Agenda item

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) provides all member organisations with an annual letter every July. This provides a summary of performance in the previous financial year. This report updates Audit Committee on the content of the most recent annual letter which refers to performance from April 2022 to March 2023.

Nicola Ellis (Strategic Director Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Services) introduced the report on the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) annual review letter 2022/23 which was received in July 2023. The letter provided a summary of the performance of LBHF from April 2022 to March 2023 which had improved when compared to 2021/2022 and was in the top four when compared to all London Boroughs. She further noted that the LGSCO covered majority of council services excluding those under the purview of the Housing Ombudsman who usually published performance data annually in December. 

Noting that of the 28 requests investigated by the Ombudsman with decisions issued, 18 of them were upheld (representing 64%), the Chair asked about how were the lessons learnt. Nicola Ellis noted that after receiving the detailed decision from the Ombudsman, discussions were held among staff in the complaint handling and resident experience teams as well as those providing the service in question to see what individual learning could be taken away.  The management would generally focus more on decision findings with a view to initiating changes across the Council.

Councillor Ashok Patel considered that 64% of cases being upheld was not impressive and even unacceptable from the commercial sector perspective. Nicola Ellis clarified that among all the services provided by the Council during the period of April 22 – Mar 23, the Ombudsman received 88 cases and 28 of them were investigated with decisions upheld for 18 cases. In reply to Councillor Patel’s further enquiry about referring unresolved cases for external review before they reached the Ombudsman, Nicola Ellis noted that the Council had followed the Ombudsman’s recommendation for local governments and implemented a 2-stage complaint handling process.

Councillor Adrian Pascu-Tulbure noted with concern about the increasing trends on the number of full decisions made by the Ombudsman (10 in 2020/21, 17 in 2021/22, 28 in 2022/23) and the number of decisions upheld (7 in 2020/21, 13 in 2021/22 and 18 in 2022/23).  Nicola Ellis pointed out that the 2020/21 Decisions were lower as the Ombudsman had stopped accepting complaints for a period during the pandemic. For the same reason, there was a time delay in publishing the decisions. As regards the use of “disappointing” and “concerning” in the Ombudsman’s letter under “Your organisation’s performance” (page 442), Nicola Ellis noted that it referred to the same area of Housing service where improvements were happening at the moment.

Councillor Florian Chevoppe-Verdier agreed that the Ombudsman’s letter had demonstrated that performance of Hammersmith and Fulham Council had improved when compared to 2021/2022 as the recovery from the pandemic entailed a lot of changes such as working from home and hybrid working.  Nonetheless, the LBHF was doing a much better job, with 20% less decisions upheld than its neighbours. 

In reply to Councillor Paul Alexander’s enquiry about the forecast for the number of cases going through investigations and decisions by the Ombudsman for 2022/23, Nicola Ellis believed that it would be around the same level as in this year.  On what could be the differences, she advised that many improvements had been made in respect of complaint handling for services across the Council, particularly for Housing services. Services aimed to resolve complaints early by directing them to the appropriate officers who would respond in a timely manner, avoiding the cases advancing to stage 2 and further to the Ombudsman. She agreed to provide information on the compensation awarded for the 18 upheld cases.

ACTION: Nicola Ellis

Councillor Alexander highlighted that there were different policies in respect of noise-related environmental pollution and some of the noise complaints were handled by the Housing service.  Referring to complaints containing noise elements he came across in his casework, he observed that there was a lack of confidence in the Council among residents who might copy in the Ombudsman and/or Members of Parliament for written complaints. Nicola Ellis noted that noise complaints were dealt with by the Environmental Health and Public Protection and some were considered by the Housing Ombudsman if they were part of the landlord’s functions. In general, noise complaints had been identified by the Ombudsman as being an area where they received high levels of complaints across the country but it was not a major issue in the cases referred to the Ombudsman from this borough.  Noise complaints would be judged by the Ombudsman against the relevant policies prevailing at that time.

Councillor Alexander remarked that the Environmental service might not be able to deal with complaints about noise and nuisance caused by Council home repairs.  In this regard, Nicola Ellis undertook to liaise between the Environment department and Housing services and would provide feedback after the meeting.

ACTION: Nicola Ellis

Noting that the LGSCO would work with the Housing Ombudsman Service to develop a joint complaint handling code that would provide a standard for organisations to work to, Councillor Chevoppe-Verdier asked about the timeline of consultation. Nicola Ellis said she expected that the consultation for the joint code to be held soon.  She advised that the Council had been carrying out self-assessment of the Housing Ombudsman’s complaint handling code as a basis for improvements. The Committee would be briefed in due course on the most recent self-assessment.

ACTION: Nicola Ellis

Councillor Rowan Ree (Cabinet Member for Finance and Reform) considered the Ombudsman’s Annual Letter a good review report in terms of the individual attention given to each case.  The information offered transformational insight and valuable opportunities to improve the Council’s approach to complaints.

RESOLVED

That the Committee noted the content of the LGSCO Annual Letter.