The Procedure
Directorate Summary
Children’s Social Care Complaints
Early Help and Prevention Complaints
Learning, Skills and Education Complaints
Successes
Recommendations and direction of travel
  1. Background and Context

The Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 (as amended by the Children Act 1989) requires that local authorities in charge of Children and Young People’s Services produce and publish an annual report on the statutory complaints and representations received by the local authority. This requirement was updated by the introduction of Statutory Instrument 1738 in September 2006.

The Children Act 1989 also places a duty on all Councils to establish and publicise a procedure for the consideration of representations and complaints made to them about the services provided to them under the Act. This has been strengthened by new Regulations issued in 2006.

This report contains a summary of Children and Young People’s Social Care complaints, compliments, enquiries and comments received for the period April 2014 to the end of March 2015.

In addition, Northamptonshire County Council has also included information that covers our Early Help and Prevention and Education and Learning, Skills and Education Divisions to give a complete picture of activity across the whole of the Directorate.

Our full Complaints and Representations procedure for Children & Young People’s Services can be found on our website -

This should be read in conjunction with the guidance document from the Department for Education & Skills, ‘Getting the Best from Complaints ‘:

And guidance from the Local Government Ombudsman Service:

  1. The Procedure

Representations: These are issues which may be dealt with quickly (within 48 hrs) at the first point of contact. These issues sits outside of the formal complaints procedure but should be recorded for the purposes of providing customer insight and helping to shape and improve services.

Complaints: These are expressions of dissatisfaction which the organisation has to work with the complainant to resolve. The complaint procedure has three stages:

Stage One -Local Resolution: It is expected that the majority of complaints should be dealt with at this stage and be considered and responded to by the Team Manager / Staff within the area that the complaint has originated.

Timescales: 10 days at Stage One (with a further 10 days for more complex complaints or additional time if an advocate is required)

Stage Two – Investigation: Offers a full investigation conducted by an Investigating Officer and an Independent person, either at the Complainant’s request following a Stage One complaint or where the Complainant and the Local Authority have agreed that a Stage One is not appropriate. A full report of the findings and outcomes of the complaint is produced in a report for the Local Authority, along with any recommendations for consideration in achieving a resolution and / or service improvement.

Timescales: 25 days at Stage Two (with maximum extension to 65 days)

Stage Three – Review Panel: Where a Stage Two investigation is concluded and the Complainant remains unsatisfied they may request the consideration of their complaint by a Review Panel. The findings and recommendations of the Panel are then shared with the Director of the service.

Timescales: 20 days for the complainant to request a Review Panel; 30 days to convene and hold the Review Panel at Stage 3; 5 days for the Panel to issue its findings; and15 days for the local authority to respond to the findings.

The regulations place a duty on the local authority to act expeditiously through the procedure and ensure that complaints are dealt with as swiftly as possible.

If a Complainant remains unhappy with the Council’s handling of their complaint then they may have recourse through the Local Government Ombudsman Service.

  1. Directorate Summary

Volumes

There were 632 Children, Families and Education contacts recorded by the Complaints and Representations Team between April 2014 and March 2015.

Type of contact / 2013/2014 / 2014/2015 / Difference
Stage 1 Complaints / 404 / 520* / 28.7%
Ombudsman Enquiries / 51 / 52 / 2 %
Compliments / positive comments / 34 / 50 / 47.0%
Enquiry / 66 / 32 / 51.5%
Total / 509 / 632* / 24.1%

*Includes Early Help and Prevention and Learning, Skills and Education Complaints

520of these contacts were Stage One complaints made to the Children’s, Families and Education Directorate. This Directorate includes 3 divisions or principal service areas: Children’s Services, Early Help and Prevention and Learning, Skills and Education. This represents a 28.7% increase in the number of Stage 1 complaints in comparison to the previous year’s 404.

Considering Children’s Services alone only gives a like for like comparison of a 20.5% increase in Stage 1 complaints between 2013/14 and 2014/15.

Stage 1 Complaints received 2014/15 / 2014/2015
Children’s Social Care / 487
Early Help and Prevention / 11
Learning, Skills and Education / 22
Total / 520

Stage 1 Complaints received by CFE Division in 2014/15

There were 48 complaints that progressed to Stage 2 and 5 complaints that progressed to Stage 3 this year.

