MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL

Strategic leadership and corporate services overview and scrutiny committee

2 DECEMBER 2014

REPORT OF Head of Policy and Communications

Report prepared by Sam Bailey 

1.           Complaints report quarter 2 2014/2015

1.1        Issue for Decision

1.1.1   To consider the Council’s performance in dealing with complaints for July-September 2014 (quarter 2).

1.2        Recommendation of the Head of Policy and Communications

1.2.1   That the Committee consider the quarter 2 complaints briefing (Appendix A to this report) and make recommendations as appropriate.

1.3        Reasons for Recommendation

1.3.1   Data relating to complaints, compliments and feedback via social media is monitored across the council. The quarter 2 complaints briefing brings this information together and discusses key themes, trends and other areas of interest from this data.

1.3.2   The data and information gathered through complaints can be used to help make service improvements. It can also be used to identify where services, or areas within a service, are not performing as they should.

1.4        Report Summary

1.4.1   Of particular interest this quarter is:

·         The high overall number of complaints- 215 in total - received this quarter (Section 1 of Appendix A).

·         The high number of complaints received by Parks and Leisure (31), Housing Options (23), Development Management (22), Environmental Enforcement (18) and Planning Support (Section 3 of Appendix A)

·         The proportion of stage 1 complaints being answered within target time dropping by 4.8% this quarter (section 2 of Appendix A)

1.5        Alternative Action and why not Recommended

1.5.1   The council could choose not to monitor complaints in this way, but this would mean the council would lose a valuable opportunity to make service improvements as a result of complaints. It could also leave the council open to challenge by the ombudsman or the courts if recurring issues are not resolved. Any recurring issues that have resulted in action are detailed in Appendix A.

1.6        Impact on Corporate Objectives

1.6.1   The main corporate objective complaints monitoring falls under is corporate and customer excellence. A fair, efficient and effective complaints handling process is critical to ensure customers have an opportunity to register their dissatisfaction, and seek a resolution, if things go wrong.

1.7        Risk Management

1.7.1   The main risk for this report is reputational. If the council is seen to be ignoring its residents’ concerns about certain issues this would be bad for the council’s reputation.

1.8        Other Implications

1.8.1    

1.8.2   Financial- some of the complaints resolved this quarter resulted in payments, refunds or compensation to complainants.

1.8.3   Staffing- some complaints this quarter were about staff.

1.8.4   Legal- some complaints received this quarter may have future legal implications

1.9        Relevant Documents

1.9.1   Appendices

Appendix A: Quarter 2 Complaints Briefing

1.9.2   Background Documents

None

IS THIS A KEY DECISION REPORT?                  THIS BOX MUST BE COMPLETED     Yes                                               No     If yes, this is a Key Decision because: ……………………………………………………………..   …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….     Wards/Parishes affected: …………………………………………………………………………………..   ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..