Agenda item

To receive a report from Sally McTernan , AD Customer Solutions and Nicholas Foster, Complaints & Access to Information Manager.

Sally McTernan introduced the report which provides details of complaints handling and performance for 2015/16. 

Nicholas Foster presented the update and highlighted the following:

·         The Central Complaints and Access to Information Team was created in December 2015. Prior to this, each department would handle their own complaints locally. The aim is to ensure that the customer is put at the centre of what we do.

·         Complaints handling is now reorganized into a central hub. The team also deals with Freedom of Information requests and also Members Enquiries. As there are sometimes overlapping cases, this can help to avoid duplication.

·         The Council housing complaints procedure, which had been a three stage procedure, is now two stage as it has been aligned with the council’s (two stage) procedure. The ICT system is quicker with more concerns logged. The new complaints policy promotes early resolution of complaints to resolve matters without the need to go through the formal complaints process.

·         The ‘e learning’ toolkit aims to ensure the ‘tone’ used by officers is correct and that the approach is consistent. The team will be using the insight from ‘complaints’ to help drive change in services.

·          The online channel for tracking complaints went live in April 2016 with centralisation and recording in a central place – this probably accounts for the higher number of complaints recorded for last two quarters.

·         During April 2015 to March 2016, 81% of first stage complaints were answered within the 10 working days timescale which is consistent with other London Boroughs. This compares with the previous year of 67%.

·         As part of improvements in the way complaints are managed and a more rigorous approach to assessing requests for final stage investigations, there has been a reduction in the number of Final Stage complaints.  These complaints are usually complex matters requiring in-depth investigation previously carried out by senior managers across departments. They are now done by the Complaints and Access to Information Team.

·         Complaints can be escalated to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) and during 2015/16 the LGO issued 157 decisions regarding complaints and enquiries received in respect of Enfield Council.  Of these cases 33 resulted in investigations of which 25 were upheld, this rate was in line with neighbouring boroughs.

·         Moving forward, the Complaints and Access to Information Team would continue to support departments, focusing on training to ensure replies are provided correctly and promptly.

The following questions/ issues were then raised

Q. What area creates the most complaints?

A. The most complaints tend to come from – Council tax, benefits, housing allocations, flytips, and waste. Of the 33 LGO cases that resulted in investigations most were housing issues.

Q. I understand that when there was a move to hubs a number of emails/ issues were left outstanding in particular the planning service?

A.  There was a phased approach when matters were automatically transferred so people continued to deal with issues raised and no items were left outstanding.

Q. With reference to the housing cases upheld by the Ombudsman it would be interesting to know the issues raised?

A: These were predominantly around delays and decisions around homelessness.

A concern was raised about the percentage of Final Stage Complaints responded to within 30 working days – shown as 35% for 2015/16. Councillor Smith referred to a formal complaint that took 9 months to answer.  It was stated that this was an area that required improvement and this is now happening. – Figures for Q3 final stage complaints show 90% were responded in time. This is probably because before managers were responding to final stage complaints in addition to their other duties. This is now done by the Complaints and Access to Information Team. 

It was noted that the Council’s target is to respond to 92% of First Stage complaints within 10 working days, however looking at the actual results for the last six quarter figures it was questioned whether this was a realistic target.  It was confirmed that an action plan is being prepared and the team is consulting with other departments – they would then check whether the target was unrealistic.

It was stated that the response to Members Enquires has improved especially in relation to Housing.  It was noted that ‘service requests’ were not included in the complaints statistics.

Confirmation was given that the target for responses to Members enquiries is 8 working days.

NOTED

Overview & Scrutiny Committee noted the report and Sally McTernan and Nicholas Foster were thanked for presenting it.