Division (2014/15 data) / Stage One / Stage Two / Stage Three
Social Care / 487 / 47 / 5
Early Help and Prevention / 11 / 0 / 0
Learning, Skills and Education / 22 / 1 / 0
Total / 520 / 48 / 5

Timescales

478 Stage 1 complaints were resolved in 2014/15. Of these 71 (15%) were resolved within the optimum 10 working day timescale. 90 (19%) were resolved within the extended 20 day timescales and 317 or 66% took longer than 20 days to resolve.

Total Stage One Complaints closed in 2014/2015 / Number of Stage One Complaints resolved within 10 days / Number of Stage One Complaints resolved within 20 days / Stage One Complaints Resolved Outside 20 days Timescale
478 / 71 (15%) / 90 (19%) / 317 (66%)

33 Stage 2 complaints were resolved this year, with 10 being completed within the 65 day extended timescale. No Stage 3 panels were completed within the 20 day timescale.

Stage / Total Complaints resolved / Total Complaints resolved in timescale
Stage Two / 33 / 10 (31.2%)
Stage Three / 5 / 0 (0.0%)

Complaint Outcomes

24% of CFE complaints were fully upheld, with 30% not upheld.

Outcome / 2014/2015 / Percentage
Fully Substantiated / 113 / 24%
Partially Substantiated / 72 / 15%
Not Substantiated / 142 / 30%
N/A as not pursued / 45 / 9%
Not Known / 98 / 20%
Suspended / 8 / 2%
Ongoing (open Stage One complaints at 31st March 2015) / 106

LGO Enquiries

Legislation requires that we do not obstruct the progression of a complaint and customers are able to request the reasonable escalation of their complaint if they remain dissatisfied with an earlier response and timescales have been compromised.

Complaintants are entitled to engage the LGO at any stage of the complaints process. The LGO was contacted 52 times in 2014/15 in relation to Education and Children’s Social Care complaints. The figures highlight the number of complaints that have been escalated to the Local Government Ombudsman complaints are stable compared to the previous year.

Type of contact / 2013/2014 / 2014/2015 / Difference
Ombudsman Enquiries / 51 / 52 / 2 %

In terms of LGO action, the majority (54%) were referred back to the Council for local resolution, with 11% of LGO complaints upheld.

Contact with the LGO was made mainly due to delays in the recommendations of the Review Panel at Stage Three being implemented. Customers are also frequently asking for reassurance that the learning and improvement from their complaint/s has been implemented and when this cannot be evidenced the Local Government Ombudsman Service is contacted.

Method of Contact

The data in the table below shows that the majority of complaints received into the authority have been made via telephone. These calls are generally received into the Customer Service Centre (CSC) and escalated to the Complaints and Resolutions Services if they cannot be addressed at the first point of contact. This is a diversion from the Council’s aim to increase web based contacts. Feedback from our customers suggests that when they are ‘unhappy’ they would prefer to speak with a member of staff. Telephone and e-mails are seen as a more convenient, quicker and more direct means of registering a complaint, as opposed to ‘Complaints Forms’ or ‘electronic forms’ that are felt to be too ‘restrictive’. We will always ask customer what their preferred method of contact is when dealing with complaints.

The paper based ‘Complaints Form’ is no longer used and has been replaced by our

‘Have Your Say’ postcard available to customers at all council offices / receptions. The postcard provides the team’s contact details and encourages contact via telephone, e-mail and the web.

The method of contact for Stage One complaints has been captured as follows and shows that the continued preferred method for making complaints is a telephone call:

Source of Complaint. / 2014/2015
Number / Percent
Complaint form / 72 / 13.7%
E-mail / 127 / 22.6%
Feedback Form / 27 / 5.3%
In Person / 0 / 0.0%
Letter / 88 / 17.0%
NCC website / 10 / 1.8%
Other / 8 / 1.6%
Phone Call / 188 / 37.8%
Total / 520

3.Children’s Social Care Complaints

Complaints overview at each stage

The number of complaints received into Children’s Social Care has increased this year at all stages, in particular the number of complaints which are being escalated to Stage Two and Stage Three when compared to the previous year, with a four fold increase in complaints escalating to Stage Two.

