Agenda item

To provide an update on complaint statistics recorded about Surrey County Council and its performance in responding to Ombudsman investigations, following the publication of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Review Letter for 2023/24.

Speakers:

Sarah Bogunovic, Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy

Eleanor Brown, Assistant Director - Customer Experience

Sam Reynolds, Head of Customer Engagement and System Development

Steve Tanner, Interim Assistant Director - Inclusion and Additional Needs – North East

Key points raised in the discussion:

1.   The Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy outlined the analysis overview section, highlighting that in 2023/24 the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman recorded an increased volume of complaints about Surrey County Council: 324 complaints compared to 215 complaints the previous year. Compared to its peers the Council had a high volume of complaints being investigated and the 89% uphold rate was higher than the 85% national average. The Council’s had a disproportionate number of complaints about Education Services, specifically Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), with 116 upheld complaints. External pressures included a shortage of Educational Psychologists, high demand for services in Surrey and over 15,000 children and young people on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). The Council in 2023 invested £15 million in a recovery plan.

2.   The Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy explained that due to the time lag between complaints being made to the Council and then decided on by the Ombudsman, it was anticipated that it would take a further year before the impact of improvement activity would be reflected in the Ombudsman's data. 71% of the upheld complaints in 2023/24 related to events that took place in previous years, less Ombudsman enquiries had been received so far this year compared to the previous year.

3.   The Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy noted that despite having a higher volume of cases, no concerns were raised about the timeliness or quality of the Council's response to the enquiries. Around £540,000 was paid out in 2023/24 for financial redress, £345,000 of that was Ombudsman directed. The Council sought to review the process and oversight around financial redress, ensuring early action and positive interventions; using the learning gained from complaints. As part of the recommendations from the operational review into complaints handling, a Senior Complaints Practice Lead had been reinstated to build consistency in practice and to improve organisational oversight. The Customer Transformation Programme was an opportunity to take a cross-organisational approach to improve processes and performance.

4.   Responding to a query by a Committee member on the Council’s compliance rate with the Ombudsman's recommendations, the Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy clarified that the Council complied with 100% of the Ombudsman’s recommendations; the Council was in line with its peers, it was rare for a council to refuse to take forward the recommendations.

5.   The Chairman queried whether a complaint was only received by the Ombudsman if the complainant was unhappy with how it was being dealt with by the Council. The Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy explained that it was a legal right for anyone to take a complaint to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman normally requires that the complaint has gone through the council's local complaints handling process, but in can use its discretion to take a complaint on directly.

6.   A Committee member asked what progress had been made on the operational review and action plan with a completion target date of 31 March 2025. The Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy noted that the new Senior Complaints Practice Lead would work through those actions. The Assistant Director - Customer Experience noted that over the past six weeks, a new monthly complaints report had been implemented replacing the weekly update, it would enable trend analysis pulling out themes and the learning used would drive improvement. Statutory and non-statutory complaints would be included in that report going forward, to be received by CLT and directors. She noted that data extraction from the current case management system was difficult and was looking to procure a new complaints case management system.  

7.   The Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy added that Ombudsman training was being commissioned for specified complaint handlers, looking at how each staff member manages a complaint once received to ensure early resolution. The work was aligned with the Customer Transformation Programme, core customer interaction skills training had been rolled out to 150 staff, to be expanded Council-wide; using automation to increase the visibility of complaints data was being reviewed to improve oversight. The actions were on track to be completed by the end of March, the Committee would receive an update in November as scheduled.

8.   A Committee member noted that it was significant that the Council was at the bottom of the table compared to its peers with more complaints around EHCPs and the process, £15 million had been earmarked to address that. She sought assurance that by next April the number of complaints would be less than they were in 2023/24. The Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy noted that it was not the position the Council wanted to be in when benchmarking against its peers.

9.   The Head of Customer Engagement and System Development explained that since last presenting to the Committee, the actions around putting in place four complaint leads within operational services and increasing the capacity of the Customer Relations Team within Children's Services had been done. The average working days to respond to a complaint had improved, and restorative practice and early resolution were areas of focus. The number of Stage 1 complaints raised were similar to last year, however the theme this year was not EHC Needs Assessments but missed provision and annual reviews delays. Stage 2 complaints were at a similar level reducing slightly, the biggest change was at Ombudsman level where those were reducing; there was a time lag. There was a Section 19 working group around children missing education and provision and regarding communications there was an Additional Needs partnership board.

