Agenda item

Annual Complaints Report 2023/24

This report summarises the Council’s performance and learning from resident complaints during the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.  It includes all complaints covering stage 1, 2, Ombudsman and statutory complaints.

Minutes:

Nicola Ellis (Strategic Director, Chief Operating Officer) presented the report which summarised the Council’s performance and learning from resident complaints during the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 and included all complaints covering stage 1, 2, Ombudsman and statutory complaints. She highlighted the importance to recognise repairs and housing were on an ongoing improvement journey and issues highlighted in the report was as at that point in time. She summarised the report as follow:

 

  • the Council’s performance in managing complaints had improved with an increase in the responses at stage 1 and stage 2 complaints being closed within the corporate timescales, with an uplift of 8% on stage 1 and 29% on stage 2 complaints compared to 2022/2023.

 

  • more complaints were received than the previous year because of improvement around complaint handling and accessibility. The increase enhanced learning from feedback and helped improve the services.

 

  • the Repairs Service delivered 58,310 reactive repairs and received 2,254 stage 1 complaints equating to 4% service dissatisfaction.

 

  • a total of 483 complaints were received for the waste service which mainly related to missed or incomplete refuse and recycling collections.  During 2023/24 3.4m bins were collected which equated to a low dissatisfaction rate of 0.014%.

 

  • In relation to the annual letter of the Local Government Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO), the Council’s performance was positive in comparison with other boroughs, having the lowest number of upheld LGSCO decisions per 100,000 residents and was second lowest for the upheld % rate (excluding City of London).

 

  • as a percentage of all findings of fault across 53 cases identified by the Housing Ombudsman (HO), 84% were maladministration.

 

  • on Friday 25 October the HO confirmed that the Council had completed the 10 recommendations from the Paragraph 49 of the Special Report published in February 2024.

 

Councillor Florian Chevoppe-Verdier referred to LGSCO’s letter (p 508) and found it reassuring and encouraging to receive the positive remarks from an independent third party. Addressing his enquiry, Nicola Ellis noted that the Council had completed the self-assessment against the HO’s Complaint Handling Code and was compliant with all the areas. Similar exercise would be conducted against LGSCO’s code in April 2025.

 

Councillor Adrain Pascu-Tulbure noted that there was a significant increase in compensation paid during the period April 2023 to March 2024 – up from £519,521.37 in 2022/2023 to £792,007.18. He questioned whether the Council had done its utmost to serve the residents.

 

Richard Shwe (Director of Housing) remarked that now, the Repairs team was still dealing with the HO’s backlog complaint from 2020, and the amount of compensation was determined by the HO. More recent complaints were being dealt with properly, with staff working seven days a week. There was no overdue stage 1 and stage 2 complaints since this September. Richard said they had discussed with the HO on the compensation culture and the Council’s policies about the levels of compensation.

 

Sharon Lea (Chief Executive) considered complaint handling was a major project of learning and improvements and she always encouraged management teams to track the complaints for any trends. She said on top of HO’s backlog of complaints, the Housing Department had a backlog of repairs in the last 24 months because of failures of certain former contractors and the undesirable complaint handling. While dealing with historical HO’s complaints made in 2021, the Housing Department had made a lot of changes for the better, for example, complying external guidance on complaint handling and HO’s compensation policy. The Housing Department was now responding to stage one and two complaints and delivering the repairs service on time. Sharon considered that it was right and proper to apologise and pay appropriate compensation to the residents who had been inconvenienced to the detriment. The Council aimed at providing good service for residents and encouraged them to lodge complaints with the Council instead of going to the HO or resort to the no-win-no-fee legal route. She was pleased to note that the learning and improvements made as demonstrated in the current performances of the Housing Department were acknowledged by the external auditor.

 

Councillor Lisa Homan referred to the compliments received over 2023/24 (p. 455) which in her opinion, were noteworthy as people took time to make a compliment for the services they were entitled to. Nicola Ellis remarked that these compliments were not text/email surveys but residents’ personal writing in emails.

 

The Chair noted estate residents who shared very little from the compensation even if they won the case through the no-win-no-fee legal services. He asked whether the Council could collaborate with the residents along the process with a view to resolving the issues outside the court. Richard Shwe highlighted the Housing teams were acting proactively to resolve the repair issues at the first instant to avoid overdue and backlog. To help reduce disrepair cases and resolve the issues quicker, the Council having consulted the legal colleagues might act on behalf of those residents who did not understand the actual undertaking.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the Committee agreed to note the Council’s performance on complaints during the year 2023/24 and the organisational learning from them.

 

Supporting documents: