MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL

CORPORATE SERVICES OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

9 APRIL 2013

REPORT OF HEAD OF CHANGE AND SCRUTINY

Report prepared by Angela Woodhouse 

1.           Draft Policy on Unreasonable and Unreasonably Persistent Complainants

1.1        Issue for Consideration

1.1.1   To consider the attached draft policy and suggest amendments as part of the consultation on the policy prior to a decision by the Cabinet Member for Corporate Services.

1.2        Reasons for Recommendation

1.2.1   A recent internal Audit of Complaints identified that the Council’s policy on dealing with vexatious complaints required updating. It should be noted that this policy will only apply to a minority of cases. The policy seeks to address the issue of some complainants unreasonably taking up valuable Council resources and gives the Council options to address this.

1.2.2    The policy has been updated in line with the Local Government Ombudsman’s (LGO) guidance on dealing with unreasonably persistent complainants and unreasonable complainant behaviour. The LGO advise that the policy could include:

·               examples of the main kinds of 'trigger' actions/behaviours which may cause the policy to be invoked ;

·               a list of the options for action open to the organisation;

·               information about the decision-making process: who decides whether the policy will be applied to a complainant;

·               what restrictions will be placed on contacts and for how long;

·               whether restrictions can be lifted or should continue;

·               details of complainants’ rights of review/appeal against a decision to invoke the policy and/or any particular restrictions applied;

·               guidance on the nature of the records to be kept;

·                    what information is given to complainants when the policy is applied;

·                    advice about who in your organisation is to be informed that contact with a named complainant is being restricted and why; and

·                    links with other organisational policies.

1.2.3   The draft policy attached identifies that Directors will be responsible for applying the policy and that any restrictions should be reviewed on at least a 6 monthly basis. The policy also indicates that the Head of Change and Scrutiny will coordinate the records for the policy supported by Executive Support. This will mean that information will be kept in one place on all complainants to whom this policy is applied.

1.2.4   A meeting was held with key SLT members to go through issues with the current procedure and potential changes. At that meeting it was agreed that a single point of contact should be identified for any complainant to whom the policy was applied. This is included within the revised policy and the Director will be responsible for identifying a contact for the complainant. The Policy contains a number of options for action for flexible application of the policy.

1.3        Alternative Action and why not Recommended

1.3.1   The Committee could decide not to review the policy but this would impact on our ability to deliver the priority of corporate and customer excellence. As a Council we are committed to ensuring our services are customer focused as well as cost efficient and effective, a clear policy on unreasonable complaints and how to deal with these underpins these commitments.

1.4        Impact on Corporate Objectives

1.4.1   This policy will underpin the Council’s priority for corporate and customer excellence.

1.5        Risk Management

1.5.1   Presently there are risks as identified by Internal Audit that the policy is out of date, not all staff are aware of the policy and information is managed across the council on vexatious complainants by a number of different people. There is no central control on this aspect of complaints which poses a risk to the effective use of council resources

1.6        Other Implications

1.6.1    

1.6.2   Staffing

Staff should be consulted on the revised policy and appropriate training/briefings delivered to SLT and Directors on the application of the new policy. This should be disseminated throughout the organization.  Staffing resources to support a centrally administered process have been identified within the executive support team within existing resources.

1.6.3   Equality Impact Assessment

A stage 1 assessment has been carried out and is attached to this report. It should be noted that the policy refers to the public sector equality duty.

1.7        Relevant Documents

1.7.1   Appendices

Equality Impact Assessment Stage 1

Draft Unreasonable and Unreasonably Persistent Complainants Policy