Agenda item

Report of the Director of Public Health

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Public Health, which set out the number and trends of complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman relating to Coventry City Council in 2015/16, the corresponding outcomes, as well as comparisons to trends in 2014/15.

A corresponding private report detailing confidential aspects of the complaints was also submitted to the meeting for consideration.

The report indicated that the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) was the final stage for complaints about councils and some other organisations providing local public services.  It provided an independent means of redress to individuals for injustice caused by unfair treatment or service failure.

In Coventry, the Council’s complaints policy set out how individuals could complain to the Council, as well as how the Council handle compliments, comments and complaints.  As part of this, the Council informed individuals of their rights to contact the LGO if they were not happy with the Council’s decision.

Every year, the LGO issues an annual letter to every council, summarising the number and trends of complaints dealt with in each local authority. bThe latest letter, issued July 2016, set out the number of complaints dealt with in Coventry between April 2015 and March 2016 (2015/16).  In addition, a report, Review of Local Authority Complaints allowed local authorities to benchmark their own performance with national trends.

Nationally, the LGO received 19,702 complaints and enquiries in 2015/16, similar to 2014/15.  Of these, 51% of detailed investigations were upheld (up from 46%).  The area most complained about was education & children’s services, an area which had seen a 13% increase in complaints in 2015/16 compared to the previous year, the biggest increase of any category.

In 2015/16, the LGO recorded 109 complaints and enquiries relating to Coventry City Council. This was similar to the number recorded in 2014/15 (110 complaints).  The report set out the number of complaints per category.

When dealing with an enquiry, the LGO could choose to investigate cases where it saw merit in doing so.  Following an investigation, they could decide if a complaint was upheld (where the authority has been at fault and this fault may or may not have caused an injustice to the complainant; or where an authority has accepted it needs to remedy the complaint before we make a finding on fault) or not upheld (where, following investigation, the LGO decides that a council has not acted with fault).

Of the 109 complaints about Coventry City Council in 2015/16, 22 complaints were investigated, an 18% reduction from 27 complaints in 2014/15.  11 of the 22 complaints were upheld (50% upheld).  This was an increase from nine complaints upheld out of 27 complaints (33%) in 2014/15.  The percentage upheld in Coventry compared favourably to a nearest neighbour average of 54% of complaints upheld and a national average of 51% complaints upheld.

Of the 11 upheld complaints, the LGO recommended a remedy for eight complaints; found that the fault did not cause an injustice in two complaints; and in one complaint, the LGO was satisfied with the Council’s remedy.  Six cases resulted in a monetary settlement, totalling £7,862.  The Ombudsman did not issue formal reports of maladministration for any of the 11 complaints upheld during 2015/16.

RESOLVED that the Audit and Procurement Committee:

1.  Note the Council’s performance in relation to complaints to the LGO.

2.  Were assured that the Council takes appropriate actions in response to complaints investigated and where the Council is found to be at fault.