TO: THE EXECUTIVE 14 SEPTEMBER 2010

COMPLAINTS AGAINST BRACKNELL FOREST COUNCIL IN 2009/10 Assistant Chief Executive

1 PURPOSE OF DECISION 1.1 To brief the Executive about complaints made against the Council in 2009/10, as part of the

ongoing work to be responsive to residents’ concerns, in pursuit of Medium Term Objective 10 (‘To be accountable and provide excellent value for money’).

2 RECOMMENDATION 2.1 That the approach taken to dealing with and learning from complaints to the Council

be endorsed; 2.2 That the Annual Review letter of the Local Government Ombudsman to the Council

for 2009/10 be noted; and 2.3 That the information on other complaints against the Council in 2009/10 be noted. 3 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 To give the Executive information on an important aspect of the Council’s services to

residents, in keeping with the Council’s Charter for Customers, which includes always putting the customer first and continually aiming to improve the Council’s service and performance.

3.2 To continue the implementation of the corporate Customer Contact Strategy, endorsed by

the Council’s Executive on 20 November 2007. This strategy has six key objectives, one of which is to make the customer feel important to the Council.

4 ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED 4.1 None. 5 SUPPORTING INFORMATION

Annual Review Letter From the Local Government Ombudsman 5.1 The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) has statutory powers under the Local

Government Act 1974 to investigate complaints of injustice arising from maladministration by local authorities and certain other bodies. There are three Local Government Ombudsmen in England and they investigate complaints about most council matters including housing, planning, education, social services, consumer protection, drainage and council tax.

5.2 The LGO requires complainants to give the council concerned an opportunity to deal with a

complaint against it first, using the council's own complaints procedure, and if this has not been done, the LGO deems such complaints to be ‘premature’. If the complainant is not

satisfied with the action the council takes, he or she can send a written complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman, or ask a councillor to do so on their behalf. The LGO’s Annual Letter is therefore an important, independent ‘barometer’ of the effectiveness of the Council’s complaints resolution process and service to residents generally.

5.3 The objective of the LGO is to secure, where appropriate, satisfactory redress for

complainants and better administration for the authorities. Since 1989, the LGO has had power to issue advice on good administrative practice in local government based on experience derived from his investigations. To this end, the LGO has published guidance on good practice on setting up complaints systems, good administrative practice, council housing repairs, members' interests, disposal of land and remedies, also statistics on complaints for all councils, and digests of cases.

5.4 Within the Council, the Chief Executive’s Office co-ordinates the responses to any

complaints referred from the LGO to the Council (except statutory social services cases which are dealt with by the department concerned), and acts as the main liaison point with the LGO. The Head of Overview and Scrutiny held an annual liaison meeting with the Assistant Ombudsman in May 2010, and the LGO has commented that the liaison arrangements are working well.

5.5 The LGO’s Annual Review Letter to the Council for 2009/10 is attached at Appendix 1,

which includes an analysis of complaints received by the LGO. The key points are:

a) The LGO’s conclusion is, ‘Overall, we have received fewer complaints about your authority, we have investigated fewer complaints and have found very little evidence of fault. And where we have contacted your Council, we have been impressed with the speed and quality of your officers’ responses.’

b) 18 complaints were received in 2009/10, nine fewer than in 2008/09, and it is notable that only 11 of these were forwarded to the LGO’s investigative team to pursue.

c) The incidence of complaints received by the LGO is fairly evenly distributed between the Council’s service areas, but notably none on Children’s social services.

d) There have been no findings by the LGO against the Council for maladministration (‘MI reps’ and ‘M reps’ in the table). Although it is not mentioned in this letter, the last finding of maladministration against Bracknell Forest Council by the LGO was in the year 2000.

e) Exceptionally, there have been no local settlement (monetary compensation) LGO cases in 2009/10 (there were seven cases in 2008/09 and two in 2007/08).

f) In 5 cases, the LGO concluded that there had been no maladministration by the Council (‘No Mal’ in the table), and one case was not pursued mainly due to insufficient evidence (‘Omb disc’ in the table).

g) The total number of complaints (6), excluding premature complaints, ‘determined’ by the LGO concerning Bracknell Forest in 2009/10 is less than half the 15 cases determined in 2008/09.

h) The Council’s average speed in responding to LGO cases has markedly improved from 22.2 days last year to 13.4 days in 2009/10. This is unlikely to be repeatable, as the low volume and generally lower complexity of cases in 2009/10 contributed to faster processing. The 13.4 days average turnaround achieved is less than half the 28 days deadline set by the LGO. 68% of all Unitary Authorities responded in less than 28 days on average during 2009/10.

