Council criticised over complaints delays

Staffordshire County Council failed to carry out recommendations from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) within the agreed timescales in half of the 42 cases in 2023/24.

In her annual review letter to the authority, Ombudsman Amerdeep Somal says it is now the fifth consecutive year that this issue has been raised, and has called on the council to review its processes.

Ms Somal also says that several investigations last year were delayed due to the county council failing to respond to requests for information in a timely way, with three-quarters of responses coming too late.

The LGSCO handles complaints from the public about poor levels of service from local councils and care providers. In cases where complaints are upheld, the Ombudsman can make recommendations which should be carried out within an agreed timescale.

These recommendations can include asking the organisation to make a formal apology, pay the complainant compensation, or carry out a review of a service area.

The LGSCO upheld 48 of the 52 complaints against the county council it investigated in 2023/24, and the authority implemented recommendations in all 42 cases where it was required to.

But Ms Somal said it was ‘disappointing’ that the county council had not done so in the agreed timescales.

In her letter, she states: “While I acknowledge the pressures councils are under, such delays only add to complainants’ frustration and increase the chance of others being affected by the same fault.

"We share recommendations at the draft decision stage of our process and often propose a time period within which we expect any actions to be completed.

“It is important your council engages fully with that process and is realistic in either confirming or seeking to negotiate the timeframe required to complete the actions.

"Concerningly, this is the fifth consecutive year this issue has been noted. I urge you to review your processes and oversight of the remedy process and hope to see improvements in the year ahead.”

The LGSCO upheld 92 per cent of the complaints against the county council in 2023/24, compared to an average of 85 per cent for similar organisations.

In just one of the 48 upheld cases was it found that the council had provided a satisfactory remedy before the complaint reached the ombudsman.

Philip White, deputy leader of Staffordshire County Council, said: “In an organisation of our size and complexity, we have hundreds of thousands of dealings with people every year and in the small number of instances when we get it wrong, we do our best to put it right, which the Ombudsman acknowledges.

“We regularly review our performance in different areas and implement changes when we identify how we can do things better.

“Not only do we seek to improve specific services to residents but as a member of the Institute of Customer Service we are working towards reaching the same consistent high level of service in everything we do.”