Agenda item

In May 2021 the Cabinet agreed the new Compliments, Comments and Complaints policy for the Council. As part of the requirements of the Governance and Audit Committee it was now responsible to Make reports and recommendations in relation to the authority’s ability to handle complaints effectively.

The report was presented to the Committee by the Complaint Resolution Manager. This was the first report to the Committee and provided an overview of how the Council managed compliments, comments and complaints and its performance in the period 2020-2021.

Main points

·       Other reports have been completed on the same matter for several years which have gone through Cabinet and all annual statistics have been passed to the Chief Internal Auditor.

·       Complaints to schools were reported separately as they were subject to a distinct statutory framework. However, complaints were included regarding education services e.g., administrative processes.

·       The policies and procedures in place for compliments, comments and complaints complied with the legislative requirements of the Welsh language measures and standards.

·       Social services statutory requirements remained in operation alongside the corporate policy.

·       As an overview, customers were able to raise a formal complaint over the phone, online, or using the app on their phone or face to face. Customers were able to submit a complaint 24/7 and it offered increased accessibility and convenience. Feedback and compliments could also be logged.

·       The Ombudsman was focused on ‘getting it right’ and having trained and competent staff, and free staff training was available through the Public Services Ombudsman Wales.

·       The Complaints team was in the process of creating their own training which was modular based and complimented with E-Learning linking in with organisational development which was compulsory training.

·       There were 174 compliments received, 3111 comments and 222 complaints and through the Councils process 208 complaints were resolved before going to the Ombudsman. Out of those complaints the Ombudsman only intervened with 5 complaints, so this was very low.

·       Across all 22 local authorities complaints were down by 12.5% compared with the previous year but were generally up from frontline services with the pandemic playing a role in this as the volume of complaints have gone up.

·       However, the Ombudsman’s focus was on feedback and having several accessible routes for customers to make a complaint as well as receiving feedback from complainers on how the complaint was dealt with.

·       A questionnaire was now sent to people who complained in the hope that feedback would be provided on how well the complaints team was performing.

The Chair asked was there any trends observed.

The Complaint Resolution Manager stated that for the last 12 months it was difficult to see any trends but the main one was that in relation to City Services who offered a lot of services, there was a lot of decision making and policies introduced to keep the public safe. A lot of people made complaints in relation to making appointments to attend the recycling centres.

A lot of complaints were also received in terms of accessibility to the parks in the city.

Questions: 

Councillor Mogford stated that they were interested in the compliments side and asked what the process was to submit a compliment as people were less minded to make a compliment.

The Complaint Resolution Manager stated that there were no compliments received for children’s services, but they are out there, and people were able to make complaints and compliments in the same way. There was more work needed to help staff come forward when compliments were received.

Councillor Jordan commented on the cemeteries and the reason for closing cemeteries during the pandemic. The Complaint Resolution Manager explained that the amount of people was limited as to who could attend funerals which was upsetting for loved ones. However, this was not so much an issue now. 

Councillor Jordan asked as to whether cemeteries were open completely now. The Complaint Resolution Manager stated that they were not sure on the current guidance.

The Corporate Director stated that if this was an operational question then it was best directed to the service area.

The Chair asked the Chief Internal Auditor whether they had looked at the report.

The Chief Internal Auditor stated that the report would be incorporated into the Annual Governance Statement for next year. The Annual Governance Statement was also part of the Statement of Accounts and the statistics provided by the Complaint Resolution Manager would be incorporated into the Annual Governance Statement.

The Chair remarked that the report was a benchmark and hopefully would not impact on next year.

Agreed:

The Committee noted and endorsed the report