Meeting documents

Annual Complaints Report 04/05

Appendix A

Examples of lessons learned from complaints received include.

Education

One complaint led to a change in local procedures and another has prompted a review of a policy which at this stage is still ongoing.

Resources

The level of official complaints against Revenues & Benefits has reduced this year. As a service we consider the complaints report at our Operational Managers meeting on a monthly basis and attempt to identify specific trends in order to prevent a recurrence of issues. The main area of complaint appears to relate to our ability to answer telephone calls promptly. In order to resolve this we have trialled a new self serve option, in addition to our own Help Line. This has increased accessibility tremendously and has increased the number of calls handled by more than double. However, this has generated a new trend in complaints in that customers find the self serve system difficult to navigate. this is something we have acknowledged and are working with the supplier to improve. The remaining complaints are of a more ad-hoc nature and generally refer to errors in processing, which are individually addressed and used to inform training requirements and performance appraisal.

Registrars

A complaint received in July 2004 following office accommodation move for Registrars Service led to management action taken to prevent recurrence.

Transportation and Highways, including parking services.

Changes to administrative procedures and put measures in place to reduce processing time and staff training to ensure they are aware of these

Planning

Example 1:

A complaint was received relating to the issuing of a decision notice which failed to include one of the three Conditions that had been authorised as part of the decision making process. The Complainant (an immediate neighbour) felt that their amenities would not be adequately protected as a result of the omission. Attempts were made (without success) to persuade the applicant to accept a corrected decision notice, and that issue is now with the Ombudsman. However, as a result the Planning Service has reviewed its internal procedures in order to ensure that each decision notice is proof read and checked twice before dispatch. This will mean that a repeat occurrence is much less likely.

Example 2:

A local amenity group complained that their objections and comments on planning applications appeared to be being frequently "ignored" by the Planning Service's Case Officers. It was clear from the tenor of their complaint that their concerns arose not as a result of errors on the part of the Service, but rather because of their own misconceptions about the capabilities of the Planning process. In order to address this, a senior Officer from the Planning Service attended a series of discussions with members of the amenity group, and from these has emerged a more productive and mutually beneficial working relationship.

Example 3:

A local developer complained that the determination of his planning application was seemingly taking far too long. He was telephoned by a Senior Officer from the Planning Service, who undertook to ensure that all outstanding matters would be finalised within a short and specific timetable. The decision was duly issued, and the reasons for the delay formed the basis of a training session with a group of staff. The Complainant has asked for an opportunity to meet with the relevant Manager, and whilst that meeting has not yet taken place, he has been assured that his concerns have already been taken very seriously as part of the Planning Service's on-going drive to meet the Government's performance targets.

Heritage Services

One complaint, from a couple who had hired the Pump Room for their wedding reception and were disappointed that builders' scaffolding installed at short notice for emergency maintenance works spoiled the look of the rooms had their bill for the hire substantially reduced.

The service logs all criticisms of service provision, verbal or recorded in its comments books, and uses these to try to improve its service. Customers for this Service differ from others in the Council as the majority are not local residents but visitors to the Council's museums from all over the world. Many of the comments on service provision are verbal, made on the spot to a member of staff and dealt with immediately. Sometimes they reflect the need for a long-term solution, for example comments about the lack of a lift in the Victoria Art Gallery, but at present there is no funding to provide one. During the last 12 months we have logged a total of 16188 comments from visitors to the Roman Baths site alone. Of these 15952 were suggestions, compliments or just a name and of these 52 were formal complaints, requesting action or a response. In total 1.5% of all written comments were negative as follows.

1. Why is the student discount so low?

2. Why doesn't the Senior Citizen discount start at 60?

3. Lighting levels at the Victoria Art Gallery are poor

Heritage Services has shown that better communication is the key to defusing complaints - for example, several visitors were critical of the limited access provided at the Assembly Rooms when there was a function in progress in the daytime. This has led to a change in policy whereby more information is now publicly provided to visitors on these occasions so that they are aware in advance of the limitations on access during a function.

Another example is that we offer a combined ticket to the Museum of Costume and Roman Baths at a discounted price and reception staff at both sites are supposed to inform visitors about this. Having received several comments that this has not been happening, the Visitor Services Supervisors now incorporate a regular reminder in their daily briefings to staff.

Social and Housing Services

Examples of lessons learnt/action taken

1. Adult Services - Anyone who has waited for more than 12 weeks to be allocated to a social worker from the Community Learning Disabilities Team will receive a letter explaining the current position with the waiting list.

2. Children and Family Services - the Service was required to devise an action plan with the Community Mental Health Service to ensure that the services work more closely together.

3. Housing Services - service users who were given inaccurate information received an apology and were resent the information or received a visit from a member of staff.

Analysis of Complaints received by service areas