The purpose of the report is to share with Corporate Overview and Scrutiny the annual complaints and compliments report for 2022/23 before it is published on the council’s website. Whilst Local Authorities are not required to produce an annual report on complaints relating to corporate activities, and are only required to do so on those submitted about Adults and Children’s Services, this report details all compliments and complaints made by or on behalf of customers.

The Panel are asked to note the report, agree that the report is published on the council’s website and that the annual report continues to be produced and presented at future Overview and Scrutiny Panels.

Nikki Craig, Assistant Director of HR, Corporate Projects and IT, said that all local authorities had a statutory obligation to publish data related to complaints on adult and children’s services. RBWM chose to also publish complaints relating to corporate services. The report contained information on complaints and compliments received across the 2022/23 municipal year. The key points of the report were:

• There had been a decrease in the number of contacts, a total of 1,408.
• Of these contacts, 269 were progressed as complaints. 168 of these were for service areas not covered by adult or children’s services.
• 27% complaints were upheld.
• 23% were partially upheld.
• 40% were not upheld.
• The number of complaints for each listed reason was included in the report.
• The number of complaints responded to within timescales was not met in 51% of cases.
• 293 compliments had been received.
• Lessons had been learned and narrative on this was part of the report.
• Detail related to adult and children’s services would be considered by the People Overview and Scrutiny Panel in October.

Councillor Price noted that the most common reason for complaints was on waste and recycling, this was a service area which affected all residents on a weekly basis. There had recently been a change to the contract of waste collection teams as they were now required to work a number of bank holidays across the year. Councillor Price wondered if this had an impact on morale and the quality of the service. She also felt that the council had promised a certain level of delivery for residents and therefore if this expectation was not met, it would lead to complaints. Councillor Price had tried to discuss resident issues with officers but she did sometimes not receive a reply, often the only solution was to advise the resident to submit a formal complaint.

Nikki Craig said that the employees on waste collection were not employed by RBWM, she was able to ask the Assistant Director of Neighbourhood Services for further details. It would be difficult for the council to judge whether the requirement to work on bank holidays had impacted on the quality of the service delivered. There were handheld devices used in trucks which could be used to record bins which had not been left out and to take pictures if necessary. The council not delivering what had been promised was a reason why residents could make a complaint, any patterns would be investigated by the relevant officer. There had been a reduction in complaints each year but officers wanted to ensure that any dissatisfaction from residents was addressed appropriately.

ACTION – Nikki Craig to ask for further details on the contract change for staff employed by contractors on the waste contract.

Councillor Hunt said that if she had any cases in her ward of bins being missed, she could contact the Waste Strategy Manager and they were always resolved promptly. Councillor Hunt felt that the contract was well managed by the council.

Councillor Douglas asked if the data from customer satisfaction surveys matched up with the complaints and compliments data.

Nikki Craig explained that the survey had been led by the Assistant Director of Strategy. The data from the survey was triangulated with a number of datasets but it was not in synch with the complaints and compliments report so there might not be a correlation. An external organisation contacted residents on a random basis, which was broadly linked to the Corporate Plan.

Councillor J Tisi commented that there had been a lower number of complaints received, but the number responded to within timescales had gone down slightly. He queried whether there could be an issue there which needed to be explored.

Nikki Craig said that the lessons learned section of the report was honest about areas of improvement. Two of the areas considered the challenge of resources. The live data would be monitored on a regular basis by the Executive Leadership Team.

Councillor J Tisi noted that ‘freeman of the land’ was part of the complaints on council tax, he asked if these were individuals that refused to pay council tax as they did not believe it applied to them.

Nikki Craig confirmed that she believed this was correct.

Councillor Price pointed out that compliments should also be considered. The revenues, benefits, library and resident services team had received a significant number of compliments and Councillor Price asked if this good practise would be passed on to other service areas.

Nikki Craig explained that service areas often asked for feedback from residents and this was shared amongst service areas. She could discuss with the Assistant Director of Revenues, Benefits, Library and Residents Services to explore where best practise could be shared with peer groups from across the council.

ACTION – Nikki Craig to explore with Assistant Director of Revenues, Benefits, Library and Residents Services, where best practise could be shared in relation to the number of compliments the team received.

Councillor Price suggested that the timescales could be reviewed if 10 working days was unrealistic. It was important that the council provided residents with realistic expectations.

Nikki Craig confirmed that this had recently been reviewed. For children’s services, the response was still required to be within 10 working days. For corporate complaints, this had been raised to a response being given within 20 working days. A further 10 day extension could be agreed with the complainant if the nature of the complaint was complex and required more time to be properly dealt with.

Councillor Moriarty said that many residents could have a frustration with a particular council service but did not deem it significant enough to be progressed as a formal complaint. Residents could use the report it tool instead, Councillor Moriarty asked if there was a link between the number of report it requests each service area received and the number of complaints.

Nikki Craig said that of 1,408 contacts, only 269 were progressed as complaints which meant that the rest were followed through as service requests. The report it page itself had a number of options to make officers aware of certain things, there was no system in place to triangulate this data but with the procurement process currently underway for a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, it was hoped this could be addressed in the future.

Councillor Sharpe said that he often heard from residents who had reported something but no action had been taken. However, there had been more compliments than complaints so the council were doing things well overall. Setting expectations at the right level would help to reduce the number of complaints.

AGREED UNANIMOUSLY: That the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel noted the report and agreed:

i)             That the report was published on the council’s website.

ii)            That the annual report continued to be produced and presented at future Overview and Scrutiny Panels.