Agenda item

Briefing Note of the Director of Planning and Performance

The Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee considered a briefing note of the Director of Customer and Business Services, that provided oversight of the published complaints reports and outcomes for 2024/25.

The Committee noted that the Council is expected to address complaints in accordance with the relevant statutory complaints processes and / or the advice and guidance issued by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) under their powers under section 23(12A) of the Local Government Act 1974.  In addition, statute requires an annual report on the operation of the complaints process and the lessons learnt or service improvements arising from them for both Children Services and Adult Social Care complaints.

The LGSCO issue an Annual Review letter each July in respect of those complaints (both statutory and non-statutory / corporate) which have exhausted the Council’s complaints process and escalated to, investigated by and decided upon by the Ombudsman.  The Letter is addressed to the Council’s Chief Executive and the Chair of Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee “to encourage effective ownership and oversight of complaint outcomes”.  A report similar to the statutory Childrens and Adults reports is prepared following receipt of the LGSCO’s letter.  These reports are each considered in detail at relevant Cabinet member meetings and at Ethics Committee, ahead of being submitted to the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee for overview and review.  The reports are also published on the Council’s website.

In respect of Children’s Services, the LGSCO had received 257 complaints in 2024/25, an increase of 5 from the previous year.  181 of these were statutory complaints, compared to 143 in 2023/24.  69 of these complaints were fully or partially upheld, which was 6 more than the previous year, although 6% lower in overall percentages.  Appendix 1 provided a further breakdown of the themes of the complaints received along with the stages and whether corporate, informal or ombudsman complaints.  In addition, the time taken to respond to complaints was also provided.  The remedies provided and lessons learned were also summarised.  The Committee noted that, in addition to complaints, 154 compliments had been received and these were broken down by team.

In relation to Adult Social Care, the LGSCO had received 148 complaints in 2024/25, up from 94 in the previous year.  85 of these were statutory complaints, compared to 59 in 2023/24.  42% (34) of the complaints were fully or partially upheld, a reduction from 49% in 2023/24.  Appendix 2 provided a further breakdown of the themes of the complaints received along with the stages and whether corporate, informal or ombudsman complaints.  In addition, the time taken to respond to complaints was also provided.  The remedies provided and lessons learned were also summarised.  The Committee noted that, in addition to complaints, 185 compliments had been received.

Appendix 3 set out information relating to the LGSCO’s annual letter regarding complaints.  The LGSCO had received 101 complaints and enquiries in 2024/25, which was an increase of 21 from the previous year.  Details of the complaints by category was set out along with comparative data for the previous 5 years.  The LGSCO had determined that 3 complaints were incomplete or invalid; 22 were referred back to the local authority for local resolution; 53 were closed after initial enquiries; and 22 complaints were investigated, with 17 being upheld and 5 not upheld.  Benchmarking data against Coventry’s 15 statistically equivalent peers was included within the Appendix along with a comparison to the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) constituent authorities.  Additionally, lessons learned from the complaints and a summary of agreed actions was provided.

The Committee made statements, asked questions and received responses across a number of topics which, in summary, included:

·  In relation to complaints where a financial remedy was provided, who decides on the amount to be paid and what types of scenarios / complaints could lead to a financial remedy.

·  Where complaints have risen significantly within a particular area, whether the reasons for the had been identified.

·  Acknowledging that the local authority is often providing a service when the service user is at crisis point and whilst it is essential to ensure that anything that can be done, is done, there is also a need to manage expectations.

·  What a minimal level of communication would look like to a service user.

·  The impact of a growing complexity of issues in respect of complaints and the importance of triage at the early stages to ensure that most urgent matters are dealt with first.

·  Whether the ethnicity of complainants is reflective of the community being served.

Following discussions, the Committee requested that:

a)  Officers provide case studies outlining the types of complaints that result in financial remedy payments, including real examples, appropriately redacted, that illustrate why a payment was made and how the level of redress was determined; and

b)  Officer provide the Committee with a copy of the LGSCO guidance referred to at the meeting, including the sections that outline examples and scenarios where financial remedies are considered appropriate.

RESOLVED that, the Scrutiny Co-ordination Committee:

1.  Reviewed and considered the contents of the Children’s Services, Adult Social Care and LGSCO Complaints reports for 2024/25.

2.  Confirm that there are no further recommendations for the appropriate Cabinet Member and support a positive complaint handling culture.