Agenda item

ANNUAL FEEDBACK AND RESOLUTIONS REPORT 2022-2023

To receive an update on the Annual Feedback and Resolutions Report 2022 – 23.

 

This report provides an update on how Haringey Council is seeking to learn from the feedback we receive from residents and use this to shape and improve our services.

Minutes:

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

 

Supporting documents: