Chapter 3: Analysis of complaints

• Complaints and enquiries received
• Subjects and handling of complaints and enquiries
• Outcome of complaints

Complaints and enquiries received

The LGO Advice Team is the single point of contact for all enquiries and new complaints. The Advice Team received a total of 18,020 complaints and enquiries in 2009/1 0, compared with 21,012 in 2008/09. These include telephone enquiries that were not pursued any further at the time beyond giving the caller advice; complaints taken down over the telephone and forwarded to one of the three investigative teams; and complaints received in writing – either via the complaint form on our website, or through the post.

The breakdown of advice given to people who telephoned the LGO Advice Team in 2009/10 is shown in table 1 below, along with the breakdown for the previous year.

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Subjects and handling of complaints and enquiries

The subjects of complaints and enquiries received during the year are shown in table 2 below, along with the way they were handled.

Premature complaints and enquiries are where the complainant has not already complained to the council first. After they have done so, the complainant may resubmit their complaint to the Ombudsman if they remain unsatisfied after the council has considered it. These will be forwarded to an investigative team as a ‘resubmitted premature’ complaint.

* 'Resubmitted premature' complaints will p reviously hve been a 'premature complaint or enquiry' so these two figures would need to be added together to get the total number of premature complaint and enquiries made.

The number where advice was given indicates where people have telephoned the LGO Advice Team and have been told that it is unlikely the Ombudsman can deal with their complaint and that they should try another organisation, go to an advice agency, or that their complaint is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. The figure also includes cases where the complainant has not given enough information for clear advice to be given, but they have, in any case, decided not to pursue the complaint.

The number of complaints and enquiries in each subject category for 2009/10 is shown in table 3 below.

Housing and planning complaints remain the largest two categories of complaint.

Within the education category, school admission complaints and enquiries have reduced slightly, after increases in the previous two years. There were small increases in the number of complaints and enquiries about special educational needs and school transport, however.

Adult social care complaints have gone up from 4 per cent of the total in 2008/09 to 6 per cent in 2009/10. At the start of the year, new arrangements were introduced for complaints about adult social care. A single local resolution stage replaced the previous three-stage procedure. It is likely that, in the early phase of these new arrangements, cases have been reaching us more quickly.

Children’s care services have also increased slightly, from 4 per cent in 2008/09 to 5 per cent in 2009/10.

The proportion of ‘other’ complaints and enquiries is quite significant partly due to the inclusion of several hundred enquiries on matters that were not local government related that are handled by the LGO Advice Team.

A more detailed breakdown of the subjects of complaints received is available on our website.

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Outcome of complaints

We decided 10,309 complaints forwarded to the investigative teams during the year, compared to 11,687 in 2008/09.

Table 4 summarises the decisions made on complaints forwarded to the investigative teams. The total number of complaints where redress was obtained or recommended for the complainant was 2,435 – 27.7 per cent of all complaints determined (excluding the complaints that were outside our jurisdiction). This is very similar to the previous year (when it was 28.7 per cent).

See the Glossary of terminology for an explanation of terms used.

The numbers of complaints determined (excluding premature complaints) have reduced since 2007/08 in part because the Advice Team is able to advise people when their complaint is unlikely to succeed, for example because it is likely to be outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, which has the effect of reducing the overall number of complaints that get submitted. The percentage of complaints determined that were outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction has dropped from 18.5 per cent of all complaints determined in 2007/08, to 13-15 per cent in the two years since. This suggests that the service provided by the LGO Advice Team is an effective way of explaining the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

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Date Updated: 21/07/10