Agenda and minutes

There were no declarations of interest.

a)  To agree the minutes from the meeting held on 10 November, 2021 

b)  Matters Arising

The Minutes of the meeting held on 10 November, 2021 were agreed and signed as a true record.

There were no  metters arising.

Report of the Chief Executive

The Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership considered a report of the Chief Executive which indicated that the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) is 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 is a free service that investigates complaints in a fair and independent way; and provides a means of redress to individuals for injustice caused by unfair treatment or service failure.

Coventry City Council’s complaints policy sets out how individual members of the public can complain to the Council, as well as how the Council handle compliments, comments and complaints. The Council informs individuals of their rights to contact the LGSCO if they are not happy with the Council’s 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 20 July 2022, covers complaints to Coventry City Council between April 2021 and March 2022 (2021/22) and was appended to the report.

The report set out the number, trends and outcomes of complaints to the LGSCO relating to Coventry City Council in 2021/22. It focuses on upheld complaints, service areas with a high number of complaints, compliance with Ombudsman’s recommendations, learning from complaints, and how the Council compare to previous years and other local authorities.

The Cabinet Member noted that that the report had also been considered by the Ethics Committee (their Minute 27/22 refers) and would  also be considered by the Audit and Procurement Committee. 

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Policy and Leadership:-

1)  Notes the Council’s performance in relation to complaints to the LGSCO, in particular complaints that were upheld

2)  Notes the Council’s complaints process and guidance

3)  Requests that the Audit and Procurement Committee reviews and be assured that the Council takes appropriate actions 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 items of urgent public business.