Agenda item

To give the Audit & Governance Committee an overview of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s (LGSCO) annual letter for the year 2022/23 and an update on complaint handling across the council.

Witnesses:

Jessica Brooke, Customer Relations Team Manager

Susan Grizzelle, Head of Customer Services

Key points raised in the discussion:

1.    The Customer Relations Team Manager introduced the report and highlighted the paragraphs concerning: complaint handling training whereby the delivery of the five training courses would continue into the new year, the issuing of one public report about the Council during 2022/23 regarding the failure to deliver special educational provision set out in Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), the volume of complaints recorded which was 215, the 193 decisions issued and whether those were upheld or discontinued, the increase in Education and Children's complaints compared to the previous year and the root cause of those complaints was perceived poor standards of communication, and the volume of financial remedies exceeded those in the previous year by almost £68,000 largely in Education Services reflecting the difficulties in progressing EHCPs.

2.    The Customer Relations Team Manager noted the lessons learnt whereby: in Children's Social Care they had revised the Direct Payment Policy and families could access support before applying for funding, the Home to School Transport Policy had been revised and the team restructured improving communication and focusing on early resolution leading to the significant decrease in complaints, staffing had been increased to ensure Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) requests are completed in a timely way. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) acknowledged the satisfactory remedy provided by the Council in 9% of the upheld cases and concerning benchmarking, 84% of the complaints investigated by the LGSCO were upheld; those figures were higher than other local authorities and the criteria used compared to previous years had been tightened. The Annual Letter was positive, highlighting the Council’s collaboration with the LGSCO and challenges faced nationally.

Paul Follows joined the meeting at 10.09 am.

3.    The Vice-Chairman noted concern regarding the 51% of complaints which were responded to within the timescale in Children’s Social Care, he asked whether there would be operational changes to reduce the timescales. The Customer Relations Team Manager recognised that the timeliness of responses across the Council was not good enough, the main issue rested with Children, Families and Lifelong Learning (CFLL) and she would liaise with the Head of Customer Engagement and System Development to provide a response to what was being done. The Head of Customer Services highlighted the improving trajectory. The Corporate team for example had filled its vacancies and response rates should improve by the end of the year. She explained that a Task and Finish Group had been established to look at the timeliness, consistency and quality of responses across all three teams; results to follow in the new year.

4.    The Vice-Chairman asked whether the Council was using artificial intelligence (AI) to communicate with its customers. The Customer Relations Team Manager noted that chatbots were being used when communicating with residents and due to the complexity of complaints, chatbots were useful in providing generic as opposed to specific responses. Increasing the use of AI was being explored whilst operating within the confines of data protection.

5.    A Committee member referred to the Council’s investment in good complaint handling training and asked how many staff members took part in that training and how many were able to attend. The Customer Relations Team Manager noted that eight sessions had been arranged with eighteen members of staff attending each one, that training was expanded outside of the Customer Relations teams to officers who responded to the first stage of the process. A couple of hundred were identified and most attended. Going forward a minimum of two sessions of training would be carried out yearly, planning was underway for the next few.

6.    The Chairman asked for an explanation to be provided as to why so many cases were escalated to the LGSCO despite the Council having resolved those. The Customer Relations Team Manager explained that the escalation of complaints was the choice of customers if they were unhappy with the Council’s resolution. Of those escalated 55% were discontinued by the LGSCO.

7.    A Committee member noted that the volume of financial remedies exceeded last year, he noted that it would be useful for the Committee, Members and residents to be able to see a dashboard or a Key Performance Indicator setting out the year-on-year comparison to enable the evaluation of improvements being made. The Customer Relations Team Manager believed that the comparison of financial remedies to the previous year was provided in the complaints annual report, a comparison with previous years could be included in the complaints annual report going forward. If more frequent updates were requested, she would have to negotiate with the Head of Customer Services.

8.    A Committee member referred to the number of lessons learned noting the establishment of the Task and Finish Group, he asked whether there was an action plan available regarding those improvements. The Head of Customer Services noted that there was a document which she could share that set out the parameters of that Task and Finish Group. She also noted that there had been a gap for the past few years regarding a link officer - senior practice lead - with the LGSCO which had until recently been covered. That senior practice lead would sit across the three teams to drive improvement and response times.

9.    The Chairman referred to that senior practice lead being recruited asking when benefits would be seen of their employment. The Head of Customer Services noted that recruitment would begin next week, the role required someone with a particular career background around handling complaints at a senior level in a local authority or coming from the LGSCO itself. That person would sit on the senior management team so would have a wider scope and would fill that gap, to be in place early in the new year and to start making a difference in the spring. 

