BOROUGH OF PENDLE

REPORT OF: Corporate Strategy & Partnerships Manager

TO: Management Team

DATE: 18^th July 2006

COMPLAINT MONITORING - ANNUAL REPORT

(2005 - 2006)

Purpose of Report

This report presents an analysis of the documented complaints received by the Council across all departments for the full year 2005/06. The report is intended to highlight any areas of concern, trends and any long term corrective actions taken to prevent recurrence of complaints received.

Background

Each service area continues to document complaints, no matter how they are received, to help us identify any issues that are regularly causing problems.

By their very nature, complaints are varied and sometimes complex. It may not be immediately apparent that there is a problem that can be traced to a specific officer or policy.

Summary of analysis

The analysis attached with this report (Appendix 1) is based on twelve months information from 1^st April 2005 to 31^st March 2006 from all Service Areas. Key points to note are as follows:

The number of reported complaints received by the Council during 2005/06 is 441, compared with 550 during 2004/05. However, it must be noted that the figure for 2005/06 is not a true reflection of the total number of complaints received during this period.

- It has been brought to the attention of the Performance Management Officers that it had been agreed that, due to the high level of customer contact experienced by Operational Services following the introduction of the three stream waste collection system in June 2005, accurate figures for complaints would only be submitted from October 2005 onwards.

Given below is a brief breakdown of the numbers involved during Quarters 1 and 2 (complaints, requests and queries):-

June 2005 (from 20th) 420

July 2005 164

August 2005 103

September 2005 54

Total 741

As can be seen the numbers have steadily decreased over the four months detailed and this highlights that corrective action has been taken to improve the service provided. Accurate figures have been provided for Quarters 3 and 4.

The majority of complaints are being received by letter (50.8%) as has been the trend in previous years. However, for the first time, the figures show that complaints received by e-mail (19.7%) have now exceeded those by telephone (18.8%).

The category “Failure to meet the standard expected” attracted the most complaints this year, which is 58.5% (261) of the total logged.

Response times are well within set time limits, with very few going beyond 15 days.

Significantly, the majority of complaints (97.7%) are resolved at Stage 1 (front line staff) with very few being escalated to the Service Manager or Chief Executive.

As anticipated, Operational Services, Treasury and Housing have attracted the highest number of complaints this year due to the nature of the services provided and account for 39.5%, 21.1% and 13.2% respectively.

The Service Areas with no complaints reported over the year are Accountancy & Audit, Corporate Strategy and Partnerships Unit, ICT and Regeneration Unit.

Corrective Actions

The following corrective actions have been put into place during 2005/06 to ensure the effective and efficient resolving of various complaints received and attempt to avoid further complaints being made.

Human Resources - processes, procedures and deadlines were reviewed regarding Performance Development Plans and Qualification bids/budgets, so that money could be allocated before the start of the financial year. Thus making the gap between the training need being identified and the course start date shorter (i.e. reducing the lag time).

Parks, Cemeteries and Outdoor Recreation - most complaints are due to the public not understanding the work schedules which the Grounds Maintenance staff work to, therefore, these are now explained when a complaint of this nature is received.

Planning - a number of complaints were received related to a site in Trawden, which was undergoing redevelopment. To try to keep the complaints/queries to a minimum, the Service Manager regularly visited the site to ensure he had up-to-date information on the situation.

Treasury - it was highlighted via a number of complaints that additional training was required in specific areas. The provision of this extra training is now in place.

Ombudsman complaints

Despite our best efforts, some of our customers have felt the need to contact the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) in order to resolve their complaint.

This year (2005/06), the Ombudsman received 26 complaints from Pendle residents relating to a number of Service Areas. This compares well with the 24 that were received in 2004/05 and the 28 that were received in 2003/04.

The breakdown is as follows:

Highways 2

Housing (not including HB) 5

Local Taxation 4

Other 8

Planning 7

Total 26

Out of the 26 complaints where a decision has been reached, 10 were classed as “premature” - that is where the complainant has not allowed the Council an opportunity to deal with it in the first instance.

A breakdown of the remaining 16 is as follows:

4 complaints were settled locally where the Ombudsman agreed that the action taken by the Council was satisfactory to the complainant

There were 9 complaints where the Ombudsman found no evidence of maladministration

There were 3 complaints where the Ombudsman discontinued investigation due to no or insufficient evidence.

