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CALDERDALE MBC

GOVERNANCE & BUSINESS COMMITTEE

COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE – ANNUAL REPORT 2010/11

22 AUGUST 2011

REPORT OF THE HEAD OF CUSTOMER SERVICES AND COMMUNICATIONS

  1. ISSUE

1.1.The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of corporate complaints and compliments for the periods 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011.

1.2.It should be noted that only corporate complaints and compliments are included in this report. Adult and Children’s Social Care complaints and compliments are dealt with through statutory procedures.

1.3.Adult and Children’s Social Care complaints can be investigated by the Local Government Ombudsman when the statutory process has been completed.

  1. NEED FOR A DECISION

2.1The report fulfils the requirement to report to the Committee on the performance of the corporate complaints and compliments procedure and those complaints dealt with by the Local Government Ombudsman.

  1. RECOMMENDATION

3.1.The Governance and Business Committee are asked to note the report.

  1. PERFORMANCE OVERVIEW

4.1Stage one informal complaints are dealt with at service level.316 complaints were received in 2010/11 compared with 453 in the previous year, a significant reduction of 30%.

4.2If a customer makes a formal complaint it is dealt with at stage two of the procedure by the Head of Service. 92 complaints were received in 2010/11 compared with 129 in the previous year, again a significant reduction of 28%.

4.3If a customer is dissatisfied with the response they receive at stage two, they can request a further review, stage three, of their complaint by the Chief Executive. 22 complaints were received in 2010/11 compared with 32 in the previous year, a reduction of 31%.

4.4If the customer remains dissatisfied they can approach the Local Government Ombudsman for an independent investigation of their complaint. The number of complaints reviewed by the Local Government Ombudsman in 2010/11 rose slightly to 29 compared to 23 the previous year, an increase of 26%.

4.5However there were no findings of maladministration against the Council in 2010/11 compared with two the previous year and only three local settlements were agreed compared with 10 in 2009/10.

4.6Table A1 shows the number of complaints received in 2010/11, broken down by directorate.

5COMPLAINTS UPHELD

5.1Effectivecomplaints management leads to complaints being resolved at an early stage in the process and can prevent complainants having to go through a lengthy and frustrating process in order to get problems resolved. In-house training was developed in 2010-11 to improve the process of investigation and the style and approach of responses .This has resulted in a more consistent approach to complaints investigation and less complaints being escalated to level 2 and 3in services where this has already been implemented. This approach is being rolled out across the Council.

5.2Table A2 shows the percentage of complaints upheld or partially upheld in 2010/11.

5.2An increase in complaints, upheld or partially upheld, does not necessarily point to serious service failures occurring. However such findings indicate the Council’s willingness to apologise for mistakes, to carry out remedial action to the customers’ satisfaction and to learn from complaints.

5.4It should be noted that, where a complaint has been through all three stages of the complaints procedure, the complaint is counted at each stage.

5.5The Local Government Ombudsman categories which are used to reflect whether or not a complaint is upheld (fully or partially) are indicated by findings of ‘maladministration’ and ‘local settlements’. During 2010/11 there were no findings of maladministration and three local settlements compared with 2009/10 when there were two findings of maladministration and 10 local settlements.

6.TIMELINESS OF COMPLAINTS HANDLING

6.1The Council’s complaints procedure acknowledges the need for complaints to be dealt with in a timely manner but, most importantly, that complaints are dealt with fairly and thoroughly. The timescale for response at stage one is 10 working days and for both stages two and three it is 15 working days.

6.286% of complaintsin 2010/11at stage one were responded to within the agreed timescale, compared to 72% in the previous year.

6.363% of complaints at stage two received a timely response in 2010/11, compared to 66% in 2009/10.

6.4Complaints at stage three of the Council’s procedure tend to be more complex and, as such, can often take longer than the target 15 working days to investigate. In 2010/11 5% were completed within the timescale, compared to 28% in 2009/10. This was due, in the main, to an increasing number of more complex complaints being received at this level. However, revised procedures have also been implemented in order to ensure that response times are kept to a minimum. Customers are always kept advised of progress and provided with an indication of when the response will be received.

6.5The timescale to respond to Ombudsman complaints is 28 calendar days and the average response time for 2010/11 was 24.7 days, compared to 29.7 days in the previous year. Also the number of responses to the Ombudsman rose to 11 in 2010/11 compared to seven in the previous year.

7.COMPLIMENTS

7.1The Council values feedback from its customers. Compliments are an important part of understanding what customers value and where a service has met or exceeded expectations. Compliments also provide an opportunity to give feedback to staff on their performance and to give recognition and praise for the valuable work staff do in delivering the Council’s services.Taking a more consistent approach to routinely notifying staff of the feedback received from customers and saying thank you has already proved beneficial in service areas where this is in place e.g. Safer and Stronger Communities Directorate.

7.2Table A3provides a summary of compliments received in 2010/11. The number of compliments increased to 703 compared with 544received in the previous year 2009 /10, an increase of 29%.

7.3 These figures do not include Adult and Children’s Social Care compliments as they are reported separately.

8. LOCAL GOVERNMENT OMBUDSMAN

8.1The Ombudsman made 29 decisions on complaints during 2010/11. There were no findings of maladministration but in three cases the Council agreed to a local settlement. Table A4 contains brief details of those complaints.

8.2The Annual Letter 2010/11 from the Local Government Ombudsman is attached at Appendix B.

