Agenda item

The Commission received a report of the Director of Corporate Resources, which presented the Corporate Complaints and Compliments Annual report, covering the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 14’ is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussion, the following points were made:

(i)               A Member questioned if complaints regarding the delayed allocation of school places was in part due to parents not applying on time.  It was noted that whilst this was an issue in some cases, this was not the cause for many complaints received.

(ii)              There had been challenges with some parents not putting a catchment school within their top three choices which came with risk and resulted in appeals and subsequent delay.  Members were reassured that changes in the process had been made to address this and now all parents were offered their next nearest school so as to avoid having to go through this process.  Greater clarity had also been added to the guidance provided to parents.

(iii)            Members noted that most complaints around school admissions focused on people moving in and out of County and changing school.  There had been delays in processing these applications and this was largely due to resource issues within the school placement team.  Schools being oversubscribed was also a factor.  In areas such as Oadby and Wigston and Blaby schools were heavily oversubscribed, and it was therefore difficult for officers to find and allocated a school place mid-school year.

(iv)            Whilst the amount paid in the settlement of complaints had risen, this was largely due to one case relating to adult social care reviews being missed during the pandemic when lock down restrictions had been eased.  This case, which had been determined by the Ombudsmen, had resulted in a payment of £11,000 to the complainant.  This had been the subject of a report to the Cabinet.  Payments otherwise remained consistent with previous years.

(v)             There had been a significant number of complaints regarding SEND and the timely conduct of EHCPs (Education and Health Care Plans).  A Member questioned when it was likely that improvements in the system would be seen which would in turn reduce the number of complaints received.  It was noted that the Children and Family Services Department had in place an accelerated progress plan which forecasted improvements by the Autumn.  The Chair of the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committee commented that performance against the delivery of this plan was being regularly monitored by that Committee, as was performance against delivery of the Department’s TSIL (Transforming SEND in Leicestershire) Programme.  It would also be looking in more detail at the complaints report in respect of these areas at its meeting in September.  The Chair reminded Members that the papers for the Children and Family Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee were available to view on the Council’s website and Members comments on the items it considered were welcomed.

(vi)            Of those complaints that were not dealt with in time, the Director confirmed that most of these related to SEND issues, rather than school admissions.  Significant improvements had been made over the last 12 months to improve links with senior manages to resolve admissions complaints swiftly. It was recognised, however, that SEND complaints were often complex and so by their very nature, were less easy to resolve quickly.

(vii)          It was acknowledged that whilst complaints were often received when things did not go to plan, compliments were not usually submitted when things were going well.  Much was done to try and capture compliments received and advice and guidance was provided to managers on what could be recorded for the purpose of this report.  For example, the compliment had to be unsolicited (i.e., not a response to a survey) and more than a simple ‘thank you’.  Whilst it was noted that there were likely more compliments being received than captured, it was reassuring that levels had remained relatively consistent despite the challenges faced and rise in the number of complaints.

(viii)         A Member commented that it would be useful to better quantify the data being presented if figures as well as percentages were included in future reports.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the Corporate Complaints and Compliments Annual report, covering the period from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, be noted. 

(b)  That reports in future provide figures alongside the percentages to enable Members to better quantify the data presented.