Agenda item

David Hughes (Director of Audit, Fraud, Risk and Insurance) and Yvonne Hadlames (Head of Contacts) introduced the report on the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSO) Annual Review Letter and the findings of maladministration by the Housing Ombudsman in 2020/21.

The following officers also attended for the item:

• Lisa Redfern (Strategic Director of Social Care)
• Jon Pickstone (Strategic Director of Economy)
• Mark Lowthian (Director of Housing Transformation)

Councillor Adrian Pascu-Tulbure asked what could be done to prioritise cases where people had died as it was so important to get it right for families. Yvonne Hadlames said the team had put robust processes in place for when those cases came in. A link officer would contact the family and offer extra support. They were also trialling a new risk assessment template to help coordinate across multiple services.

Lisa Redfern noted that for Social Care the period covered Covid and the demand and volume of referrals was huge. The department had tightened up its systems and practice, and closed the loopholes that allowed these cases to happen. She noted that Social Care had put together a chart of learning record and said she could circulate it to members for information.

ACTION: Lisa Redfern

Sharon Lea (Interim Chief Executive) noted that the Council’s approach to dealing with complaints at stage 1 and stage 2 was fundamental. The Strategic Leadership Team had been focused on those complaints, including interrogating them at management team level if they go to the Ombudsman. Yvonne Hadlames noted that a new quality assurance tool was about to go live that would help officers assess and review complaints.

Councillor Ashok Patel, noting the case of a Social Care provider that failed to notify the Council of a complaint, asked if the Council was still working with the provider. Lisa Redfern said it was a serious issue and was picked up with them as part of the contract monitoring process.

Councillor Florian Chevoppe-Verdier, in reference to page 60, asked why the Ombudsman was not required to publish a housing letter. David Hughes said he would check.

ACTION: David Hughes

The Chair asked why Social Care did not have any stage 2 complaints. Lisa Redfern said her team ensured complaints were resolved early. Staff were clear that they were not allowed to go over time on responses. Yvonne Hadlames noted that people could go to the Ombudsman at any time or stage of the process.

The Chair asked if Ombudsman cases incurred costs. Yvonne Hadlames said there was no charge but the Ombudsman could order the Council to give compensation in some cases.

Councillor Patel asked why the recommendation for ‘Economy - Allocations & Lettings case number 20013155’ was N/A despite it having the highest amount of compensation. Yvonne Hadlames said she would find out.

ACTION: Yvonne Hadlames

Councillor Chevoppe-Verdier asked why the Ombudsman stopped accepting complaints during the pandemic. Lisa Redfern said it was not clear what the rationale was.

Councillor Paul Alexander asked if there was a new set of expected repair timescales for tenants. He noted it used to be in the tenants handbook but no longer appeared there. Jon Pickstone said repairs were categorised based on their level of urgency. He noted the Council had invested a lot in call centres and its aftercare team. There was an issue with the timeliness of one of our contractors and they were working on that but the number of complaints over the past 6 months had been falling.

Councillor Alexander asked how many of the complaints were still live by time they reached the Ombudsman. He also asked what plans there were for staff training and actions to improve resident satisfaction in the repairs service. Mark Lowthian said there was a cultural necessity to treat residents with respect and capture issues on first contact and resolve them quickly. The main drivers for resolving that was around contractor performance. There had been issues including late delivery by one contractor and there had been some poor management of more complex repairs. The team had been focused on resolving complaints at first stage and since then there had been a 68% reduction in stage 2 complaints.

Jon Pickstone added that a lot was down to planned preventative maintenance. Work on damp and mould had reduced the number of leaks complaints for example. The team had also improved out of hours service at weekends and provided empathy training to ensure customer service improved.

Councillor Chevoppe-Verdier noted that members would appreciate more details in future reports (around the reason for delay for example).

The Chair asked what the average length of time for stage 2 to be reviewed was. Yvonne Hadlames said 20 working days is target. It had been significantly longer in the past but that target was now being met. Complaints were regularly reported to directorates and SLT to ensure they were kept on track.

Councillor Alexander, in reference to housing repairs, asked if the person dealing with the complaint had the freedom to contact a repairs manager directly to get it resolved. Yvonne Hadlames said the complaints team worked closely with the repairs team and could prioritise sensitive cases. Where necessary she would escalate cases to managers and contractors.

Sharon Lea added that issues did go straight to the repairs team. The corporate team worked on behalf of residents. She noted that the pandemic had created a backlog due to access issues and furloughed contractors, but the service was investing in a major transformation across housing to address the problem. She said officers would keep members updated on the work.

Councillor Patel asked if an independent informal arbitration stage could be explored. Sharon Lea said it would be considered. Councillor Chevoppe-Verdier noted concern about adding more complexity and more stages to an already complex process.

ACTION: Yvonne Hadlames

Councillor Chevoppe-Verdier asked if there was a timeline of when residents were followed up with on repairs issues. Sharon Lea said soon after a repair they were phoned to see if the service met their expectations. Councillor Chevoppe-Verdier suggested there was an opportunity to reduce stress on the complaints system if residents were made aware there would be a follow-up call. Sharon Lea said complaints gave the Council useful information and she did not want to discourage that at present.

RESOLVED

1. The Committee noted the content of the review letter.

2. The Committee noted the findings of maladministration by the Housing Ombudsman.

CHANGE OF AGENDA ORDER

Members agreed to move Item 7 to the end of the agenda to allow discussion of exempt information related to the Disrepairs Audit to take place if required.