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Issue - meetings

Customer Complaints Policy and Procedure

 

 

Meeting: 21/11/2024 - Audit and Governance Committee (Item 306)

306 Customer Complaints Policy and Procedure pdf icon PDF 522 KB

Purpose

This report presents a new customer complaints policy and process which complies with the new Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code for Member authorisation, and a revised Staff Personal Safety Policy / Unreasonable Behaviour

 

Recommendations

That the Audit and Governance Committee resolves to:

1.    Approve the implementation of the new Customer Complaints Policy and Procedure

2.    Note the revised Staff Personal Safety Policy / Unreasonable Behaviour

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Business Manager for Continuity, Governance and Risk introduced the Customer Complaints Policy and Procedure.

 

Following a consultation the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman had encouraged councils to adopt a new Complaint Handling Code by April 2026. The Council was looking to embed this Code which would involve moving from a 3-stage complaint process to a 2-stage process. Customers would need to exhaust the 2-stage process before escalating their complaint to the Ombudsman. Staff were being made aware of the new process.

 

The Committee questioned how the process would work. The Business Manager explained that at stage 1 the service area would respond. The customer could then decide whether to escalate their complaint. The second stage went to a complaints team who are independent in considering whether complaints have been dealt with satisfactorily at stage 1.

 

The Committee queried whether financial remedy should be included in the list of remedies. The Deputy Chief Executive Officer confirmed that any financial remedy would need to be fair and proportionate. The Business Manager confirmed that the list of remedies had been provided by the Ombudsman and that financial remedies were very rare. The Council wouldn’t pay the costs of any third parties engaged to act on a complainant’s behalf and the Committee suggested that this could be clarified in the Policy and Procedure.

 

The Committee suggested that Members should be offered a briefing on the new process and that a summary of how people could complain about elected members should be included in the Policy and Procedure document.

 

In response to a question, the Business Manager confirmed that any complaint about an individual senior officer would most likely be a matter for HR to investigate rather than a matter for the complaints process.

 

The Chair drew attention to a typographical error at the bottom of page 32.

 

The Business Manager explained that the Ombudsman recommended that councils adopt an Unreasonable Behaviour Policy (Annex B). The Council would hold a central register with restricted access which would be controlled and monitored by an officer governance group. Information and advice would be made available to officers who were visiting addresses on the list.

 

The Committee noted that Members would benefit from knowing about specific issues within their wards and suggested that Members should be briefed in confidence on any such issues. The Director of Governance and Development suggested that the Council engages with the police on the safety of elected Members and election candidates more generally.

 

The Committee questioned whether people would be entitled to know whether they were on the list. The Business Manager confirmed that people would be notified if they were on the list with reasons and details of the appeals process.

 

The Audit and Governance Committee resolved to:

  1. Approve the implementation of the new Customer Complaints Policy and Procedure, subject to the revisions noted above.
  2. Note the revised Staff Personal Safety Policy / Unreasonable Behaviour.

 

 

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