Agenda item

The purpose of this report is to give the Audit & Governance Committee an overview of the Council’s complaint handling performance in 2017/18 and to demonstrate how feedback from customers has been used to improve services.

Witnesses:

Sarah Bogunovic, Customer Relations and Service Improvement Manager

Key points raised during the discussion:

1. Officers introduced the report and provided Members with a brief summary. It was noted that there were three different complaints procedures in the Council; one for Children, Families and Learning, one for Adult Social Care and one for all other Council services. Members further noted that the volume of complaints did not in itself indicate the quality of the Council’s complaints handling performance, as the Council wanted to be an open, learning organisation that encouraged feedback. Instead, escalation rates and uphold rates were considered to be a better measure of performance as they indicated where complaints had been unable to be resolved and fault had been found. A new early intervention approach had been introduced to address concerns that could be dealt with to the customer’s satisfaction rather than go through the complaints procedure unnecessarily. Analysis had shown that there was a 15% decrease in complaints from the previous year and only 9% of early intervention cases had escalated to the complaints procedure. This suggested that the early intervention approach had been successful in preventing the unnecessary escalation of complaints.
2. Members noted that the Council had received exactly double the number of compliments than complaints.
3. Members praised the future implementation of a new customer feedback system as it would allow Members to track how residents felt about council services and give them an overview of compliments and complaints relevant to their electoral divisions. Members noted that the intention was for customer feedback information to be accessed through a real-time dashboard.
4. Officers confirmed that financial redress payments made through the complaints procedure were separate from the insurance and claims process and paid to customers where the actions (or inaction) of the Council had resulted in a verified financial loss. It was further noted that any payment over £1000 was required to be signed off by the head of service and relevant Cabinet Member.
5. Members raised concern that the number of compliments noted in the report may not be a true reflection due to officers not recording compliments received. Officers understood this concern and agreed that some officers might not be willing to record compliments as they felt they were just doing their job. They explained that a standard definition had been put in place to allow officers to understand exactly what was considered to be a compliment. To further streamline the process, the new customer feedback system would give staff a single point of access to easily record compliments.
6. Members highlighted the benefits of providing a ratio of customer contacts compared to the number of complaints, as it was felt this would help to provide context to the number of complaints received. Officers agreed to consider new ways of visualising the data in future reports to provide appropriate context.
7. A short discussion was had relating to the top three complaint areas for the Council where Members suggested possible reasons for resident feedback.
8. Concern was raised over the benchmarking of Ombudsman complaints compared to other Local Authorities, as it was felt Surrey County Council should be more in line with Hertfordshire County Council.
9. Members discussed the training available for staff to ensure they were skilled enough to deal with a variety of situations; in particular the more challenging interactions with customers. It was noted that staff receive ‘soft skills training’ to improve their skills and confidence when speaking to residents.

Resolved:

The Audit & Governance Committee noted the Council’s complaint handling performance in 2017/18 and how feedback from customers had been used to improve services.