The report was introduced by
Elaine Prado, Head of
Feedback and Resolutions
Strategy Comms and Collaboration, as set out in the agenda pack at pages 61 – 84.
This
report provided an update on how Haringey Council was seeking to
learn from the feedback received from residents and used this to
shape and improve services.
This
report also sets out some of the key actions the service was
undertaking to improve the complaints, FOI and Members Enquiry
handling processes to ensure the system provided both a positive
resident experience but also the strongest possible platform to
utilise the feedback both positive and negative.
The
meeting heard that:
- Feedback
and complaints were utilised in a way of designing changes to the
systems that contributed to running services.
- Currently,
information on how services were specifically learning from
feedback was being gathered manually from services.
- The
feedback received indicated that not all complaints were about
service failures. Some of the complaints was on policy decisions
taken by the Council which some residents disagreed to, for
instance the implementation of Low Traffic
Neighbourhoods.
- The
Committee noted that there may be an increase in complaints on
standards and services as the Council was having to make
considerable amount of service cuts and services would need to be
prepared to see people not being happy with Council
policies.
- Officers
advised that it was important to focus on reasons why residents
complained rather than focusing on the number of complaints and the
reporting process. It was essential to ensure that proper measures
were in place to deliver the needs of the residents.
- The
Committee noted that from the 1st of April, every local
authority in England would need to use a standard definition of
what a complaint was. The standard definition highlighted that a
complaint would be an expression of dissatisfaction made about the
standard of service actions or lack of action by the organization,
its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an
individual or group of individuals.
- There was a
real emphasis on reducing the number of complaints being escalated
or upheld. If the service was living the values mentioned around
really learning from complaints, then services should hopefully be
resolving matters quickly.
- In response
to a question from the Committee regarding the Haringey deal and
involving residents in designing services, officers provided an
example of how residents were involved in improving services.
Officers explained that residents who complained that there was a
lot of pavement parking, especially in the evening, in areas like
Wood Green, Muswell Hill and Green Lanes and that Civil Enforcement
Officers only operate till 10:00pm.
This response would not be sufficient for residents as it did not
resolve the problem. The service then had to look at services
available and assess the way the service was designed to see if it
was meeting the needs of the issues that the residents were
raising. The service then made improvements by having Traffic
Wardens operating until 2:00am on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
night in the specified hotspot areas. This was an example provided
by how the service had responded to complaint by involving
residents.
- In response
to a question regarding whether parking complaints had dropped
overall, Officers advised that there was not a drop overall as
there had been a complaint on a policy relating to the
implementation of double yellow lines at junctions and it was also
useful to note that new issues may arise.
- In relation
to Housing repair follow-on calls, a result of resident feedback
showing dissatisfaction with follow-on calls about housing repairs,
a secondary phone line had been initiated so that residents could
discuss existing repairs with officers within Property Services who
could arrange subsequent repair appointments, removing the
‘hand-off’ and delays from the process.
- In response
to a question regarding improvements in Children’s Services
made as a result feedback from parents, Officers advised that
parents complained because they were in a position of not trusting
the professionals within the Council to deliver the messages about
what their children were eligible for. Having a trusted partner in
the room like an advocate helped to have the message to become more
acceptable.
- In response
to a question from the Committee regarding reporting on complaints
next year or on an annual basis, Officers advised that there had
been a few challenges in the complaints processes and systems. The
issues included delays in information handling and timeliness
around responses, and these were the big theme of the improvement
plan. One of the things that would make a difference in relation to
delays would be the new system the service was developing which was
a software through which all of complaints Members, enquiries have
Freedom of Information requests would be managed. The current
system is outdated and would be replaced with a new system which
was being developed internally by Digital Services.
- In response
to a question from the Committee, Officers confirmed that the
independent partner agency experts that the Council were using was
SENDIASS professionals (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
Information Advice and Support Service).
- The
Committee was advised that in terms of failure through shared
mailboxes, this occurred when emails in the mailbox were not being
handled in a timely manner. An example provided was if a member of
the team were away on holiday or off sick, the email queries could
take longer to be process or forwarded on to the correct officers.
To tackle this issue the service had been exploring ways where they
could work together as a team and manage workload
accordingly.
- In terms of
the difference between poor standard of service versus failure to
provide a service, Officers advised that a poor standard of service
was where the service had done something for the resident but did
not do it to a good standard. Failure to provide a services was
when the service just did not do the task at all.
- Officers
also advised that around 90% of Members Enquiries was mainly
Casework. Casework was where things had gone wrong, and the case
was then referred to the correct team who would investigate the
matter further.
RESOLVED
To note
the report