The  Assistant Director (Chief Executives Office) will submit Document “N” which summarises the number of complaints and investigations undertaken by the Ombudsman for the year ending 31 March 2017 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           2016/17, that the Authorities complaints process is overall satisfactory.

                                                                        (Irina Arcas – 01274 435269)

The  Assistant Director (Chief Executives Office)  submitted Document “N” which summarised the number of complaints and investigations undertaken by the Ombudsman for the year ending 31 March 2017 and compared Bradford’s performance against that of other local authorities.

It was reported that the LGO’s (Local Government Ombudsman) review suggested that overall the numbers of complaints were increasing and Councils had less resource available to manage them. However, the overall number of complaints considered by the LGO for Bradford had been similar across the last three years and of those where the LGO carried out a detailed investigation, the number which resulted in a complaint being upheld was also the same.

Members were informed that the Review of Local Government Complaints 2016/17 identified that the LGO received a total of 120 new complaints and enquiries about Bradford between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017 compared to 113 in the previous year.  A breakdown across Services was detailed at paragraph 3.2. of the report.

It was reported that during the period in question 23 complaints (28 in 2015/16) were subject to a detailed investigation carried out by the LGO. 11 of those complaints were not upheld with 12 being upheld i.e. 10% of the total complaints received by the LGO were upheld compared to 10.6% in 2015/16. A breakdown across service area of those subject to a formal investigation was detailed at 3.3 of the report.

Members were informed that in terms of percentage of upheld cases against the overall number of complaints the LGO received, again Bradford (10%) compared favourably with the national comparator (13.74%), was ranked the highest against the West Yorkshire comparators which averaged at 16.54% and 3^rd best in the Yorkshire and Humber region which averaged 13.58%.   

It was reported that in four of the twelve cases where the LGO undertook a formal investigation and upheld the complaint, the LGO recommended compensation and other payments to complainants totalling £2,000, the cost of which was borne by Service Departments from within the base budget. 

Members asked whether the nature of complaints had changed over the years and raised concerns at the number of complaints upheld in 2016/17 in Adult Social Care compared to the number of complaints received in this service area.

In response to Members questions it was reported that the types of complaints received were similar to previous years; bulk of complaints came from 3 areas, Children’s Services, Adult Social Care and Planning; officers tried to resolve all complaints at the earliest opportunity. The Strategic Director for Health and Wellbeing was aware of the upheld complaints in 2016/17.

Resolved-

(1)       That the Committee takes assurance from the result of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman’s Annual Review of Local Government Complaints             2016/17, that the Authorities complaints process is overall satisfactory.

(2)       That the Committee expresses concern at the number of complaints upheld by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman in Adult Social Care and asks the Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee to examine the reason why so many complaints were upheld in 2016/17 compared to the number of complaints received in this service area.

Action:           Strategic Director Health and Wellbeing/Overview and Scrutiny Lead Officer