Agenda item

5.1

Paul Taylor (Head of Customer Services), Ben Marston (Service Delivery Manager) and Alex Westran (Complaints Manager) were in attendance at the meeting to present the report.

5.2

Ben Marston informed the Committee that a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system was due to go live in March 2020.  The system would replace two other systems and a complaints module was being developed which would make it easier to keep track of the status of complaints.  It was hoped that the complaints module would go live in June 2020.

5.3

Paul Taylor explained that a new classroom course ‘Customer Complaints – Effective Handling’ had been launched and so far there had been 30 learners over three sessions, with three more sessions booked in the new year.  The service had also been in attendance at Executive Management Team to encourage roll out of the process throughout portfolios.  This was to encourage Managers to own the process.

5.4

Councillor Argenzio asked how staff could be encouraged to attend the training and whether there was a ‘mock up’ of the complaints process that Councillors could use to feed back on the process.  Ben Marston explained that the training course had been put together with the help of the Learning and Development Team.

5.5

Councillor Adam Hurst asked what proportion of ombudsman complaints went direct to the ombudsman without trying the Council’s complaints process first, why was the department not meeting it’s deadlines, how were lessons learned being publicised and whether a Member of the Committee could attend the training.  Paul Taylor felt that it would send a powerful message if a Committee Member attended the training.

5.6

Councillor Mohammed Mahroof commented on the struggle that residents had to speak to a person about Council Tax.  Paul Taylor reminded Committee that Revenues and Benefits, including Council Tax, was to be insourced from Capita at the beginning of 2020. A new telephony system was to be introduced in February 2020 which, amongst other things, would enable callers to be told roughly how long they may be waiting for their call to be answered.  It was hoped that the Council would then be able to address the issue of long telephone wait times.

5.7

Gillian Duckworth, Monitoring Officer, advised Committee that the Council was embarking on a digital Acceleration project to try to put more services online which would mean that those who wished to could use online forms etc. which would free up telephones for those who preferred to speak about their issue.

5.8

In response to a question from Councillor Josie Paszek, Alex Westran informed Committee that complaints were monitored and tracked.  The learning was also tracked to ensure it took place, this included ombudsman complaints.  It was quite a cumbersome process at present, but a module had been purchased with the new CRM system which would allow better monitoring and tracking of complaints.  Overseeing ombudsman complaints was part of the role and ensure that the necessary changes were made.

5.9

The Chair asked whether there would be the possibility of a ‘call back’ facility within the new telephony system. It was explained that the new system would give the Council this possibility, but resourcing needed to be investigated.  Paul Taylor noted that there was a need to ensure sufficient resources were in place and Customer Services was considering the possibility of increased evening and weekend working.

5.10

The Chair asked whether the staffing shortage in Housing Repairs, which had resulted in a high level of complaints, had been resolved.  Paul Taylor explained that a lot of time had been spent creating a new Target Operating Model to improve the interface with the repairs team.

5.11

Councillor Angela Argenzio asked whether agency staff were trained and how weaknesses in the service could be improved.  Alex Westran explained that there was nothing to suggest that training of agency staff was an issue.  There were now enough resources within the complaints team so use of agency staff was limited.

5.12

Alex Westran informed Committee that online forms would also make it easier for customers to provide feedback.  Positive feedback and compliments were good for staff morale and were included within the staff newsletter.

5.13

RESOLVED: That the Committee accepts the report on the performance of Ombudsman complaints and notes the issues raised.