1.        PURPOSE OF REPORT AND EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1.1     The briefings attached provide a summary of customer feedback received by the council for Quarter 4 of 2014/15 (Appendix 1) and for the whole year 2014/15 (Appendix 2).

1.2     The customer feedback contained in the briefings includes complaints, compliments and a summary of the main themes of the topics discussed on social media.

1.3     The following points should be noted as of particular interest for quarter 4:

·         That the proportion of complaints closed on time has increased compared to quarter 3 of 2014/15 and is now above the target of 95% set as a KPI for 2014/15

·         The  escalation rate from Stage 1 to  Stage 2 is the lowest for 2 years

·         Satisfaction with complaint handling is the highest it has been for 5 years).

1.4     The following points should be noted as of particular interest for the end of year report:

·         The number of complaints received has increased continuing the trend of the last 5 years

·         Despite good performance in quarter 4, the percentage of complaints closed on time has decreased 2% compared to 2013/14, to 93%, which is just below the 95% target

·         It appears complaints are rising across all services, as only seven services received less complaints in 2014/15 than in 2013/14.

2.        INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

2.1     The Council has a 2 stage process for dealing with complaints. At the first stage, the relevant Head of Service investigates and responds to the complaint. At the second stage the Head of Policy and Communications investigates the complaint. Once the complainant has exhausted this two stage process they may take their complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.

2.2     Complaints are recorded on a complaints system which is administered by the Policy and Information Team. Reports from this system form the basis of the Customer Feedback Briefings attached as appendices to this report.

2.3     The Policy and Information Team are also forwarded details of compliments received by other departments.

2.4     The Communications team create a quarterly round up of the main themes discussed on social media and send it to the Policy and Information Team. The themes on social media can give a wider context to issues that may generate large amounts of complaints and compliments.

2.5     These three elements are brought together in the Customer Feedback report to give an overall view of feedback received by the Council.

3.        AVAILABLE OPTIONS

3.1     The Committee could choose not to receive a regular update on customer feedback. HoHowewaslkfasdkl;fn;asdlfnasdnfasefn ,. nlzxck However these updates offer the committee the opportunity to have an ongoing view of the customer experience, emerging issues and areas form improvement.

4.        PREFERRED OPTION AND REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

4.1     For the Committee to continue receiving Customer Feedback Reports.

5.       CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

5.1     Corporate Leadership Team (CLT) asked for additional information to be added to this report around customer satisfaction for services (where this data is gathered), if appropriate. This has been added to the report.

5.2     Since CLT reviewed this report, extra information has been added regarding the Council’s performance for Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) Complaints. This information had not yet been published by the LGO when the report was reviewed by CLT.

6.       NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

6.1     The Policy and Information Team will communicate any decisions taken by the Committee to the relevant department for implementation or incorporate into future reports.

7.       CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

8.        REPORT APPENDICES

The following documents are to be published with this report and form part of the report:

·               Appendix I: Quarter 4 Customer Feedback Briefing

·               Appendix II: 2014/2015 Customer Feedback Briefing

·               Appendix III: Local Government Ombudsman Annual Review Letter

9.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

None