To note the contents of the report.

The Head of HR and Corporate Projects introduced the item and explained that the report, which covered all services provided by the Council, covered the period from April 2018-March 2019.

Members were informed that of the 1,600 contacts made to the Council’s compliments and complaints team, 437 were progressed as complaints. Of these, 19 were for Adult Services and 38 for Children’s Services. Of the Children’s Services complaints 28 were statutory complaints, which were invoked when made by or on behalf of a child in care or child in need; the remaining 10 were corporate complaints, where the young person involved does not receive a statutory service.

The Head of HR and Corporate Projects explained that the Council’s complaints process is made up of various stages depending on the type of complaint. Adult Services and Children’s Services complaints are investigated by Optalis and Achieving for Children after being processed through the Council’s compliments and complaints team. A complainant is able to refer their case to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman at any time for them to consider their complaint; however the LGSCO will not normally review a complaint if it had not exhausted the council’s complaints process. A total of 46 complaints and enquiries were made to the LGSCO. Of these 12 related to Adult Services; 3 were referred back for local resolution as the complaints process had not been exhausted, 1 was closed after initial enquiries, and the remaining 8 were upheld. There were 8 complaints relating to Children’s Services; 2 were incomplete, 5 were referred back for local resolution and 1 was upheld.

Members were informed that a quarter of complaints relating to Adult Services were due to being unhappy with how a situation/incident was resolved, whilst attitude or behaviour of staff was the second highest complaint theme. For Children’s Services complaints the three main themes which were failing to follow policy, lack of action, and situations being handled incorrectly. This gave the opportunity for learnings from complaints to be made and these had been included in the main report.

Members were informed that timeliness in responding to stage 1 complaints had improved for the council. The overall figure for responding to a complaint within the correct timescale 2018/19 was 64 per cent, up from 51 the previous year. For Adult Services 74 per cent of complaints were dealt with within the timescale compared to 55 per cent the year before; for Children’s Services the rate was 47 per cent, up from 27 cent. There were four stage two complaints and one stage three complaint, which were all partially upheld. 

The number of compliments received had increased from 456 to 555. For Children’s Services the number of compliments was similar to the figure for the previous year (93, compared to 97); however compliments for Adult Services had fallen from 57 in 2017/18 to 19 in 2018/19. It was not clear why this was the case.

The Head of HR and Corporate Projects said compliments or complaints were not actively sought, and those referenced in the report were collated from unsolicited responses that had come through online forms, emails and letters. The Head of Adult Social Care said that when an assessment had taken place during an Adult Services case, a customer would be asked how they felt about the process in order to create a learning outcome. Members were informed that the complaints received did not all necessarily relate to incidents that had occurred in 2018/19 and that some from the LGSCO were historical matters. It was also noted that some complaints were as a result of residents’ wants not being positively resolve, rather than needs.

It was noted that overall the number of complaints was reduced, suggesting improvements in performance, and that some of the complaints that were not being resolved in a timely manner were complicated with many issues that needed to be resolved. The Director of Children’s Services informed Members that managers were now sent email reminders from the compliments and complaints team at the end of each week setting out which complaints were imminently due for resolution, in order to support them in resolving issues in a more timely manner.