The committee received a report of the Group Head of Democracy and Governance regarding the Ombudsman’s letter enclosing statistics relating to the number of complaints received and decided in the previous calendar year. 

The Group Head of Democracy and Governance introduced the report.  She explained that the letter was received annually and covered the financial year ending on 31 March 2020.  The Ombudsman had determined 30 complaints during the year; with five being upheld out of nine detailed investigations.  This was a high level of upheld complaints compared to other authorities.  Apologies had been given to complainants in all of the upheld cases. 

The Group Head of Democracy and Governance concluded by explaining that the number of complaints received in a year differed from the number decided because not all complaints were necessarily determined within the year they were received; and there were a number decided during the financial year that were received the previous year.

In response to a question from members, the Group Head of Democracy and Governance explained that the lessons learnt from the upheld complaints was of the importance of the council complying with time limits contained with its own complaints procedure, as a number of the adverse findings had related to this aspect.  As a result, the Head of the Customer Experience was examining how Heads of Service would ensure that the time limits were adhered to so that complaints were dealt with more promptly.

RESOLVED –

                        that the Ombudsman’s Annual Letter be noted.