Year / Stage One / Stage Two / Stage Three
2013/2014 / 404 / 12 / 3
2014/2015 / 487 / 48 / 5

Total number of complaints by stages (Social Care) 2014/15

Stage One timescales

In the year 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015 we have closed 448 complaints. We have completed 33% of those complaints within the extended 20 day timescale. There is a historical backlog of complaints existing and as we resolve these complaints they will have an impact on the average resolution period as outlined in the table below. We should see, by the end of the 2015-16 year, more complaints resolved within the 10 and 20 days timescales than outside of timescales.

Total Stage One Complaints closed in 2014/2015 / Number of Stage One Complaints resolved within 10 days / Number of Stage One Complaints resolved within 20 days / Stage One Complaints Resolved Outside 20 days Timescale
448 / 62 (13.8%) / 86 (19.2%) / 300 (7.0%)

Stage Two and Three Timescales

In the year 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015 we have closed 37 Stage Two and Stage Three complaints. The level of complaints resolved within timescale at Stage Two is similar to the Stage One timescale with 31.2% resolved within the 65 day timescale for a Stage Two investigation and 30 days for a Stage Three appeal.

Stage / Total Complaints resolved / Total Complaints resolved in timescale
Stage Two / 32 / 10 (31.2%)
Stage Three / 5 / 0 (0.0%)

Stage One complaints outcomes

The table below outlines the outcomes from Stage One complaints, which shows of the 448 complaints completed this year, 175 (39%) were either partially or fully substantiated. There has been a considerable improvement in closed complaints in comparison to last year, however with some of these older complaints now being resolved they have had an impact on the average resolution time.

Outcome / 2013/2014 / 2014/2015
Fully Substantiated / 14 / 109
Partially Substantiated / 15 / 66
Not Substantiated / 14 / 129
N/A as not pursued / 7 / 41
Not Known / 14 / 95
Suspended / 0 / 8
Ongoing (open Stage One complaints at 31st March) / 127 / 104

Key themes and learning based on complaint outcomes

The Learning from complaints broadly falls into five categories, which have been consistent throughout the year; these are:

  • Communication and Engagement
  • Difficult to speak to someone who knows about the case;
  • Lack of returned calls or emails;
  • Lack of sharing of information; and
  • Meetings cancelled at the last minute.
  • Court Orders
  • Not following court orders;
  • Effects of decision - progression of case;
  • Perception of respect for customer and courts; and
  • Customer spends more money on a case because of adjournments.
  • Assessments
  • Not including fathers;
  • Inaccurate information;
  • Unbalanced, not including all participants’ views;
  • Not involving all relevant partners;
  • Lack of sharing assessments before ICPC and CPR ; and
  • Most of the serious complaints relate to unhappiness with original assessment.
  • Attitude and Conduct of Social Workers
  • Customers feel like they are “being done to… rather than worked with”; and
  • Customers describe a lack of “partnership working” and in some cases behaviours are described as “oppressive”.
  • Frequent Changes of the Allocated Social Worker
  • Customer feedback is that a frequent change of a social worker in their child’s life does not provide consistency or continuity; and
  • Customers state that they have to keep repeating information and experiences to new social workers that have been distressing factors in their life, which slows down the progress of their case.
  1. Early Help and Prevention

Complaints overview at each stage

Early Help and Prevention complaints are treated in line with the Statutory Children’s Social Care complaints procedure as set out in section 2. This procedure was applied from the start of 2014/15 so data from previous years is not available for comparison.

Year / Stage One / Stage Two / Stage Three
2014/2015 / 11 / 0 / 0

There were 11 complaints received and allocated to Early Help and Prevention in 2014/15. No complaints have escalated to stages 2 or 3 of the process to date.

Total Stage One Complaints closed in 2014/2015 / Number of Stage One Complaints resolved within 10 days / Number of Stage One Complaints resolved within 20 days / Stage One Complaints Resolved Outside 20 days Timescale
9 / 4 (44%) / 1(11%) / 4(44%)

Nine complaints were closed this year. 4 (44%) were completed within the 10 day resolution timesale, 1 within the extended 20 day timescale, and 4 were completed out of resolution timescales.

There were no complaints escalated to stage 2 or 3 in Early Help and Prevention this year.

Complaint outcomes

In terms of complaint outcomes only 1 complaint made against Early Help and Prevention was fully upheld. 3(33%) were partially substantiated and 3 (33%) were not upheld.

