The Assistant Director of the Chief Executive’s Office will submit Document “T” which summarises the number of complaints and investigations undertaken by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for the year ended 31 March 2019 and compares Bradford’s performance against that of other local authorities.

Recommended-

That the Committee takes assurance from the result of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Review of Local Government Complaints 2018/19, that the Authority’s complaints process is overall satisfactory.

                                                                          (Irina Arcas – 01274 435269)

Resolved-

That the Committee takes assurance from the result of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Review of Local Government Complaints 2018/19, that the Authority’s complaints process is overall satisfactory.

                                                                          (Irina Arcas – 01274 435269)

The Assistant Director of the Chief Executive’s Office submitted Document “T” which summarised the number of complaints and investigations undertaken by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) for the year ended 31 March 2019 and compared Bradford’s performance against that of other local authorities.

It was reported that:

·         The Review of Local Government Complaints 2018/19 identified that the LGSCO received a total of 115 new complaints and enquiries about Bradford between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 compared to 123 in the previous year.

·         17 complaints (30 in 2017/18) were subject to a detailed investigation carried out by the LGSCO; 7 of those complaints were not upheld with 10 being upheld i.e. 59% of the total complaints investigated by the LGO were upheld compared to 15% in 2017/18.

·         In 20% of upheld cases the Council provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the Ombudsman; this compared to an average of 14% in similar authorities.

·         For the first time, the LGSCO included data on authorities’ compliance with their recommendations; the LGSCO was pleased Bradford agreed to provide the proposed remedies in the 9 cases (100%), however there was a delay in implementing remedies in 2 of the above cases. Bradford’s 100% compliance compared to an average of 99% in similar authorities.

·         The LGSCO published 43 public interest reports during 2018/19, compared to 42 during 2017/18; none of the 43 public reports were against Bradford Council, whilst one was published in 2017/18.

In response to a Member’s question it was reported that in relation to paragraph 3.3 and learning from complaints the recommendations relating to Children’s Services had been actioned.

Resolved-

That the Committee takes assurance from the result of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Review of Local Government Complaints 2018/19, that the Authority’s complaints process is overall satisfactory.