Agenda item - COMPLAINTS, MEQs AND FOIs

Agenda item

COMPLAINTS, MEQs AND FOIs

It is proposed that the Committee note the performance of the Complaints team, and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on both incoming numbers of complaints and the ability to respond.

Minutes:

Fay Hammond (Executive Director- Resources), clarified that the service has moved to resources which has provided the chance to review the structure of the team and processes. 

 

Elanor Brown, Head of Transformation, presented this item and highlighted the following points:

 

·         The report appendix covers April 2020- March 2021

·         The complaints process has switched from a 3 stage process to 2 stage in line with best practice from the Local Government and Housing ombudsman.

·         80% of first stage complaints were completed on time, 65% were completed on time at the final stage which we would like to improve.

·         GPC received the annual ombudsmen report. We have now received the final decision of the 4 investigated complaints 3 were upheld and 1 was not.

·         FOIs numbers have reduced by 6% compared to 2019/20 and 84% were responded to on time. 11 FOIs were referred to ICO.

·         Subject Access Requests (SARs) have stayed the same and response times have improved marginally.

·         The volume of MEQs have increased by 1.3% and the amount responded to in time has increased by 5%.

·         154 compliments were received largely from the People and Place departments which are the most customer facing.

·         We will be improving processes through guidance and training, reviewing structures, replacing the technological capability, and generating improved data insight. The annual report content will be revamped and its timeliness improved.

 

In response the following comments were made by panel members:

·         Officers clarified the new reports would be finalised and brought to committees by Q2 of the next financial year.

·         The chair raised concerns on automated responses from IT systems being late and asked what the proposed improvement would be. It was explained that a MEQs, complaints and FOIs are sent into a generic inbox, manually put into the CRM system, and allocated to service areas. The new system will automatically populate them to service areas which will reduce time.

·         Cllr Levy commented that MEQ response date shows the date it was logged manually rather than the date submitted so the 8 day response time is wrong. Officers confirmed that this delay will be further reduced and streamlined through the new system.

·         Cllr David-Sanders sought clarity on if officers tracked how many MEQs go into FOIs, how can we avoid duplication and track member satisfaction. Fay clarified that the focus is to look at why people contact us rather than how the process is going and noted this is good feedback for improving the system. The new system has a function for members to reject a response they are not happy with.

·         Cllr Aksanoglu raised issues with the initial responses through MEQ assuming that queries have been resolved and not always receiving responses back from officers. A follow up response, especially for a repair would be useful.

·         Officers confirmed the quickest and best route for councillors to raise concerns is through an MEQ.

·         Cllr Greer sought more detail on what happens if a complaint is upheld. Officers explained it depended on the nature of the complaint, the ombudsmen will direct what they want us to do, and we keep a record of this.

·         Officers confirmed that if deadlines are missed to email Eleanor or Fay, they will track why the deadline was missed and it will help them to improve on the service.

·         Following Cllr Greer’s query, officers confirmed that staff case work is in specific departments but there is allowance for crossover.

·         Cllr Greer sought what apology was given in the response to complaints and officers explained it was an apology for the need for them to complain.

·         Cllr Levy asked what steps had been taken since the ombudsmen criticised the council in July 2021. Officers confirmed improvements had been put in place around relationship management and timely responses.

·         In relation to Cllr Hockeys question on the challenges with the CRM system, officers explained the existing system has issues with how data is recorded as it is not categorised.

 

AGREED:

For officers to analyse data thereby identifying high performing areas and those requiring improvement.

For Annual Complaints Report to come to Overview & Scrutiny Committee annually in Q2.

Supporting documents: