Interview with Angela Woodhouse, Head of Policy and Communications

The Committee was asked to consider the report of the Head of Policy and Communications, Angela Woodhouse, regarding the Council’s performance in dealing with complaints during the 2013-14 financial year. It was noted that:

·  There had been a rise in complaints, but the trend was focused on issues that had occurred in services that had undergone change, and followed a trend of a general increase in complaints across other Local Authorities.

·  Customers who took matters to Stage 2 complaints felt that the issues expressed had not been comprehensively dealt with at Stage 1. In order to rectify this, training had been undertaken by key Officers to improve Stage 1 responses, and it was proposed that Customer Care training would be rolled out across the organisation.

In response to questions by Members the Head of Policy and Communications informed the Committee that:

·  Development Management made decisions which were not well received by some residents and which resulted in complaints regardless of the manner in which the customer was handled.

·  A Customer Feedback Survey was issued to those who had made a complaint to confirm that the issue had been resolved to the Customer’s satisfaction. This was in order to maintain an accurate account of performance, rather than assuming that a complainant who did not raise a Stage 2 complaint was satisfied with the result of the Stage 1 complaint.

RESOLVED:

a)  That the Council’s performance in dealing with complaints during 2013/14 be noted, in particular:

i)  The high number of complaints received by Environmental Services;

ii)  The low satisfaction rate with complaint handling for Development Management;

iii)  The high percentage of complaints that were found to be justified at stage 2;

iv)  The ‘lessons learned’ as a result of complaints; and

b)  That the issues highlighted by the Committee each quarter be recorded and highlighted in next year’s Annual Review of Complaints report.