Issue - meetings

Members received an update in relation to the North Northamptonshire Council Comments, Compliments and Complaints Policy from the Assistant Director for Customer Experience, Simon Mills with feedback on the draft document sought from the Panel prior to its presentation for approval at Executive at its meeting scheduled for 11^th July 2024.

It was noted that the existing policy had been signed off by the Shadow Executive and required updating to reflect the current working practices of Council and to incorporate statutory changes arising from the Local Government Social Care Ombudsman as well as the Housing Ombudsman.

Members considered the draft document and noted that the current iteration of the policy was no longer fit for purpose and there was a pressure on the Council to respond complaints in an appropriate and efficient manner whilst closely adhering to timescales outlined as part of the revised policy.

Referring to the reduced response time for complaint acknowledgement, queries were raised as to whether there was confidence that training for staff and the new case management system would be sufficient to enable this target to be met. In response, it was noted that the case management system would allow for a more efficient and effective method of handling complaints and would free up officer time to support teams involved in complaints.

It was heard that complainants would receive an immediate acknowledgement that their complaint had been received, with a five working day response time follow the triaging of complaints that would allow for the varying volumes of inbound contact. Benchmarking had taken place in terms of resourcing and assignation of casework.

Members thanked Assistant Director for Customer Experience for his report and supplementary presentation.