5.6 The Council’s performance on LGO cases compared to the average for all Unitary

Authorities in Berkshire, all Unitary Authorities nationally, and all local authorities nationally is shown in Appendix 2. Bracknell Forest’s statistics for 2009/10 are better than these comparator groups in all cases.

5.7 In summary, the volume of complaints to the LGO concerning Bracknell Forest Council can

be regarded as very low compared to the huge number of customer interactions by the Council each year. The extent to which complaints are upheld is lower still.

Other Complaints Against the Council

5.8 The Council’s overall complaint statistics are given in Appendix 3. These exclude

complaints dealt with verbally at the point of service, such as verbal reports to front line staff, where issues are resolved locally. No central records are kept of such complaints. The figures in Appendix 3 include complaints relating to social services. Members should note that there are also separate statutory annual reports produced by the Adult Social Care & Health, also the Children, Young People and Learning Departments. The figures in Appendix 3 on LGO cases differ to those in the LGO’s annual letter due to timing differences in recording by the LGO and the Council. The main themes from the complaints statistics in Appendix 3 are:

a) There has been a reduction of 3 (4%) in the overall number of reported complaints in

2009/10 compared to 2008/09. This maintains the substantial reduction achieved between 2007/08 and 2008/09, due partly to the transfer of Council homes in February 2008.

b) The statistics continue to show that the great majority of complaints are resolved without recourse to later stages in the process.

Learning From Complaints in 2009/10

5.9 The Council’s overall approach has continued, to train and empower front line staff to deal

effectively with complaints at the earliest opportunity. As part of the Council’s Customer Contact Strategy, Departmental Performance Monitoring Reports (PMR) and records provide information on how the Council has learnt from complaints. Examples of this learning process in 2009/10 have included:

Adult Social Care and Health

(i) In responding to a complaint regarding adult social care, officers acknowledged that

there were a number of occasions where the complainant had received correspondence from the Financial Assessment team which did not take into account telephone conversations held with officers. The Chief Officer commissioned an internal investigation and reviewed the internal processes to ensure that this problem did not recur. As a result:

• typing errors and incorrect information in correspondence were brought to the

attention of management and the staff involved. • Assurances were given that the team involved would ensure a greater degree of

quality was adhered to in all customer communications in the future. • Relevant staff on the Financial Assessment team were to receive formal training on

customer care. • The complainant had continued to be sent duplicate invoices whilst the complaint was

ongoing. The Council undertook to review its processes to ascertain how improvements could be made.

(ii) The Criteria for admission into the Bridgewell Centre have been strengthened

including changes to protocols. (iii) It was identified that more continuity of care management is required in relation to

supporting people under the Mental Health Act. (iv) Some channels of communication need to be clearer between service users and

service providers within Adult Social Care. (v) Following a complaint concerning interaction with social workers, the department

said this feedback would be used to inform training and advice to staff about their role at hospital discharge.

(vi) A complaint in respect of the provision of respite care was upheld, and this resulted in a review of communication procedures.

Children, Young People and Learning

(vii) The department reviewed the approach to strategy meetings to manage the

complaint investigation within Children’s Social Care. (viii) Arising from a complaint in respect of the attitude of a foster panel to prospective

foster carers, all professionals involved were informed of the views of the complainant.

Corporate Services/Chief Executive’s Office

(ix) Arising from a complaint that a recruitment advertisement included length of local

government service as a selection criterion, this requirement was excluded from recruitment advertisements.

(x) As part of the Citizens Advice Bureau’s National Campaign "Putting Bailiffs on the Spot", the Council’s Revenue Services officers met with representatives of the Bracknell & District Citizens Advice Bureau to review the Council’s use of bailiffs to collect Council Tax arrears. The Bureau reported that they were satisfied the Council’s use of bailiffs was in accordance with legal requirements, and commented that the use complied with “good practice” in selecting cases for referral to the bailiffs and the provision of advice to those having difficulty in paying their tax. The Council also agreed to review: the wording and style of letters used; the Council Tax web pages to include contacts for residents encountering payment difficulties; and to review with the bailiffs the wording and style of the letters they use. The Bureau reported that the work undertaken as part of the report had “forged a stronger relationship between the Bureau and Revenue Services”.

