Agenda item

The Council's Head of Performance and Improvement attended the meeting and provided the Committee with a presentation on the Corporate Complaints Procedure.

Members were also provided with a scoping report for the review which provided details of the objectives of the review and background analysis.

Members were informed that there were four complaints procedures which operated within this Council.

• Complaints made by children or on their behalf were governed by theChildren Act 1989, Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006 (Statutory Instrument 2006 No. 1738).
• Adults’ services complaints were managed in line with the ‘The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints (England) Regulations 2009’.
• All other complaints were dealt with under the Corporate Complaints Procedure.
• All complaints received by the Council regarding its public health functions were handled in accordance with The NHS Bodies and Local Authorities (Partnership Arrangement Care Trusts, Public Health and Local Healthwatch) Regulations 2012.

The Committee was informed that the first three complaint procedures were set by statute and the Council was required to follow legislation with little scope for doing otherwise.

The Corporate Complaints procedure which was the subject of the review was different because it was agreed locally. Members were informed that this procedure currently operated under the following stages:

• Informal Complaints (Service requests)

At this stage, officers tried to resolve enquiries and concerns as quickly as possible by discussing the problem with the complainant.

• Stage 1 – Response from the Head of Service or Deputy Director

Officers acknowledged Stage 1 complaints within 3 working days of receipt of the complaint and the deadline was for complainants to receive a full response within 10 working days.

• Stage 2 – Response from the relevant Director

If a complainant was dissatisfied with the response, he/she could ask for their complaint to be reviewed at Stage 2 stating the reason for their dissatisfaction with the response. 

Officers acknowledged Stage 2 complaints within 3 working days of receipt of the complaint and the deadline was for complainants to receive a full response within 10 working days.

• Stage 3 – response from the Chief Executive of the Council

If a complainant was dissatisfied with the response, he/she could ask for their complaint to be reviewed at Stage 3 by the Chief Executive. The complainant had to state the reason why they were dissatisfied with the response given at Stage 2.

The Chief Executive acknowledged Stage 3 complaints within 3 working days of receipt of the complaint and the deadline was for complainants to receive a full response within 15 working days.

• Stage 4 - Designated Person for the Council (for housing complaints only)

If the complaint was about a tenancy, leasehold or other housing management issue, this could be referred to a 'Designated Person'. If a complaint was still not resolved, the complainant was advised to take their complaint to the Housing Ombudsman for Housing complaints with all other complaints being directed to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO).

Members were informed that the Council service areas which were covered by the Corporate Complaints Procedure were:-

Housing, Housing Benefit, Council Tax, Education Services, Resident Services (Planning, Environment, Anti social behaviour, etc), Administration and Finance and Legal services.

The Head of Performance and Improvement provided Members with a number of relevant statistics and the stand out ones were that there had been a 42% increase in housing stage 1 complaints and a large increase in Finance complaints. Members were informed that these complaints had increased because of the recent changes in the Council's Housing Allocation Policy and the recent Welfare changes.

The Committee was also informed that the LGO received 93 enquiries / complaints about Hillingdon last year which had been less than the average for London (151 enquiries / complaints on average - nearly 40% less in Hillingdon than average).

Members were informed that the LGO received a similar numbers of enquiries / complaints about adult social care and benefits/tax about Hillingdon to other London Boroughs, but much fewer than the London average for housing, transport and education / children's services.

In terms of the outcomes from complaints, 55% of those referred back to this Council for resolution were upheld - which was the average for all London Boroughs.

The Committee was encouraged to hear that the statistics indicated that the Council was doing more than many other London Boroughs to resolve issues at an earlier stage. This was evidenced by the LGO receiving fewer enquiries about this Council than others.

Discussion took place on particular aspects of the Complaints Procedure and Members asked that the review examine the following:-

·         How does the Council learn from complaints?

·         How does the Council use complaints from residents to implement improvements on service delivery?

·         Any trends in complaints which may indicate a problem in a service

·         What intervention takes place to mitigate against complaints being escalated?

·         To review the literature and information contained on the Council's public website

·         To examine the compensation policy relating to complaints

·         What training is given to Council managers on dealing with complaints?

·         Best practice from other local authorities which could be applied to this Council's Complaints Procedure

Members would be provided with the full breakdown of the last three years worth of complaints statistics and trend analysis to enable the review to examine if there appeared to be any problem areas.

In addition the Committee would be provided with the Annual Complaints Reports which were considered by other Policy Overview Committees.

It was agreed that the issues outlined above be examined at future witness sessions.

RESOLVED –

1.    That the presentation and the information provided be noted and officers be asked to explore the areas outlined above.

2.    That the scoping report be noted and be amended to reflect discussion during the meeting.