Issue - meetings

(a)       That the Committee notes the annual performance of the Council in respect of complaints made to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales during 2021-22;

(b)       That the Committee notes the 2022-23 half year performance of the Council in respect of complaints made to services in line with its complaints procedure;

(c)       That the Committee supports the actions outlined in paragraph 1.15 to improve complaints handling across the Council; and

(d)       That the Committee requests additional information for the next report to demonstrate how community feedback helps to identify changes to improve service delivery.

The Chief Officer (Governance) introduced the report to share the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) Annual Letter which summarised the Council’s performance on complaints investigated during 2021-22.

The Committee was introduced to Rebecca Jones, the Customer Contact Service Manager, who was also appointed as Chair of the All-Wales Complaints Group which aimed to share good practice and identify improvements on complaints handling.  In summarising the main areas of the report, she explained that the increase in new complaints made against the Council during 2021/22 aligned with the national trend and was likely to be a result of suppressed complaints during the pandemic.  The majority of those complaints had been closed due to being out of jurisdiction, premature or closed after initial consideration by the PSOW.  A review of public information to increase awareness of the Council’s complaints procedure was helping to reduce the number of premature complaints and actions to keep complainants informed of progress would help to tackle the number of duplicated cases.  Other improvements reported good progress with the mandatory training programme, the introduction of a new policy on managing customer contact and setting out house rules on expected behaviour for contact with the Council on social media.  A summary of performance during the first half of 2022/23 indicated a slight increase in complaints received to date and improved complaint responses across portfolios.

Matthew Harris, Head of the Complaints Standards Authority, was in attendance and welcomed the Council’s investment in training and its impact on referrals to the PSOW and intervention levels during the first half of 2022/23.  He referred to the ongoing commitment to support the Council’s training programme and the statutory guidance within the All-Wales model which aimed to standardise complaints handling throughout Wales.

Rev Brian Harvey asked how the procedure was used to improve customer services.  Officers advised that sharing performance data with key officers helped to inform learning and analyse trends in order to target improvements, noting that the nature of some complaints were outside the control of the Council.

Councillor Andrew Parkhurst welcomed the work being undertaken to improve complaints handling and publicise the Council’s complaints procedure.  In response to a question on Members’ complaints communicated to officers, the Customer Contact Service Manager advised that performance data was based on complaints reported directly to the Corporate Complaints Team.

In response to comments on comparison of performance across Wales, Matthew Harris provided context on the proportion of complaints referred to the PSOW and he welcomed the reduction in referrals in Flintshire for the first half of 2022/23 compared with the previous year.  He agreed with the point raised by the Chief Officer (Planning, Environment & Economy) that public interest reports raised the public profile of the PSOW, which could be one of the factors contributing to the increase in premature complaints.

The Chair suggested that the Committee may wish to request additional information for the next report to show how feedback had helped to identify changes to improve services.  In response to a further  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50