Agenda item

 5.1

Andrew Fellows, Customer Services Manager, introduced a report of the Interim Director of Customer Services that (a) provided an overview of the complaints received and formally referred and determined by the three Ombudsmen (Local Government Ombudsman, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman and Housing Ombudsman) relating to services provided by the City Council both directly and through partners from 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2015 and (b) identified future developments and areas for improvement in complaint management. In particular he referred to:-

·         The number of complaints investigated by Council services was 684 in 2014/15 compared with 906 in 2013/14.

·         There had been an increase in the number of enquiries received from the three Ombudsmen and full details of the enquiries/complaints raised by the Ombudsmen were set out at Appendix A of the report.

·         Of the 123 enquiries recorded by the Council’s Complaints Team in 2014/15, 43 were formally investigated compared to 36 in 2013/14.

·         The Ombudsman found that there was maladministration in 19 complaints that were upheld and with injustice in 16 of the cases. No formal reports were issued against the Council during the year, compared to one in 2013/14. Details of these complaints were included in Appendix B to the report.

·         In terms of the cost of the complaint handling, £16,380 was paid to complainants in financial remedies, compared to £19,507 in 2013/14.

5.2

The Customer Services Manager explained that he was seeking to improve and strengthen the learning from dealing with complaints. In terms of the national agenda, the Government was to create a single Public Service Ombudsman but there was no timetable for the establishment of the new organisation.

5.3

Officers responded to questions from members of the Committee and agreed to confirm the number of complaints that had exceeded the 28 days’ response time target.

5.4

In respect of a question about housing complaints, officers indicated that they were dealt with by the Housing Ombudsman and this included non-Council providers. There was currently a backlog of housing complaints. The Housing Ombudsman produced an Annual Report but this tended to have less information than the report from the Local Government Ombudsman.

5.5

In response to a comment from a Member of the Committee that the £10 cost for the handling of a complaint resolved through problem solving seemed low, the Customer Services Manager indicated that it was based on a nominal figure calculated by the National Audit Office in 2005. The costs were based on the management time in handling a complaint, except where a payment was made or an independent investigation was used.

5.6

Resolved: That (a) the Annual Ombudsman Report is noted; and

(b) the Customer Services Manager would confirm with members of the Committee the number of complaints that had exceeded the 28 days’ response time target.