Agenda item

The Customer Service, Standards and Complaints Manager informed the Board that Customer Services was working closely with the Council’s Housing and Enforcement team to ensure the Council met the new regulations and changing Ombudsman’s code.

A meeting had been held in the previous week to accomplish this, with a further meeting in the following week.  Due to the increase in work, the recruitment of staff had taken place and if the Customer Standards and Complaints Officer was unavailable to attend future Board meetings, the Customer Advisor and Complaints Admin would be.

The Customer Standards and Complaints Officer presented the report to the Board.

Some customer contacts / complaints received during Q3 2024/25 covered more than one service area; when analysing the data, these did not mirror the actual volume of contacts received.

30 Compliments were received during Quarter 3 2024/25.  When analysing Compliments received, Dragonfly (Housing Repairs and Maintenance) had received the most, followed by Housing Options and then Housing Allocations.

It was noted, as also shown in the Q1 and Q2 data of 2024/25, that whilst repairs and maintenance had featured heavily as a core reason for complaint, data showed that a tenant’s personal experience of the service appeared to influence their bias in response to the Council – there were positives to be taken from the service delivered, as well as areas identified for improvement.

There was 1 written comment received for Quarter 3 2024/25, with 3 M.P. Enquiries for the same period.

19 Stage 1 Complaints were received during Quarter 3 2024/25, with the largest proportion related to Dragonfly (Housing Repairs and Maintenance).  Themes included lack of action taken by the Council, communication issues and the customer being unhappy with the action taken / standard of the repair.

6 Stage 2 Complaints were received during Quarter 3 2024/25, with the largest proportion related to Dragonfly (Housing Repairs and Maintenance).  Themes could not be identified due to the varying differences of issues recorded.

Neither the Housing Ombudsman nor the Local Government Ombudsman reviewed any complaints during Quarter 3 2024/25.

During Quarter 3 2024/25, the following service improvements had been implemented as a consequence of complaints:

1.     Amended the gas safety check letter to advise that both gas and electric would need to be switched on and amended the electrical safety check letter to advise that electric would need to be switched off for a short period;

2.     The Repairs system had been updated to ensure that all jobs were locked to a date and the specific Operative;

3.     The Repairs Team must double check the appliance type in properties to ensure the correct Operatives and tools were taken;

4.     The Gas Engineer had been spoken with regarding the importance of informing the Office of any further works required in the future;

5.     The Repairs Operative in question would be given further training procedures and expectations for customer services and working practices; and,

6.     The Housing Options Team would ensure that any landlord was contacted with updates / information if grants could not be progressed.

The next Service Review for the Housing Department and Dragonfly was scheduled for April 2025.

Most compliments were made via telephone, followed by email for Quarter 3 2024/25.  The one comment made was by email.  Most Stage 1 Complaints were made via telephone, followed by email then self-service.  Stage 2 Complaints were equally made via telephone and email.

Tenants made most reports compared to residents in Quarter 3 2024/25.

There had been a large decrease in Stage 1 Complaints from Q2 to Q3 2024/25, and a small decrease in Compliments.  In Q1 and Q2 2024/25, Stage 1 Complaints were comparative whereas in Q2 and Q3 2024/25 Compliments were comparative.  Comments had remained low throughout Q1 to Q3 2024/25, and the number of Stage 2 Complaints had remained similar.

The report provided more detail on Compliments, Comments and Complaints, along with the Council services in receipt of them.

The Head of Property (Repairs and Maintenance) noted if trends were identified, improvements would follow.

The Assistant Director of Housing Management & Enforcement noted that with Complaints so low, it was important to learn who was making them.  Additionally, as previously mentioned, it was theorised tenants were either struggling to submit Complaints, were choosing not to submit Complaints, or the Council was performing well and so there was no Complaint to submit.

However, if there were barriers that prevented tenants from submitting Complaints, if was important to address so the Council could respond to issues appropriately.

RESOLVED that the Board review the overall performance on Compliments, Comments and Complaints handling performance as detailed in the report.

The Customer Service, Standards and Complaints Manager, the Customer Standards and Complaints Officer, and the Customer Advisor and Complaints Admin left the meeting at 15:19 hours.