Agenda item

(To receive a report from Jo Kavanagh, Assistant Director – Early Help, which provides the Committee with the Annual Complaints Report for Children's Services)

Consideration was given to a report, which provided information concerning complaints relating to Children’s Social Care in line with statutory requirements.  It was noted that the report did not contain any data relating to complaints about the wider Children’s Services area.

The Chairman invited Carolyn Knight, Head of Service – Quality and Standards and Principal Social Worker to present the item to the Committee.

Appendix A to the report provided the Committee with information on the number of complaints received by Children’s Social Care for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.  It was highlighted that a total of 136 contacts had been received in 2020/21 from individuals wishing to complain about the service.  With the implementation of a more restorative approach to complaints, 45 complaints had been resolved informally, outside of the complaints process, which accounted for 33% of all contacts received. 

It was highlighted that for 2020/21 there had been an overall decrease in the number of complaints entering the formal process of 18%.  It was highlighted further that a total of 91 complaints had formally entered the system; and that this was the lowest number of complaints received in the last 10 years, which was excellent news, especially in a year where services had adapted to manage Covid-19, which could have potentially seen an increase in customer dissatisfaction.

The Committee was advised that only 10 complaints had been fully upheld, four of these had been the result of a lack of communication, four had been due to staff conduct and attitude; and two had been as a result to a delay in service. It was also highlighted that 18 complaints had been partially upheld: eight due to a delay in service; seven due to assessment errors; and three due to the lack of communication.  The Committee was advised that any learning from the complaints had been addressed by managers with the staff concerned.

Overall, it was highlighted that the process of early resolution was appearing to be making a difference in reducing the number of complaints that entered the formal system; and it was hoped that this would be maintained.

During consideration of the report, the Committee raised the following comments: -

·       A request was made for further clarity around the graphs and the higher number of complaints received in Lincoln.  The Committee noted that there were three areas with higher number of complaints, they were Lincoln and two of the East Lindsey teams.  Reassurance was given that team managers reviewed all the complaints received to see what could be learnt from them.  It was noted that for some of the East Lindsey complaints there had been some issues with children moving over the borders, as there had been a change in the way Lincolnshire managed cases compared to north and north east Lincolnshire;

·       One member agreed that early resolution was a good thing to do but, actually should those contacted for early resolution still be classed as complaints; as someone had felt aggrieved enough in the first place to make contact;

·       Further background information was sought relating to the two cases that had been referred to the Local Government and Social Ombudsman where fault had been found (page 130 paragraph 8 of the report pack).  The Committee noted that one related to an age assessment for an unaccompanied asylum seeker, that the Council had not applied the correct procedures; and the other was failing to provide suitable full-time education, which was then resolved;

·       Better explanation of acronyms; and

·       The need to ensure that compliments were recorded. Officers confirmed that compliments were received, and that these needed to be recorded better and included in future reports.

The Chairman on behalf of the Committee extended his thanks to the Head of Service – Quality and Standards and Principal Social Worker for the presentation.

RESOLVED

1.      That the Children’s Services Annual Statutory Complaints Report 2021/21 be received; and that the low number of complaints that were upheld or partially upheld be noted.

2.      That the comments raised by the Committee during discussion be received.