Issue - meetings

Ruth Rollings, Service Manager – Customer Relations (Complaints Manager) gave a brief overview of the report and of the individual services in the report.  It was highlighted to the committee that complaints in relation to the Children and Families service are reducing; in addition, compliments are increasing. In 2023/24 the number of compliments increased by 39% to 25, indicating improvement in service and customer satisfaction.

The top category for complaints within the children and families service is protection of user – when a member of staff is specifically named in a complaint.  The other top categories include WCC service standards and staff conduct.  The top categories for complaints within the education service are communication, WCC service standards and protection of user.

It was noted that a high proportion of complaints are completed outside of timescales. (See appendix 1). More targeted work is required within services on the importance of closing complaints within timescales.

The committee noted that officers had identified lessons learned and were actioning and recording progress made against them; it was acknowledged that this is critical work in order to improve the service.  Examples of identified lessons learned include –

• Clear and timely communication throughout the edge of care

process.

• When workers are off sick, Team Leads ensure that things are still

being progressed to prevent delays.

• Identifying specific training e.g. neurodiversity training undertaken by

the customer relations team.

• Updated training for Children and Families staff on specific areas like

Special Guardianship Order.

• Training and briefings for managers about responding to and

investigating complaints

Councillor Penny-Anne O’Donnell commented that it had been lovely for the committee to hear that compliments were increasing and asked where the council stood in comparison to neighbouring authorities.  Ruth Rollings confirmed that benchmarking was still underway but that the information should be ready in time for the next time this report is presented to the committee.  All members of the committee agreed that being able to benchmark the council’s performance would be really useful.

Councillor Jill Simpson-Vince added that given the issues the council faced with the school admission process, it was very encouraging to see the reduction in complaints and showed that the work being done by officers is working.

The Chair requested that the committee receive a further update from Ruth at the meeting in February 2025.

Resolved

That the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee considers and comments on the contents of the report.