Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

a)  To agree the minutes from the meeting held on 7 November, 2019

b)  Matters Arising

The Minutes of the meeting held on 7 November, 2019 were agreed and signed as a true record.

There were no matters arising.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive which set out the number, trends and outcomes of complaints to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) relating to Coventry City Council in 2019/20. It focused on upheld complaints, service areas with a high number of complaints, compliance with the Ombudsman’s recommendations, learning from complaints, and how the Council compared to previous years and to other local authorities.

The LGSCO was the final stage for complaints about Councils, all adult social care providers (including care homes and home care agencies) and some other organisations providing local public services. It was a free service that investigated complaints in a fair and independent way and provided a means of redress to individuals for injustice caused by unfair treatment or service failure.

Coventry City Council’s complaints policy set out how individual members of the public could complain to the Council as well as how the Council handled compliments, comments and complaints. The Council informs individuals of their rights to contact the LGSCO if they are not happy with a Council decision after they have exhausted the Council’s own complaints process.

Every year the LGSCO issues an Annual Letter to the Leader and Chief Executive of every Council summarising the number and trends of complaints dealt with in each Council that year. The latest letter issued July 2019, covers complaints to Coventry City Council between April 2019 and March 2020 (2019/20). Mid-March 2020 saw an abrupt pause to the Ombudsman’s casework in response to the exceptional operational challenges local authorities and care providers faced because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Ombudsman resumed some casework at the end of May and started taking new complaints again at the end of June 2020.

This report sets out the number, trends and outcomes of complaints to the LGSCO relating to Coventry City Council in 2019/20. In particular, it focuses on upheld complaints, service areas with a high number of complaints, compliance with Ombudsman’s recommendations, learning from complaints, and how we compare to previous years and other local authorities.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership:

1.  Notes the Council’s performance in relation to complaints to the LGSCO.

2.  Notes the Council complaints process and guidance.

3.  Requests that the Audit and Procurement Committee review and be assured that the Council takes appropriate action in response to complaints investigated and where the Council is found to be at fault.

There are no outstanding issues

There were no outstanding issues.

Any other items of public business which the Cabinet Member decides to take as matters of urgency because of the special circumstances involved.

There were no other items of urgent public business.