Issue - meetings

This report provides the annual review of complaints received and decisions made by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman during 2021-2022.

The Committee received a report providing the annual review of complaints received and decisions made by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman during 2021-2022.

The following matters were considered:

a)            Ombudsman Annual Letter.  The Interim Director of Corporate Servicesinformed the Committee that in future when the Ombudsman’s Annual Letter is received by the council, it would be brought to the next available  Audit & Scrutiny Committee meeting to enable a more timely review.

a)            Ombudsman Complaints. The Interim Director of Corporate Services acknowledged that a level of criticism had been directed at the councilfor the way in which some Ombudsman complaints had been dealt with. The Interim Director of Corporate Services assured the Committee that a number of actions had been taken to address the issues identified in the Ombudsman’s letter, and that he anticipated that the current year’s report from the Ombudsman would not show a repeat of them.

b)            Correction of Report. The Committee noted that the heading of line 4.1 should include the word “Equality” before “Impact Assessment”.

c)            Interim reports. The Committee considered that regular reports on Ombudsman complaints would be more beneficial than a single report presented at the end of the year detailing all complaints over the previous 12 months. The Interim Director of Corporate Services agreed that updates would be provided regularly at each future meeting of the committee.

d)            Complaint Procedure. A Member asked if complaints are referred to the Ombudsman by the council or whether complainants approach the Ombudsman of their own accord. In response, the Interim Director of Corporate Services informed the Committee of the council’s two stage  complaint process and explained that complainants were informed of their right to refer the matter to the Ombudsman if they were not satisfied with the outcome of the council’s investigation. The Ombudsman had the right to not accept a case if it has not gone through the council’s full two stage process.

e)            Housing Ombudsman. In response to a question regarding the Housing Ombudsman Service, the Interim Director of Corporate Services detailed that there are a number of Ombudsman who deal with public services. The Local Government Ombudsman was working in partnership with the Housing Ombudsman to develop a complaint handling code and training programme.

A Member asked if the data presented in the report included housing complaints taken to the Ombudsman. The Interim Director of Corporate Services responded that the report did include relevant Housing complaints taken to the Ombudsman, but that the council no longer managed it’s own social housing stock.

Following consideration, the Committee unanimously resolved to:

(1)      Receive and note the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Annual Review Letter 2021-2022.