Whilst the Ombudsman was satisfied with the way the Council dealt with the complaints it had received, it has been reported that the Council failed to respond within the required target of 28 days to the LGO's enquiries.

It appears that our performance on the time taken to send a detailed response to the Ombudsman's first enquiry letter has deteriorated to an average of 32.1 days.

However, it is important to note that the average response time has been skewed by 3 cases where it was necessary to research further information or clarification, or meet with the complainant. In each case the Ombudsman was informed of the reasons for the delay and these were considered to be acceptable.

The Ombudsman has confirmed that without these 3 cases, the Council would have comfortably met the target of 28 days.

Conclusions

Given the amount of information provided for analysis:

it could be interpreted that the number of complaints received by the Council have reduced considerably, however, it is important to note the comments detailed in Para. 4

it can be seen that the number of complaints being received via e-mail are increasing (an increase of 12.1% when compared with 2004/05)

the majority of complaints continue to be resolved effectively and efficiently at Stage 1 (officer level) within 15 working days. Only a very small number progress to Stages 2 and 3 and exceed the 15 day timeframe

it is apparent that some Service Areas are open to a high number of complaints due to the nature of the services provided (e.g. benefits, Council Tax) and not necessarily due to the level of service provided.

Recommendation

Management Team is asked to note the contents of this report, and to approve its publication for public availability both in printed format and on the Council's website.

Town Hall,

NELSON,

Report Authors: Marie Mason Tel: (01282) 661790

Zarka Nazir Tel: (01282) 661973

E-Mail: [email address]

[email address]

Background Papers: Reports received from the Complaint Co-ordinators held within the Performance Management and Programmes Team and are available upon request.

Date: 13^th July 2006

APPENDIX 1

COMPLAINT ANALYSIS - PROFORMA (April 2005 to March 2006)

ALL SERVICE AREAS

Totals

Total number of complaints Quarter 1 - 101

Quarter 2 - 60 Quarter 3 - 142

Quarter 4 - 138 (441 - year to date)

Service Area Breakdown

No. 2005/06 2004/05

Accountancy & Audit 0 0% 0%

Corporate Strategy

& Partnerships 0 0% 0.18%

Democratic & Legal 4 0.9% 0%

Environmental Health 9 2% 1.82%

Estates 1 0.2% 0.91%

Highways 19 4.3% 5.45%

Housing 58 13.2% 22.00%

Human Resources 7 1.6% 0.18%

ICT 0 0% 0.54%

Operational Services 174 39.5% 40.18%

Parks & Cemeteries 43 9.8% 8.36%

Planning & BC 33 7.5% 5.27%

Regeneration 0 0% 0.18%

Treasury services 93 21.1% 14.91%

TOTAL 441

Method of Complaint

No. 2005/06 2004/05

Telephone 83 18.8% 30.7%

Letter 224 50.8% 52%

E-mail 87 19.7% 7.6%

In person 10 2.3% 1.8%

PBC leaflet 18 4.1% 1.6%

Other 19 4.3% 6.2%

TOTAL 441

Category of Complaint

No. 2005/06 2004/05

A - Dissatisfaction with the way the Council 36 8.1% 9.27%

reached a decision

B - Employee attitude 23 5.2% 5.63%

C - Delays in responding 24 5.4% 3.27%

D - Failure to meet standard expected 261 58.5% 49.82%

E - Response to request for information 16 3.6% 5.45%

F - Other 86 19.3% 25.45%

TOTAL FOR CATEGORIES 446

(NB: a complaint may refer to more than one category)

Response times

Average response times have been well within the 15 days allowed, although 22 (5%) of the 441 complaints reported did go beyond this accepted timescale.

Once again, most complaints (431) were resolved at Stage One (Officer level) with 9 going to Stage Two (Service Manager). Only one complaint escalated to the Chief Executive.

Developing trends

`Housing management' continues to receive the highest proportion of the complaints (44.8%) within Housing and Community Services.

Parks, Cemeteries and Outdoor Recreation have seen a rise in the number of complaints in their service area, although the majority of these appear to be `service requests' such as litter, vandalism and grass cutting.

Compliments

The number of compliments reported for the year is 45 and these are as detailed below:

Treasury Services 13

Human Resources 12

Housing & Community Services 6

Environmental Health & Urban Renewal 6

Parks, Cemeteries & Outdoor Recreation 4

Operational Services 3

Estates & Property Services 1