Decision details

Cabinet received a report of the Customer Services Operations Manager which provided members with the latest annual complaints report for noting.

The Mayor invited Councillor Watkin to introduce the report.

Councillor Watkin introduced the report.  He referred to recent policies that had been introduced and the establishment of the Customer Experience Project board.  He commented that real time information was available about the number of complaints and response times.  He explained the council’s complaints process.  A new process had been established on the council’s website and the team did discuss service improvements at team meetings.  Regular training about complaint handling was regularly offered to Customer Liaison Officers.

Councillor Watkin informed members that the overall number of complaints had decreased by 20% compared to the previous year.  With regards to Stage 2 complaints, these had also decreased by 20%; a total of 12 had been received.  The statistics were the lowest of any Hertfordshire authority.  There had been 9 Local Government Ombudsman complaints, which was fewer than the previous year.

The Mayor thanked the Customer Services Operations Manager for the report and the good work being carried out.  He was encouraged by the decreasing statistics and showed how it linked into the council continuously working on improving its services.

RESOLVED –

that the Annual Complaints report and the proposed next steps be noted.