Outcome / 2014/2015
Fully Substantiated / 1
Partially Substantiated / 3
Not Substantiated / 3
N/A as not pursued / 1
Not Known / 1
Suspended / 0
Ongoing (open Stage One complaints at 31st March 2015) / 2

5.Learning, Skills and Education

Learning, Skills and Education complaints are treated in line with the Statutory Children’s Social Care complaints procedure as set out in section 1. This procedure was applied from the start of 2014/15 so data from previous years is not available for comparison.

Complaints overview at each stage

There were 22 complaints logged against Learning, Skills and Eduaction this year. Only one of these was escalated to stage 2.

Year / Stage One / Stage Two / Stage Three
2014/2015 / 22 / 1 / 0

21 of the stage 1 complaints were resolved in the 2014/15 financial year.

Total Stage One Complaints closed in 2014/2015 / Number of Stage One Complaints resolved within 10 days / Number of Stage One Complaints resolved within 20 days / Stage One Complaints Resolved Outside 20 days Timescale
21 / 5 (23%) / 3 (14%) / 13 (61%)

1 complaint was escalated to stage 2 and this was resolved within the 65 day timescale.

Complaint outcomes

The majority of complaints made against this division related to the schools admission process. In terms of outcomes 3 (14%) complaints were fully upheld with the majority, 45% of complaints made to Learning, Skills and Education not substantiated on investigation.

Outcome / 2014/2015
Fully Substantiated / 3 (14%)
Partially Substantiated / 3 (14%)
Not Substantiated / 10 (45%)
N/A as not pursued / 3 (14%)
Not Known / 3 (14%)
Suspended / 0
Ongoing (open Stage One complaints at 31st March 2015) / 0
  1. Compliments Analysis

In total there were 50 compliments and positive comments made to the Complaints and Representations Service throughout 2014/15 across the entire Directorate. This is 17

compliments higher than in the previous year. These are only the compliments which have been logged with the corporate team, and the number does not reflect all of the compliments staff receive directly from customers in their day-to-day job.

Work needs to be done to improve the way we capture compliments and celebrate successes, as these are as important for organisational learning as complaints and for continuous professional development of frontline staff. It is likely that there are a far higher number of compliements made directly to the service or verbally between service users and staff that will not be reflected in Complaints and Representations Service data.

  1. Our progress this year

This is a summary of the journey that Northamptonshire County Council has been on this year in respect of handling complaints:

  • Staff within the Complaints and Representations Service have undertaken wider training in order to fully understand the systems and processes used within the service.
  • We have changed internal operations to focus more on understanding the Complainant’s desired outcomes and getting satisfactory resolution as early as possible in the process.
  • We have recruited a wider network of independent investigators, with enhanced skills and expertise who now work with the team and wider organisation to undertake robust investigations at Stage Two and Panels at Stage Three.
  • We have implemented mediation and de-escalation meetings where it has been deemed appropriate and where resolution could be achieved.
  • All policies and procedures have been updated to offer increased clarity to the service areas and Complainants.
  • We have an improved working relationship with the Local Government Ombudsman.
  • We have ensured we capture the Voice of the Child in our complaints by allocating one member of staff to complaints made by children, and working closely with the Children’s Rights Team.
  1. Recommendations and Direction of Travel

The Local Authority is focusing on thefollowing key areas to make the necessary improvements in the handling of complaints, based on the findings in this report:

  • To ensure that the organisation learning and improvements from complaints and compliments are implemented and that we are recognising our areas of best practise;
  • To develop and implement a training plan for the wider organisation with support from Organisational Workforce Development Team;
  • To review and agree Joint Working Protocols for complaints handling with our key partners, so where a complaint crosses boundaries we have clear ownership identified and can advise the customer appropriately;
  • To revise all of our literature and information in the public domain to improve accessibility and public awareness of the Complaints and Representations function;
  • To make complaints training part of work induction training for all staff and also part of our successful Social Work Academy training programme for Newly Qualified Social Workers;
  • To agree an organisational approach regarding‘Remedies’ for complaints which references the ‘Local Government Ombudsman Guidance on Good Practice for Remedies’ (May 2014).

Northamptonshire County Council | Children, Families and Education Statutory Annual Report 2014 - 2015