(xi) The Human Resources section has delivered general customer service refresher training which included reference to complaint handling in terms of following the set procedure etc. In the main, this focussed on good customer service practice and behaviour and trying to identify ways of improving service delivery. This would have had the effect of driving down possible causes for complaints.

The Corporate Services Department is developing the Customer Contact Strategy, which will include a review of the Council’s Charter for Customers and the corporate complaints procedure. Environment, Culture and Communities

(xii) A complaint against the Council’s landscape service concerned a lack of response

to request for mowing and flower bed maintenance, the area in question having not been tended to since August 2007. A letter was sent confirming that a team would be sent in to address the situation. An offer was also made to meet on site to discuss the way forward.

6 ADVICE RECEIVED FROM STATUTORY AND OTHER OFFICERS Borough Solicitor 6.1 Nothing to add to this report.

Borough Treasurer 6.2 There are no financial implications arising from the recommendations in this report.

Impact Assessment 6.3 There are no direct impact issues to be considered. Strategic Risk Management Issues 6.4 This report presents no strategic risk management issues for the Council.

Other Officers 6.5 The views of other relevant officers in departments have been sought in the production of

this information report. 7 CONSULTATION Principal Groups Consulted 7.1 Corporate Management Team Method of Consultation 7.2 Consultation was carried out on the draft information report. Representations Received 7.3 None. Background Papers Corporate performance Overview Reports 2009/10 Contact for further information Victor Nicholls, Assistant Chief Executive Victor.nicholls@bracknell-forest.gov.uk Tel: 01344 355604 Richard Beaumont, Head of Overview & Scrutiny Richard.beaumont@bracknell-forest.gov.uk Tel: 01344 352283 Doc. Ref H:\ALLUSE\Performance and Improvement\Complaints and Correspondence

Appendix 1

Appendix 2

Ombudsman Complaints – National comparison Bracknell

Forest Berks Unitaries - Average

National Unitary Authorities – Average*

National Local Authorities - Average

Maladministration and Injustice Reports

2009-10 2008-09

0 0

0

0.2 0.3

0.8 0.2

0.3 Local Settlements 2009-10

2008-09

0 7

4

6.8 6.6

6.4 5.4

6.4 Maladministration Reports 2009-10

2008-09

0 0

0 0

0 0

0 0

No maladministration Reports

2009-10 2008-09

5 3

8

10.5 12.9

12.7 9.5

11.0 Ombudsman’s Discretion 2009-10

2008-09

1 5

4.5

5.8 6.3

6.6 5.4

5.8 Outside Jurisdiction 2009-10

2008-09

0 0

3.7

3.7 4.6

3.9 3.7

3.6 Source – Local Government Ombudsman Website *Excluding London Borough Councils

Appendix 3

COMPLAINTS – 2009/10

Department Statutory Stage 1

Statutory Stage 2

Stage 2

Stage 3

Stage 4

Ombudsman Total Complaints

Chief Executive’s Office

N/A N/A 0 1 0 0 1

Corporate Services

N/A N/A 14 1 0 0 15 Environment, Culture and Communities

N/A N/A 10 0 1 4 15

Children, Young People & Learning

10 4 13 0 0 2 29

Adult Social Care & Health

15 0 0 0 0 1 16

Total

25

4

37

2

1

7

76

COMPLAINTS – 2008/09

Department Stage 2 Stage 3

Stage 4 Ombudsman Total

Complaints Chief Executive’s Office

0 0 0 0 0 Corporate Services 17 1 0 0 18 Environment, Culture & Communities

8 4 2 8 22

Social Care and Learning

32 3 0 4 39 Total

57 8 2 12 79 Source – Corporate Performance Overview Reports, with later corrections from some departments Notes 1. From 1 April 2008, the classification of complaints changed from three to four stages, with the new stages 2, 3 and 4 equating to the former stages 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The new stage 1 complaints are not recorded centrally, as they are not in writing. 2. The Council’s departmental structure changed from 1 April 2010. 3. The figure of 7 Ombudsman cases differs to the 11 in the LGO’s annual review due to timing differences. 4. The 2008/09 figures include statutory cases.