Agenda item

REPORT OF THE CUSTOMER SERVICE MANAGER

Proposed amendments to the Comments, Compliments and Complaints (3Cs) policy, based on experiences, learning and discussions since the last policy review in 2019.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the report and appendices.  

REASONS FOR DECISION:

(1)   The recommendations are being made to ensure the 3C’s policy stays current and reflects learning since the last review date. The policy continues to remain in line with Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) best practice.

(2)   Some of the specific updates and amendments address matters that have arisen for the first time and therefore adding them now helps to ensure the policy is clear for all going forward.

(3)   The updates ensure the Council has a robust policy to refer to when required, and customers are clear on how the policy works

Audio recording – 66 minutes 10 seconds

The Customer Service Manager presented the report entitled ‘3Cs Policy Update’ and appendices and advised Members of the following:

·       This policy was due for review in September 2022 and will be presented to Cabinet next week.

·       The policy itself and Appendix C have been review and updated following matters happening for the first time in the last year.

·       Some of these matters include whether an Officer complained about can respond to the complaint, alignment with the People First approach and is aligned with the Customer Service Strategy as updated in 2021.

·       An update to the policy included the ability for third parties to log a 3C with the consent of the customer.

·       The policy itself has been updated to make it clearer, with wording improved and updated to be as customer friendly as possible in line with the People First priority.

·       No major changes, other than that outlined in 8.1 in report.

·       The policy has been aligned with other customer facing strategy documents we have, including the Council Plan and Customer Service Strategy.

·       The policy had been audited by SIAS and they offered assurance that effective control are in place and it has been benchmarked against other Council’s policies.

Councillor Terry Hone noted that the Unreasonable Complainants (& Contact) Policy was helpful to ensure that Officer time was not taken by unreasonable, continuous or vexatious complaints.

The following Members asked questions:

·       Councillor Claire Strong

·       Councillor David Levett

·       Councillor Adam Compton

In response to questions, the Customer Service Manager advised:

·       The flow chart should allow 14 days for Customers to request a complaint be escalated.

·       With the Unreasonable Complaints (& Contact) Policy, the case would be assessed initially by the Customer Service Manager to establish what has happened, and where this is determined to be vexatious the case would be made to the Service Director – Customers to decide an appropriate outcome.

·       Outcomes of this decision can include limiting further contact, or one of the other possible actions outlined in the Policy.

·       A ‘barred’ customer could still log a further complaint on an issue and this could be looked into by the Customer Service team.

·       Complaints would still be triaged, but there would be a flag on the CRM system to ensure all are aware of previous vexatious complaints.

Councillor Claire Strong proposed and Councillor Adam Compton seconded and, following a vote, it was:

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the report and appendices. 

REASONS FOR DECISION:

(1)   The recommendations are being made to ensure the 3C’s policy stays current and reflects learning since the last review date. The policy continues to remain in line with Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) best practice.

(2)   Some of the specific updates and amendments address matters that have arisen for the first time and therefore adding them now helps to ensure the policy is clear for all going forward.

(3)   The updates ensure the Council has a robust policy to refer to when required, and customers are clear on how the policy works