10.   The Interim Assistant Director - Inclusion and Additional Needs – North East noted that the biggest category of complaints was EHCNAs concerning the process and timeliness. The timeliness had significantly improved from eighteen months ago in the low teens compared to now at 70% being completed on time due to the recovery work and investment; the number of complaints on EHCNAs educed from 70% to 10%. 9% of the complaints related to Annual Reviews, a backlog team focused on improving the timeliness from the mid-thirties to currently in the mid-fifties, the target was 75%. Missed provision was a challenge as the demand for specialist places was outstripping the capacity, alternatives were being reviewed to increase the type and range of provision.

11.   The Interim Assistant Director - Inclusion and Additional Needs – North East noted that there were a range of measures and strategies in place, focusing on early intervention and support without the need for statutory intervention. Regarding communications, there was relational working to improve the interactions with families to rebuild trust. There was also greater training and support to staff. Staffing challenges contributed to the poor timeliness, as the number of EHCNAs requests increased substantially and EHCPs had nearly doubled in the last five years. Fundamental to the end-to-end review was reviewing the right size of the service and ensuring an efficient process.

12.   Regarding the time lag, a Committee member suggested an additional column in future reports saying when the complaints had been instigated. The Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy noted that the date of the original complaint and date that it relates to could be added in.

13.   A Committee member noted the 141 upheld complaints and over £500,000 paid in compensation which was concerning, the number of complaints he received from residents had not decreased. Hoped that the report in November would detail the progress being made on the improvement actions, suggested the addition in the report of the number of complaints going to the Ombudsman during the current year that the Council was aware of and the matter.

14.   The Chairman calculated the average cost per upheld complaint was £4,000 per person, he asked whether there were outliers in financial redress per person. The Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy noted that the Ombudsman follows financial remedy guidance and its directed redress was £345,000; financial redress for distress, time and trouble tended to be lower payments. The rest of the total amount was paid through the Council’s local resolution process, it was case dependent. The total figure was significantly higher than expected and more analysis was needed regarding the level of payments directed by the Ombudsman, reviewing the drivers and patterns. The Head of Customer Engagement and System Development added that the amount of financial redress tended to be higher for complaints about Children's Social Care escalated to the Ombudsman, an outlier was a case of £40,000.

15.   The Head of Customer Engagement and System Development explained that from an education perspective, the most expensive remedies related to missed provision, that was calculated by the Ombudsman on a termly basis. Last year, there was a large volume of complaints at Stage 1 around EHCNAs received before the additional resource in the service to respond, leading to a higher rate of escalation to Stage 2 and to the Ombudsman. Complainants could take their complaint to the Ombudsman even if it was upheld at Stage 2 and a financial remedy given. The Ombudsman's practice had recently changed in terms of specific amounts that they were awarding at their investigation level that the Council was not awarding at Stage 2. It was hoped that the percentage of cases being resolved before Ombudsman receipt would increase.

16.   The Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy added that at the point of financial redress, there was a need for robust local procedures around how that is approved from the service budget; more organisational oversight was needed setting clear parameters and thresholds.

17.   The Chairman stressed that if the EHCP requests keep rising, it would be difficult to keep on top of the situation. The Interim Assistant Director - Inclusion and Additional Needs – North East noted that the EHCNA requests had decreased by 10% since September last year which was an improvement. However, those were being received at a rate that exceeded the rate at which plans are ceased at the other end so the overall number continued to increase, it was a national issue.

18.   A Committee member noted that the recovery plan recommended earlier intervention, so that parents know that they do not need to go down the EHCP route, the Council was supporting schools by putting in specialist training and teachers to support children showing signs of educational need earlier. The Interim Assistant Director - Inclusion and Additional Needs – North East noted that there were a range of early intervention measures in place.

RESOLVED:

1.    Noted the content of this report, the analysis of the LGSCO’s Annual Review Letter for 2023/24 and Surrey County Council’s performance compared to other similar councils.

2.    Noted the proposed improvement actions, with a further update on these to be provided as part of the mid-year complaints update, scheduled for November 2024.

Actions/further information to be provided:

1.    A31/24 - The Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy will for future reports add in the date of the original complaint and date that it relates to.

2.    A32/24 - Regarding November’s report to the Committee, the Assistant Director - Registrations, Coroner's Service & Customer Strategy will take on board the suggestion to include the addition of the number of complaints going to the Ombudsman during the current year that the Council is aware of and the matter.