10.  To improve elected Member oversight of LGSCO cases and decisions, a Committee member referred to paragraph 11 and the process put in place to notify relevant Cabinet Members. He asked whether a recommendation could be added for all Members to see that information referred to in paragraph 11 in a timely manner - not just Cabinet Members - to show the improvements made. The Customer Relations Team Manager explained that the Housing Ombudsman and LGSCO had recently published a proposal for a joint code of complaint handling, within that code one of the recommendations was the appointment of a Member as a complaint lead. If that joint code is confirmed the implementation would be around April 2024; exploring that dissemination of information with that Member would then be explored. In the interim a measure could be put in place regarding the sharing of that information. The Committee member noted that was reassuring however his ask was for a recommendation by the Committee now, the Chairman supported that additional recommendation.

11.  The Head of Customer Services noted that from spring complaints across all three teams were collated in one document and sent to the relevant Cabinet Member, the Leader and Chief Executive weekly. There was also a new quarterly report which pulled together those three teams’ activity and performance; she was unsure whether the Committee was on those distribution lists. The Chairman welcomed the Committee to be included in those distribution lists going forward.

12.  The Chairman requested that an item be added to the work plan for the next Committee meeting in January where officers would present the results of the Task and Finish Group.

13.  The Chairman referred to paragraph 27 on financial remedies, noting the LGSCO directed payments between £400 and £600 monthly for Home to School Transport, that equated to £125 weekly and so presumed that it would be cheaper for the Council to provide taxis for children to go to school rather than the Council being fined. The Customer Relations Team Manager would need to follow that up with the Assistant Director - Support Services (CFLL). She noted that most of those LGSCO directed payments were for missed education, as of September the LGSCO was issuing remedies of around £450 per month for missed education. She noted that the length of time that remedies were paid tended to be quite short, figures increased concerning the length of time a child been without education.

Ayesha Azad joined the meeting at 10.26 am.

14.  A Committee member referred to paragraph 50 which stated that the complaints process did not have any direct risk management implications. He noted that the Committee reviewed the Risk Management Strategy at its last meeting and he sought a recommendation from the Committee that the risks in this area are considered in line with that strategy to actively manage those going forward. The Chairman agreed with that additional recommendation.

15.  A Committee member asked whether benchmarking with comparable authorities had been done on the number of complaints percentage wise that had been upheld. The Customer Relations Team Manager noted that data gathering was underway, comparing with bordering authorities in the South East and comparable authorities at a national level. The challenge was that each local authority managed their complaints differently so it was hard to compare complaints recorded and upheld rates, the Council itself had five complaints procedures and of those, two were statutory.

RESOLVED:

1.    The Committee noted the report.

2.    All Members would be provided with the information set out in paragraph 11 of the report regarding the notification of LGSCO cases and decisions, to show the improvements made and to extend communication and transparency.

3.    The risks regarding the complaints process would be considered in line with the council’s Risk Management Strategy to actively manage those risks going forward.

Actions/further information to be provided:

1.    A29/30 - The Customer Relations Team Manager / Head of Customer Services will follow up the second additional recommendation.  

2.    A30/23 - The Customer Relations Team Manager / Head of Customer Services will follow up the third additional recommendation.  

3.    A31/23 - The Customer Relations Team Manager will liaise with the Head of Customer Engagement and System Development to provide a response to what was being done in CFLL to increase the timeliness of responses to complaints.

4.    A32/23 - The Customer Relations Team Manager will look to provide a dashboard or Key Performance Indicator within the complaints annual report going forward setting out the year-on-year comparison regarding the volume of financial remedies to enable the evaluation of improvements being made.

5.    A33/23 - The Head of Customer Services will share the document which set out the parameters of the Task and Finish Group.

6.    A34/23 - The Head of Customer Services will add the Committee in the weekly distribution list regarding the collated complaints across all three teams; and the distribution list regarding the new quarterly report which pulled together those three teams’ activity and performance.

7.    A35/23 - The Committee Manager will add an item to the work plan for the next Committee meeting in January where officers will present the results of the Task and Finish Group.

8.    A36/23 - The Customer Relations Team Manager will follow up the query with the Assistant Director - Support Services (CFLL) concerning Home to School Transport around whether it would be cheaper for the Council to provide taxis for children to go to school rather than the Council being fined by the LGSCO.