Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 This report provides an analysis of customer complaints received by the Council during 2004-2005.

2 RECOMMENDATION

2.1 Consider the contents of this report and whether any further specific actions are required.

2.2 The Council Executive welcomes the continuing reduction in complaints and asks that this information is included in the next Leaders report to Full Council and the next edition of Inside Out.

3 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 There are no financial implications directly arising from this

4 THE REPORT

4.1 Customer feedback through complaints, comments and service suggestions continues to be a valued source of information for the council. A corporate objective remains to increase customer satisfaction year on year and a useful measure is the number of complaints received. In 2004/05 the total number received was 295 this was 141 fewer than in 2003/04 continuing the pattern over the last three years.

4.2 The type of complaints received varies with the service delivered. Some receive lots of comments and suggestions from their service users about service enhancement they feel would be of value. Such information is useful for planning and service development purposes although we may not always be able to introduce the proposals. Others are only contacted when the service is perceived to have failed or the customer wishes to question a decision or outcome which they feel is not favourable, this type of complaint is often linked to fines or benefits or payments due. Complaints to Education are dealt with directly by the schools and Social and Housing services have a separate complaints procedure that covers both statutory requirements and other complaints.

4.3 The Ombudsman`s Annual Letter 2004/05 on Handling of Complaints confirmed he had issued no statutory reports against the Council or findings of maladministration and/or injustice. He said this was evidence that the Council has an "effective way of seeking to resolve complaints before they come to him".

4.4 Customer complaints can be a valuable source of information to enable an overview of areas of weakness to be spotted. Where complaints are consistent actions should be taken to ensure processes are improved. Any significant areas of weakness are fed into the risk register and action plan for the service

5 RISK MANAGEMENT

6 RATIONALE

6.1 The rationale for complaints monitoring is to make sure processes are effective and benefit the customer and to monitor trends and themes raised by customer feedback.

6.2 Examples of lessons learned or actions taken by services as a result of complaints received include the importance of improving communication with the customer, maintaining staff awareness of customer requirements through new or refresher training, improving cross service communication, and ensuring complaints monitoring is part of the day to day management process. Details are in Appendix A.

7 OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED

7.1 None

8 CONSULTATION

8.1 Other B&NES Services

8.2 Via Heads of Services forum

9 REASONS FOR URGENCY

9.1 Not urgent.