Agenda Item No_____17_______
COMPLIMENTS AND COMPLAINTS MONITORING REPORT
Summary:
This report provides Members with an overview of
compliments and complaints received by the
organisation during the period 1 April 2011 and 31
March 2012 along with an overview of recent and
forthcoming activities.
Conclusions:
This report shows that complaints acknowledged have
remained at 100% and complaints responded to within
timescale, compared to the same period in 2010/11
have increased from 71% to 74%.
Recommendations:
It is recommended that Members note the contents
of this report.
Cabinet Member(s)
Ward(s) affected
Cllr Tom FitzPatrick
All
Contact Officer, telephone number and email:
Estelle Packham
01263 516079
estelle.packham@north-norfolk.gov.uk
Jane Wisson
01263 516096
Jane.wisson@north-norfolk.gov.uk
1.
Introduction
1.1
This report provides Members with an overview of the corporate compliments
and complaints results during the period 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2012.
2.
Current Situation
2.1
Complaints are being analysed to identify areas that need improvement. This
information is then used to decide what action needs to be taken. For
example this could be additional training for an individual or a change within a
process.
2.2
Service areas have a Complaints Coordinator who liaises with the Complaints
Champion (Jane Wisson – Customer Services Team Leader) on a regular
basis. This ensures that the administration, learning and actions are carried
out as appropriate.
3.
Next Steps
3.1
There is one service area, Environmental Health, where not all complaints are
logged within the corporate database. This is because if the complaints go
direct to the service area they are logged on their own Customer
Management System. To avoid duplication of work integration between the
two systems is currently being explored. Although on the ICT work
programme for future development it has been re-scheduled due to the
Revenues & Benefits shared services project.
3.2
In order to demonstrate to our customers that the Council is listening to the
issues they raise with us, we need to communicate where changes are being
made in order to benefit our customers, for example the redesign of a
process. This will help to improve the perception of the Council.
3.3
A review of corporate compliments and complaints will be completed between
July and September of this year. The review will include…
• The procedure including the number of stages
• Documentation
• Management of the process
• Develop a culture to focus on delivering outcomes
• Creating consistency
3.4
To assist the Compliment and Complaints Champion with the review, Local
Government Ombudsman training will be undertaken.
4.
Feedback Analysis
4.1
Complaints Coordinators are now reporting on the learning outcomes for the
complaints received within the organisation. However with such small
volumes in each service area commonalities where best practise can be
identified and shared are limited.
5.
Complaints
5.1
For the twelve month period 1 April 2011 to the 31 March 2012 the Council
received 124 complaints in relation to a range of services.
5.2
Of those 124 complaints there is evidence that 100% were acknowledged in
writing within timescale.
5.3
74% of all complaints were responded to within our target timescale. This
shows that responses to complaints have increased by 3%.
5.4
In the same period we also received correspondence on 14 complaints
referred to the Local Government Ombudsman. 12 of these have been
responded to within timescales (86%). This shows an increase of 4%.
6.
MP Correspondence
6.1
In the period between 1 April 2011 and 31 March 2012 the Council received
186 letters from all MP’s 116 of which (62%) were answered within 28 days.
7.
Compliments
7.1
A total of 40 compliments were received across all service areas during the
twelve month period. These reflected how well our colleagues dealt with an
enquiry and how we met or exceeded our customers expectations.
8.
Implications and Risks
8.1
Compliments and complaints represent an opportunity for the Council to
reflect on the way it provides its services to customers. It is important that we
are able to undertake timely and effective analysis in order to effect
appropriate service improvements thereby reducing the risk of further related
complaints.
8.2
The organisation has implemented and will continue to develop an ethos of
welcoming and encouraging feedback. We need to ensure that we
consistently and continually use this feedback to improve our services and
that we communicate this effectively in order to maintain and enhance our
reputation.
9.
Financial Implications and Risks
9.1
Some service delivery failures have the potential to lead to claims against the
Council for compensation, damages or restitution. For example, we have
examples when the Local Government Ombudsman has recommended a
financial remedy to satisfy a complaint. It is important to recognise that
effective complaints management can make a significant contribution to our
risk management strategy.
10.
Equality and Diversity
10.1
An equality impact assessment will be completed before a review of the
Compliments and Complaints process which is due to take place between
July and September 2012.
Feedback Overview 2011-2012
November
December
January
February
March
Total
6
13
10
13
11
14
124
Complaints
acknowledged within
timescale
6
5
11
10
11
14
6
13
10
13
11
14
124
Complaints responded
to within timescale
6
5
11
8
7
10
5
9
7
5
8
11
92
Type of Complaints
May
June
December
March
Attitude
1
2
Service Delivery
1
3
2
3
3
5
3
4
5
6
6
1
3
5
1
2
1
Competence
2
5
10
5
Total
October
14
February
September
11
January
August
10
November
July
11
October
June
5
September
May
6
August
April
Number of Complaints
July
Volumes and Response
Times 2011 - 2012
April
Complaints Overview
28
13
60
4
Other
9
2
2
2
2
5
3
1
1
31
Awaiting Training
Contact Service
Provider
Review Process
13
11
February
10
January
13
December
6
November
14
October
11
September
10
August
11
July
5
June
Actions Taken
6
May
Total
April
Timeliness
1
1
14
124
Total
4
March
Process
0
0
1
1
2
1
3
1
2
2
9
Training given
0
No Further Action
5
2
8
10
11
14
5
11
10
13
11
13
113
Total
6
5
11
10
11
14
6
13
10
13
11
14
124
Actions taken had been added since April 2011. Contact Service Provider are where we are working in
partnership with other service providers eg. Kier
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
2
1
5
1
4
1
6
2
2
Total
May
3
March
April
Benefits
February
Complaints by Service
Area
2
4
33
1
2
1
CEO
Community
0
1
Customer Services
1
Environmental Health
3
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
15
HR
0
1
Leisure
Planning
1
2
Property Services
1
1
2
Revenues
1
1
3
1
1
3
1
3
1
3
3
2
1
4
3
2
4
2
1
3
18
1
1
3
11
2
2
3
31
2
Strategic Housing
Tourism
Total
1
6
5
11
10
2
1
11
14
2
4
6
13
10
13
11
1
8
14
124
April
May
June
July
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
Total
Letters received
21
14
17
8
36
15
19
13
20
14
9
186
Letters responded to
within timescale
17
12
5
7
18
6
13
10
17
8
3
116
July
December
September
October
November
January
February
March
3
1
2
2
2
2
1
1
14
Complaints responded
to within timescale
2
1
1
2
2
2
1
1
12
Total
June
Complaints received
Ombudsman
Complaints
August
May
August
MP Letters
April
Environmental Health statistics do not include those complaints that go direct to the service area - these
are added to their own system (M3)
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
Total
4
5
6
10
3
4
1
1
2
1
40
July
August
September
October
November
December
January
February
March
3
2
3
4
3
2
2
Competence
Meeting or Exceeding
Service Delivery
Other
1
Service delivery
1
20
0
2
2
4
2
1
2
1
15
0
3
Timeliness
Total
1
Total
June
3
June
Attitude
May
Type of Compliments
April
No Of compliments
May
April
Compliments Received
4
1
0
3
4
5
6
10
3
1
4
1
1
2
1
40