9LESSONS LEARNT

9.1The Council is keen to learn from complaints in order that we can improve our services and, as such, collate information about the actions taken following complaints that are fully or partially upheld.

9.2In 2010/11 service improvements included:

  • SITA have been contacted regarding the behaviour of their staff and other recurring complaints. The situation is being closely monitored.
  • Consultation process regarding introduction of Dog Control Orders
  • New work planning system introduced in Revenues and Benefits and an action plan put in place to deal with backlog of work. This will be reviewed as part of ongoing customer feedback monitoring.
  • Poor customer service addressed directly with staff involved.
  • Customer Service training made available to staff.
  • Sports Services communicating changes to timetables more effectively through visible communication at sites and timetables reviewed throughout the year to accommodate as many users as possible.
  • Safer, Cleaner, Greener team using complaints/compliments data to identify problem hotspots and ways to improve the service.
  • Countryside team working closer with Highways to produce a press release and engage in public consultation where possible when trees have to be cut down.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS REPORT CONTACT:

Ann Wardle, Head of Customer Service and Communications, Safer & Stronger Communities, telephone 01422 393201

APPENDIX A

Table A1: Number of complaints received by directorate at each stage of the Council’s procedure.

Directorate / Stage 1 / Stage 2 / Stage 3 / Ombudsman
09 10 / 10 11 / 09 10 / 10 11 / 09 10 / 10 11 / 09 10 / 10 11
Chief Executive’s Office/
Deputy Chief Executive’s / 4 / 2 / 1 / 2 / 0 / 0 / 2 / 1
Children & Young People’s Services / 1 / 0 / 14 / 9 / 2 / 0 / 4 / 8
Adult Health & Social Care / 0 / 1 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 5 / 4
Economy &
Environment / 330 / 180 / 73 / 60 / 14 / 19 / 10 / 14
Safer & Stronger
Communities / 118 / 133 / 39 / 21 / 16 / 3 / 2 / 2
Total / 453 / 316 / 127 / 92 / 32 / 22 / 23 / 29

Table A2: Percentage of complaints upheld or partially upheld

Directorate / Stage 1 / Stage 2 / Stage 3
09 10 / 10 11 / 09 10 / 10 11 / 09 10 / 10 11
Chief Executive’s Office/
Deputy Chief Executive’s / 100% / 0% / 0% / 50% / n/r / n/r
Children & Young
People’s Services / 0% / n/r / 36% / 11% / 50% / n/r
Adult Health & Social Care / n/r / 0% / n/r / n/r / n/r / n/r
Economy & Environment / 76% / 36% / 45% / 37% / 13% / 37%
Safer & Stronger Communities / 49% / 55% / 45% / 80% / 25% / 33%
n/r = no complaints received
Types of complaint received:
  • Poor customer service from Benefits section
  • Benefits payments made incorrectly to tenant instead of landlord
  • Lack of gritting and salt
  • Trees removed without consulting local residents
  • Recycling /wheelie bins not put back in their right place
  • Missed recycling collections
  • Inappropriate comments/language by SITA staff
  • Dog fouling issues
  • Time taken to deal with a request for a disabled parking space
  • Delay in dealing with Planning Enforcement matters
  • Lorries travelling from Swalesmoor Road
  • Dress code of Registrar staff taking ceremonies
  • Poor standard of cleanliness at Todmorden and Halifax pools
  • Changes to activity timetables and availability of classes at Sports Centres
  • Higher admission charges to Piece Hall will result in reduction in footfall
  • Poor service from staff at Central Library

Table A3: Compliments received

Directorate / Number received
09 10 / 10 11
Chief Executive’s Office/
Deputy Chief Executive’s / 23 / 8
Children & Young People’s Services / 18 / 22
Adult Health & Social Care / 0* / 0*
Economy & Environment / 204 / 247
Safer & Stronger Communities / 238 / 426
Total / 544 / 703

* These are reported separately under the statutory procedure.

Table A4 Brief details of Ombudsman Complaintsresolved by Local Settlement 2010/11

Directorate / Service Area / Summary of complaint / Action recommended
by Ombudsman / Action Taken / Further action Req’d
Economy &
Environment / Environmental Health Services / 1 Delayed unreasonably in prosecuting the offender who carried out fly tipping on the complainant‘sand his family’s property.
2 Failed to keep him/his family informed of the progress of the investigation of their fly tipping complaint. / 1that the prosecution is pursued and that the Council will ask the Court to award the complainant £500 for his costs in removing the material.
2 pay £50 for time and trouble pursuing the complaint / 1 the fly tipper was successfully prosecuted and made to pay the complainant £500
2 £50 paid / None
Economy &
Environment / Planning &
Environmental Health Services / 1 Lack of enforcement action against noise from screening machinery at a waste transfer station that was being used after successive planning applications for its use had been refused.
2 failure to respond to their complaints about the site / 1a an urgent, vigorous investigation of the apparent use of machinery
1b put arrangements in place for the residents to contact officers when the machines are being used
1c Pay £1000 compensation
2 Pay £250 compensation / 1a Monitoring is being undertaken to collect evidence
1b Residents given contact telephone number
1c Total compensation paid £1250 / Continued monitoring of the site is being undertaken to collect evidence with a view to taking enforcement action.
Children &
Young People’s Service / Children’s
Social Care / Failed to provide proper post-adoption support since the request made in July 2008. / 1Re-referral to LAACH
2 LAACH support for school reinstated
2 therapeutic support for parents by LAACH / All LAACH support reinstated / None