To confirm the items of business marked Part I will be considered in public and that items marked Part II will be considered in private.
Minutes:
For this meeting, the Committee was provided with evidence from Richard Shaw, an Investigator for the Local Government Ombudsman Office.
The Committee was provided with a summary of the key components of a good complaints procedure:-
· To enable residents to make officers and the Council accountable
· Where complaints have been justified, to enable Councils to address poor working practice and to improve services
· To have a clear and transparent process which enables a quick resolution to residents' complaints
· Dealing quickly with a complaint for the benefit of a complainant
· The less stages of a complaints process would eliminate repetitiveness and bring about a quicker resolution
· Service requests and appeals should be dealt with separately and outside the complaints process
· The focus should be on resolving complaints at the earliest opportunity
· There should be consideration given to the costs of dealing with complaints
· The key focus should be on customer care and customer satisfaction for residents
· A complaints process needs to be understood and publicised and accessible for residents
· There should be a common procedure to cover contractors
· Managers should be made responsible for dealing with complaints and should be empowered to proactively resolve complaints
· Managers should be given discretionary powers to remedy failures and to make apologies to complainants where necessary
· Officers should be given discretionary powers to offer compensation to remedy a failure
· Failures which have been highlighted by a complaint provided an opportunity to make improvements to services
· Regarding Council policy - caveats should be contained in complaints procedures which clearly stated that a complaint about Council policy which had been correctly applied should not be taken through the complaints procedure. Complaints could be advised to submit their complaint direct to the Local Government Ombudsman
· Directors should have sight and knowledge of complaints
Discussion took place on aspects of the evidence provided and reference was made to the various complaints which the Council received in relation to the Housing Allocation Policy and Housing Benefit and Council Tax decisions. Members were informed that complaints should still be considered regarding the application of policies, but not the actual policy itself. The importance was stressed of officers ensuring they correctly applied policies.
Members were informed that these complaints did escalate through the present complaints procedure, but if changes were made to the complaints procedure, these types of complaints could be resolved at Stage 1 or be referred direct to the Ombudsman.
The LGO Investigator confirmed that complaints had to have gone through at least one stage of a local authority complaints procedure before being considered by the LGO.
The communication of Council policies was important and these should be clearly pointed out to residents. Relevant policies and the rules relating to Housing Benefit and Council Tax should be explained to complainants to ensure they understand the reasoning behind the decisions taken which have resulted in the complaint.
As previously mentioned at an earlier witness session, the Committee was informed that extra training would be provided for officers to enable a greater focus on resolution of complaints. A move to a two stage complaints procedure, with a longer timeline for Stage 1, would enable intervention work to take place and give officers an opportunity to try to resolve the complaint to the satisfaction of the resident.
Members were informed that there were cost implications for dealing with complaints in terms of officer time in dealing with complaints through the 3 stage process. An early intervention and attempts to resolve complaints would be beneficial for the Council and for the complainant.
Reference was made to a number of local authorities which had moved to two stage complaint procedure which consisted of flexible first stages whereby contact was made with the complainant with the focus on resolving the issue which had been raised.
The Committee asked that officers provide a paper at the next meeting setting out all the evidence presented during the review thus far, together with details of the potential implications of moving to a two stage complaints procedure.
RESOLVED –
1. That the presentations and the information provided be noted and officers be asked to report back to the next meeting of the Committee providing details as outlined above.