North Yorkshire County Council
Executive
30 November 2021
Annual Report on Complaints and Compliments
Report of the Chief Executive
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1.0 |
Purpose of report
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1.1 |
To fulfil the statutory requirement to report on complaints received from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and to provide information on compliments and complaints received by the Council during the year 2020/21.
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2.0 Background
2.1 This report provides an overview of performance in relation to complaints and includes the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman annual letter to the Council, which is attached at Appendix 1.
2.2 The annual complaints report also supplements the details reported in the Quarterly Performance report to Executive.
3.0 Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
3.1 The annual letter from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) was published on 28th July 2021. This is attached at Appendix 1. No comments were made about North Yorkshire County Council’s performance.
3.2 Between March and June 2020, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the LGSCO did not accept new complaints and stopped investigating existing cases. This should be considered when comparing figures from previous years.
3.3 Although the number of investigations dropped to 42 this year, it should be recognised that most ombudsman cases involve an increasingly large amount of work due to complexity.
3.4 14 ombudsman complaints were upheld this year, though one case required no further action, one was already remedied by the Council and for one case there was no injustice caused.
3.5 We
continue to use information from complaints to identify service
improvements.
For example:
· Improving procedures, such as re-wording for clarity, or more significant changes to ensure best practice or prevention of delay
· Working with care providers to improve service quality
· Staff training to improve performance and ensure good quality record keeping
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2020/21 |
2019/20 |
2018/19 |
2017/18 |
2016/17 |
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LGSCO investigations received |
42 |
48 |
52 |
55 |
54 |
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2020/21 LGSCO Statistics |
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LGSCO investigations received |
42 |
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Compliance with LGSCO recommendations |
100% |
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Decisions Made |
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Upheld |
14 |
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Upheld: maladministration and injustice |
11 |
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Upheld: maladministration and injustice – no further action |
1 |
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Upheld: not investigated – injustice remedied during council complaints processes |
1 |
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Upheld: maladministration, no injustice |
1 |
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Not Upheld |
5 |
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Not upheld: no maladministration |
4 |
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Not upheld: no further action |
1 |
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Closed after initial enquiries |
21 |
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Not investigated |
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Premature enquiries (not yet investigated by NYCC – referred back for local resolution) |
10 |
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Incomplete or invalid |
1 |
4.0 Commendations, Compliments and Stage 1-3 Complaints
4.1 Summary
Following the introduction of a new complaints recording system in October 2020, it became apparent that the data was unreliable. The numbers for 2020/21 therefore include data for quarters 1, 2 and 4 only.
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2020/21 |
2019/20 |
2018/19 |
2017/18 |
2016/17 |
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Commendations received |
23 |
15 |
5 |
7 |
18 |
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Compliments received |
1369 |
2510 |
2286 |
1866 |
2052 |
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Stage 1-3 complaints received * |
914 |
1583 |
1289 |
1315 |
1151 |
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Adults Stage 1 complaints |
216 |
445 |
317 |
310 |
231 |
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Adults complaint reviews |
55 |
54 |
- |
- |
- |
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Children’s Stage 1 complaints |
43 |
76 |
84 |
134 |
164 |
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Children’s Stage 2 complaints |
4 |
3 |
5 |
8 |
6 |
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Children’s Stage 3 complaints |
3 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
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Corporate Stage 1 complaints |
575 |
1040 |
869 |
836 |
730 |
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Corporate Stage 2 complaints |
18 |
18 |
10 |
20 |
16 |
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Corporate Stage 3 complaints |
- |
- |
1 |
7 |
3 |
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Stage 1-3 dealt within timescales |
84% |
83% |
81% |
84% |
71% |
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Stage 1-3 upheld or partly upheld |
38% |
39% |
38% |
35% |
35% |
*Please note the three complaints procedures have different numbers of stages associated with them: adult social care, 1 formal stage and 1 complaint review (since Oct 19); children’s social care, 3 stages; corporate, 2 stages (since Jan 18).
4.2 Complaints Root Causes and Teams
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Top Root cause |
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Top Teams |
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Cause |
2020/21 |
2019/20 |
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Team |
2020/21 |
2019/20 |
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Service and care |
26% |
31% |
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Highways Operations |
31% (329) |
33% (523) |
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Disagree with decision |
20% |
18% |
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HAS Care & Support |
15% (154) |
18% (280) |
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Communication |
15% |
16% |
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Waste & Countryside |
10% (106) |
7% (102) |
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Environment |
12% |
15% |
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HAS Resources |
8% (79) |
5% (73) |
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Covid-19 |
9% |
1% |
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CYPS Safeguarding |
6% (58) |
5% (84) |
4.3 Analysis
4.4 The Council recognises that complaints give the opportunity to learn from instances where our services have fallen short of our usual standards. In recent years, many complaints have tended to be more complex and time consuming. Due to pressure on resources, officers ensure that complaints are only accepted and investigated where they fall within prescribed guidelines. For example, should someone complain about a policy decision, this would not be investigated had that decision been made following correct procedure.
4.5 The number of commendations/compliments has fluctuated over time, though there has been an uplift since records begin, with 1222 received in 2010/11 Q1, 2 and 4, and 1392 in the same quarters in 2020/21. However, even taking into account no data available for quarter 3, this year there was a significant drop in positive contacts (1392 2020/21; 2525 in 2019/20), mostly due to the suspension of registration services in 2020, in particular weddings, due to Covid-19.
4.6 The number of complaints received has also increased over time (to be expected against the background of greater need/expectations against fewer resources), with 438 Stage 1-3 complaints received in 2010/11 Q1, 2 and 4 and 914 for the same quarters in 2020/21. This year however, (notwithstanding no quarter 3 data) there was a dip in cases received across the Council, particularly during the first lockdown period, quarter 1.
4.7 The ‘top teams’ receiving complaints are often those services that affect a large proportion of the population (e.g. highways) or are very emotive (such as social care).
4.8 This year the percentage of stage 1-3 complaints completed within set timescales increased by 1% to 84%. This is an area where teams seek to improve and it can be seen that over time this has been the case.
4.9 The upheld rate has decreased slightly to 38%, in line with previous years.
4.10 The number of complaints investigations received from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has dropped to 42 (48 last year). Investigations stopped in quarter 1. These resumed in June and has had a small effect on numbers.
4.11 There is a slight change for complaints root causes, where Covid-19 has of course, been included as a new category, making up 9% of cases.
4.12 No themes that would suggest particular areas of concern were identified.
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5.0 |
Recommendation
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5.1 |
That the contents of this report be noted.
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Richard Flinton
Chief Executive
County Hall
Northallerton
5th November 2021
Report Author – Dani Reeves
Presenter of Report – Councillor Greg White
Background Papers – None
Appendices:
Appendix 1 – LGSCO Annual letter