Issue - meetings

Report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services.

The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services presented the report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services which summarised the complaints which the Council received during 2019/20 with a comparison to previous performance. The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services noted the following;

·       45 complaints were received by the Council at Stage 1 of its complaints process

·       The percentage of complaints escalated past Stage 1 increased slightly from 17.6% in 2018/19 to 20.0% (9 from 45)

·       Consistency in handling complaints had stayed at a high level, as had the number of complaints that are responded to within target time – 42 out of 45

·       Analysis of the 45 complaints received in 2019/20 showed that 75.6% were unjustified.

·       The Council received 132 compliments about its services in 2019/20 – 27 more than the previous year.

It was explained that the Local Government Ombudsman was a service which investigated complaints from the public about councils when the Council’s complaint process had been exhausted and the customer still does not consider that they have achieved a satisfactory outcome. It was noted that in 2019/20 the Local Government Ombudsman issued five decisions on complaints received about the council: one was upheld (the Council complied with the LGO in apologising to the injured party and agreeing for staff training to ensure that the situation did not arise again); two were upheld; one was referred back for local resolution and one was closed after initial enquires. The Service Manager – Finance and Corporate Services was pleased to note that the Local Government Ombudsman complaints for Rushcliffe were the lowest in comparison to other local authorities in the immediate area.

It was RESOLVED that

a)    The report of the Executive Manager – Finance and Corporate Services be noted

b)      The report be accepted as a true record for customer feedback in 2019/20.