Agenda item

To receive the Annual Corporate Complaints Report 2022-23

Cabinet considered a report which detailed complaint related activity during 2022-23and which complied with the requirement to publish a report on complaints under the relevant statutory complaints’ legislation; and seeking approval for the amended Corporate Complaints Procedure, and the Annual Complaints Report for 2022-23 and its publication on the Authority’s website.

Serving over 209,000 residents, the Authority delivered individual services and millions of transactions each year, including those to businesses and visitors. Any complaint received, was an opportunity to demonstrate that the Authority listened to its residents and cared about their views and concerns.  The number of complaints raised each year, was a very small proportion of the overall number of services and transactions delivered.

The Authority had reviewed and refreshed its Corporate Complaints Procedure this year so that the Complaints Procedure at Appendix 1 to the report was made easier and clearer for those customers who wished to raise complaints about the Authority’s services.

The Annual Complaints Report at Appendix 2 of this report, detailed further activity from complaints in 2022-23, with data shown in Section 10 of the report.

Whilst complaints had remained almost static from the previous year, service requests administered by the Customer First Team, had decreased. This may be due to the improvements made to the Authority’s website which better explains the range of ways in which customers can raise complaints, report issues, and have them resolved quickly on line.  In addition, there had been an increase in the number of Elected Member enquiries received in the year, that may be helping to positively address resident issues, before they escalated to a complaint.

The data in the 2022-23 Annual Complaints Report indicated that whilst over 75% of complaints were successfully resolved at Stage One, this percentage had decreased over the previous three years.

The Local Government Ombudsman (LGSCO) had said in his national Annual Report for 2022-23, his office was less likely to carry out investigations into ‘borderline’ issues and were therefore finding a higher proportion at fault.

Section 12 of the Annual Corporate Complaints Report detailed how the Authority had listened to customer complaints and made changes as a result.  The following highlighted some of this work; the Authority had:

·        Produced new guidance to ensure the views of children and families is better captured in assessments,

·        Enhanced the quality of care to vulnerable young people who may need support out of hours, following an incident of crisis,

·        Increased litter bin provision, adding 100 multipurpose bins to sites across the Borough,

·        Introduced ‘tree calling cards’, as part of the ‘neat streets’ campaign which are given to customers to update them following a tree inspection or any works carried out nearby,

·        Worked to enhance biodiversity areas as part of the Estate Management Programme, especially on roundabouts throughout the Borough,

·        Introduced new procedures, to ensure a zero-tolerance approach to damp and mould in council homes and properties, and

·        Complied with new requirements from the Housing Ombudsman and its code of practice, embedding these changes into service delivery.

The Authority had reviewed and refreshed its governance framework for complaints and in early 2024, a new complaints management IT system would be introduced which would provide improved information for service teams.

The LGSCO and Housing Ombudsman had communicated their intention to implement a Joint Complaint Handling Code in 2024. The Authority would need to consider any new guidance in the Joint Complaint Handling Code, and if applicable, make changes to its Corporate Complaints Procedure.  If such a review was necessary, then subject to Cabinet’s approval, the Assistant Chief Executive would undertake such a review and bring a further report to Cabinet highlighting any proposed amendments to the Complaints Procedure.

Cabinet considered the following decision options: to either approve the recommendations as set out in section 1.2 of the report, or alternatively, to not approve the recommendations.

Resolved that (1) the amended Corporate Complaints Procedure attached at Appendix 1 to the report, be agreed;

(2) the Annual Complaints Report for 2022-23 attached at Appendix 2 to the report and its publication on the Authority’s website, be agreed;

(3) the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Review of complaints concerning North Tyneside Council for 2022-23 attached at Appendix 3 to the report, be noted; and

(4) it be agreed that should the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman  and Housing Ombudsman Joint Complaint Handling Code of 2024 result in the need to review the Authority’s Corporate Complaints Procedure, the Assistant Chief Executive had authority to undertake such a review and make any proposed amendments to the Procedure, and to bring a further report to Cabinet seeking its agreement to any amended Corporate Complaint’s Procedure.

(Reasons for decision: All Local Authorities providing social service functions are legally required to publish an annual report on complaints received and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Review of its complaints. 

The recommendations ensure that the Authority has an amended Corporate Complaints Procedure as well as making provision for a potential review of the Authority’s Corporate Complaints Procedure should any Joint Complaint Handling Code be issued by the LGSCO and Housing Ombudsman that requires a review and any subsequent amendment to the Complaints Procedure.)