Issue - meetings

To approve the report and offer any relevant comments or suggestions about the Council's performance in dealing with complaints in an appropriate and timely manner.

The report was submitted by Cllr Llio Elenid Owen.

DECISION

To approve the report and offer any relevant comments or suggestions about the Council's performance in dealing with complaints in an appropriate and timely manner.

DISCUSSION

Members were reminded that the ownership for responding to complaints sat within the individual Departments, but that the administration of the complaints procedure had now transferred to the Customer Contact team, with the exception of Social Services and Schools which had separate complaints arrangements.

It was highlighted that 69 Valid Formal Complaints and 49 Ombudsman Complaints had been received during the reporting period, which was an increase from the same period last year. It had been identified that the average number of days taken to respond to a complaint in the 25/26 period had been 18.3 days, which was also an increase from the previous year. It was mentioned that the main category of complaints received in this period was lack of response or action, with most complaints going to the Environment department or the Finance department.

Reference was made to the intention to undertake an internal review of how the Council responds to complaints using the Ombudsman's good practice as a basis for staff training and adapting digital systems, in conjunction with new Customer Care training for managers. Pride was expressed that the Success Wall was continuously growing and that this was a factor in raising staff morale. 

It was reiterated that further work was underway in relation to the way in which the public engaged with the Council, and the general enquiries that would also be made. It was added that the Council's website had also been updated to assist with this work.

Observations arising from the discussion:

·       It was emphasised that complaints were valuable to the Council in trying to improve services. Further clarity was sought in relation to the figures of complaints to the Ombudsman. In response, it was explained that a settlement was when there was an agreement between the Council and the complainant on a resolution to a complaint or the way forward.

·       Examples were provided of improvement in some departments' complaint figures compared to previous years, and the collaboration and communication that took place between the departments and the team.

·       Reference was made to the Ombudsman's Annual Report, explaining that it would include a table in which the Council's performance could be compared with other authorities.