Issue - meetings

The Chief Operating Officer set out details of the report which summarised the upheld complaints as determined by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) in 2020-22 and the statutory and corporate complaints for the period 2021-22.  The purpose of the report was to help drive improvements and contribute to the Council’s commitment to be a learning organisation.  The report covered a two year period.  In future annual reports would be provided. 

In 2020/21, one of the two LGSCO investigations were upheld and in 2021/22 four of the five investigations were upheld.  LGSCO were satisfied that the Council had implemented all the agreed recommendations following each of these investigations. 

The Council has started a review of its complaints process with the potential to move from a 3 to a 2 stage process.  The Committee reviewed the breakdown of complaints data as set out in the report, noting that more than 40% of complaints related to housing repair services provided by Osborne.  The Chief Operating Officer summarised the steps the Council was taking to strengthen the complaints process.

Members raised concerns about the fact that complaints had increased from 770 in 2020/21 to 975 in 2021/22 and the high proportion of complaints about Osborne’s performance on housing repairs.  Teams across SBC also needed to work more closely together and communicate better with residents.  It was responded that Osborne’s had put two more complaints handlers in place to seek to improve responsiveness, although several Members highlighted the importance of addressing the issues with housing repairs.

Members asked questions about the children’s service complaint which had erroneously said was ‘out of time’ and asked why the Council applied such a ‘rigid’ timescale even if it had been received after the deadline.  The Director of Children’s services explained the statutory process for complaints in this area and provided assurance that all complaints should be looked into as complaints, even if submitted after any prescribed deadlines.

A question was asked about whether the internal complaints data provided for Stage 1 complaints included numbers for referrals made by Councillors or only complaints received direct from the public.  It was agreed that this information would be provided to the Committee.

Members discussed the relationship between the number of complaints and the staffing issues the Council faced.  The Chief Operating Officer explained the significant amount of work taking place to rebuild the Council’s leadership and staffing capacity and agreed it was a priority as part of the Council’s recovery and improvement.

At the conclusion of the discussion the report was noted.

Resolved –

(a)  That the summary of upheld decisions by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman during 1st April 2020 - 31 March 2022 (Appendix A) be noted.

(b)  That the summary of statutory and corporate complaints during 1st April 2021 – 31 March 2022 be noted.

(c)  That the themes identified and the actions being taken to respond to these themes be noted.