Agenda item

Members received a report that sought comments and feedback in relation to the North Northamptonshire Council Complaints Remedy Policy, which was designed to support services in assessing complaints at stage one, stage two and Ombudsman scale points.

The meeting heard that North Northamptonshire Council Complaints Handling Policy confirmed that complainants had statutory rights when raising a dispute around loss of service or maladministration. It was therefore considered prudent to adopt a Complaints Remedy Policy that would enable services to make more consistent decisions informed by Ombudsman guidance as to how best to address injustice arising from maladministration or loss of service arising from fault of the Council.

It was noted that the Panel’s feedback would be factored into the final report presented to the March meeting of Executive for approval, prior to the policy being used to support services responding to such complaints by offering informed decision making and supporting best practice in line with Ombudsman guidance.

It was reported that under the current published complaints policy, a Stage One complaint would be reviewed by a service lead, service manager of Head of Service within 20-days. It was heard that this timescale would be altered to a statutory 10-days in line with case management responses. A Stage Two complaint, where a complainant as unhappy with the response provided at Stage One would be allocated to a different manager a level up from the original reviewer and would remain at 20-days for review. Complainants then had the option to escalate a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman once the Council’s complaints procedure had been exhausted.

The Panel was advised that in circumstances where financial remedy was the correct course of action, this would be taken against benchmarking of the Ombudsman guidance at the earliest opportunity rather than elongating the complaint process. It was noted that having a policy in place could see the use of financial remedies decreasing as complaints were handled in a more timely and consistent manner.

Cllr John McGhee queried examples of improvements made to Council operations arising from complaints. It was suggested that unless an honest appraisal of failings was made then service improvements could not be undertaken.

It was heard that the policy before members was of critical importance in tracking service improvements being made by the Council, particularly the use of a case management system that would assist in putting emphasis on service areas to show where improvements were being made. The remedy policy would help the tracking of complaints and their ownership. Once approved, tool kits, guidance and templates would be provided to assist services with informed decision making.

It was noted that the Ombudsman had a statutory requirement for complaints to be properly logged throughout the process, inputting these via the case management system would result in better visibility and ensure learning was captured concisely resulting in work with services areas around commitments as part of an ongoing learning plan. It was further noted that Internal Audit were planning two audits to work on the case management system, to ensure the Council was doing what it should.

Members welcomed a well-drafted, easy to follow policy that accorded with the Council’s Corporate Plan that had taken into account good practice at other local authorities during its preparation.