Agenda item

The report before Members detailed the call-in of an Executive Decision relating to the Update to the Corporate Complaints Policy & Procedure.

A requisition signed by Councillors Ray Morgon and Clarence Barrett had called-in the Executive Decision dated 27 September 2018.

The reasons for the requisition were as follows:

          1 .There was a lack of detail and evidence in changes to performance and complexity of cases justifying changes in target timings.

2. There was a lack of evidence in how Member involvement at stage 3 helped with cases before potential referral to the Ombudsman.

3. There was a lack of detail and evidence as to why the quality of investigations at stage 1 had reduced, together with actions taken to remedy this.

4. There was a lack of detail on how customer service was improved by complainants waiting longer for a reply at stage 2

Members were advised that in April 2015, Cabinet agreed a revised Corporate Complaints procedure. This was to aid and improve performance in both timescale and quality.

The timescales for resolving complaints were publicised as 3 days for an acknowledgement and 15 days for a full response at Stage 1; 20 days for Stage 2 and a calendar month for Stage 3.

Performance for dealing with complaints was reported quarterly to the Adjudication and Review Committee.  Improvements were clearly evidenced in the first two years of the life of the procedure, in both quality and timescales. 

Recent changes to performance and complexity of some complaints had prompted consideration of the complaint timings and the need to bring the policy up to date.

Performance had improved a great deal since April 2015.  However, there had been a noticeable change in the quality of investigations undertaken at Stage 1 of the process, causing an impact on the depth and complexity of Stage 2 complaints. Generally speaking, Stage 1 complaints were still meeting the prescribed timescale for 95% completion within 15 days, but this did not reflect the quality of the investigation.

It was proposed that the following changes were made to timescales for the Corporate Complaint Policy and Procedure.

·       Stage 1 to be amended  to 10 working days

·       Stage 2 to increase to 25 working days, to allow for increased pressure caused by more complex investigations

·       Stage 3 to be brought in line with working day reporting and to allow a little additional time for Members to make themselves available for a Member Review Panel

·       It was proposed to keep the performance indicator targets at the same level.

The current Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system would soon become obsolete. Scoping work was being undertaken to determine the requirements for a new viable system.  The introduction of a new system would provide an opportunity for all staff to be trained, or re-trained on both the use of a new complaint management system and the requirements of the Council’s Complaint Policy and Procedure. A full training programme would be rolled-out across the authority, and would include mandatory online training on the complaints process.

Members were also advised that senior officers would be attending Adjudication & Review meetings in future if performance issues were of concern to Members

The vote for the decision as to whether to uphold or dismiss the call-in was carried by 4 votes to 10 with 2 abstentions.

Councillors Morgon, Mugglestone, Williamson and Summers voted to uphold the voted to uphold the call-in

Councillors J. Crowder, P. Crowder, Wallace, Misir, Mylod, Patel, Burton, White, Wise and Darvill voted to dismiss the call-in.

Councillors Barrett and Hawthorn abstained from voting.

It was RESOLVED that the call-in of the Executive Decision dated 27 September 2018 be dismissed