Agenda item

Note:   A two minute recess was taken at this point to allow for the Customer Services Manager to join the meeting as the previous item was concluded faster than expected. During this time the Chairman introduced the Management Adviser who was observing the conduct of the meeting.

Consideration was given to a report which reviewed the number, type and results of compliments, comments and complaints made to the Council during 2016/17.  The report further advised on any evident trends, areas for learning and future management or feedback.

It was highlighted that the Council received 186 compliments from April 2016 to March 2017 which was a 15% increase from the previous year. Most compliments were received by Development Management (Planning).

There were only 31 comments received in the same period which was disappointing. A new Customer Complaint Advocate had been appointed recently to allow for complaints to be handled in a more focused and customer centric way and help identify a learning outcome where relevant.

In relation to complaints, a total of 180 complaints were received which was a 32% increase on the previous year. This figure included both stage 2 and 3 complaints. It was pointed out that the figure equated to less than 0.05% of all customer contacts with the Council in 2016/17. Operational Services received the highest number of stage 2 complaints. There were three stage 3 complaints received which related to issues around Enforcement. This was being addressed by way of creating a template that planning officers would complete to avoid the identified issues coming up in the future.

Of the 180 complaints, 103 were upheld in favour of the customers. These 103 complaints were to be analysed by the newly appointed Customer Complaints Advocate who was starting in her post on the 1 August 2017 to avoid repeat mistakes.

Consultation was on-going to look into ways of streamlining the complaints process by reducing the number of touch points with the customer and managing the interaction with the customer more effectively by providing a single point of contact (the Customer Complaints Advocate) and thus improving the relations with the customer – putting customer first. A new report entitled ‘The Voice of the Customer report’ was to be produced as well as monthly updates being given to team managers.

The Chairman commented that it would be interesting to see whether the new post delivered the expected positive outcomes.

In opening the debate, Members thanked the Customer Services Manager for her report and the good work which had been done. Members then made comments relating to the new post, stating that the title Customer ‘Complaints’ Advocate could be seen as inviting the customer to complain and proposed that the title Customer ‘First’ Advocate may be a better, more positive alternative. Members then queried whether there was a member-customer breakdown available and whether any potential duplications were considered when producing the figures to avoid double counting.

In responding, it was confirmed that the job title was raised internally as well due to it sounding negative and would be re-looked at with the above proposal being put forward. In terms of the second question, Members were directed to Appendix I which detailed where the complaints had come from, showing that 12 of the complaints received came from Councillors. The possible duplications were being looked at with plans to create a new ‘golden record’ of a customer to resolve the current issue of not having a suitable IT system which would link the information effectively. This work was in progress.

Members then queried the 48 working hour response time when dealing with initial complaints, stating that this gave an expectation of resolution within two days and that this could be misleading as 48 ‘working’ hours was more than a week but customers may perceive 48 hours initial response time as two days. The wording was to be reviewed to make the actual response time clearer to customers.

RESOLVED that the content of the 2016/17 report be received and noted.