Agenda item

The Select Committee gave consideration to a report which provided an update on Council performance in relation to enquiries received from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO).

The Council dealt with complaints about the services it provided according to the requirements of the Local Government Act 1974 for corporate complaints; the Children Act 1989 for Children’s Social Care complaints; and the Local Authority Social Services and NHS Complaints Regulations 2009 for Adult Social Care complaints.  All these complaints procedures had the LGSCO as the last stage in the process. The Ombudsman’s role was to enquire into cases where the Council and the complainant still did not agree after the Local Authority’s complaints procedure had been exhausted and the complainant still wanted the case to be reviewed.

The submitted report considered the LGSCO’s Annual Review of Complaints for 2019/20 and national, regional and local perspectives arising.  Nationally, the LGSCO had reviewed 17,019 cases, of which 5,723 were resolved at initial investigation stage, while 4,215 required a detailed investigation of which 2,586 were ultimately upheld.  The highest proportion of complaints upheld were about education and children’s services (72%), while over a third of the public interest reports published also related to those issues.  Regionally, figures provided for the numbers of complaints reviewed by the LGSCO for each of the Greater Manchester Authorities in the years 2018/19 and 2019/20.  Oldham’s figure had fallen from 80 to 71 in this period.  The number of cases investigated in 2019/20 was likewise reported: Oldham had 13 cases investigated of which seven were upheld.

Locally, in 29% of those upheld cases the LGSCO found that the Council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman: this compared to an average of 11% in similar authorities.  It was noted that the number of cases reviewed by and investigated by the LGSCO was low when compared with the overall complaints caseload.  The Council was currently reviewing the Complaints Service which would include review of policies and procedures, improving timescales for resolution and placing stronger emphasis on service development and improvement following complaints.  Best practice training had also been commissioned. 

Members sought and received clarification on the following –

·         complaints tended to be spread across the Council generallt, though with particular focus on certain areas such as children’s services, adult services and Council Tax.  If a particular type of concern was arising, work would be undertaken to see if an overall improvement could be made;

·         in considering where and how complaints arose, a particular issue such as a disputed planning application might produce a spike in complaints;

·         it was noted that while a person may complain, it could be that the Council had acted correctly.  If it was found that an individual was at fault, work would be undertaken with the Service to ensure services were provided respectfully and correctly;

·         it was noted that different services attracted different types of complain, for example Council Tax debt enforcement attracted complaints though many were not upheld as correct procedures had been followed, and waste collection attracted greater feedback because of the higher level of public contact with the service.

RESOLVED that the Local Government Ombudsman Annual Review of Performance be noted.