Agenda item

In his introduction to the report, the Director of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer drew members’ attention to an amendment required to recommendation 2.3 of the report as follows:

Replace the figures “5” and “17” with “3” and “12” respectively, so recommendation 2.3 now reads “To note that 3 out of the 12 upheld cases received a satisfactory remedy before the Ombudsman involvement.”

A member of the Committee noted that the contents of the sub-paragraphs to paragraph 3.3 on “Training” and “Complaints/Improvement” had not changed since last year. For the future, he suggested that those sub-paragraphs should instead be updated as necessary to include any improvements and development achieved, following training.

Members expressed some concern at a particular Housing and Communities complaint case no 19019179, where compensation of £7,607, a significantly larger award than others, had been awarded to a complainant. The Committee queried what had gone wrong in this case and what actions the Council had taken to ensure that it would not be repeated. In response, the Assistant Director for Resident Experience undertook to provide details of the case to members of the Committee, including a breakdown of the award to indicate how much comprised compensation and penalty and also to detail steps taken to ensure that there would be no recurrence.

Members also recommended that, where there had been adverse findings by an external body, particularly where there were broader implications for the Council, the relevant Executive Member and Chair of Scrutiny Committee be notified as a matter of course by the Assistant Director for Resident Experience.

More generally, Members of the Committee suggested that written communications to residents/complainants needed more attention to ensure that they were clear to ensure that the recipients understood the meaning of those written communications.

RESOLVED:

(a) That the following be noted:

·         The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) Annual Review letter 2021, dated 29 July 2021, as detailed in Appendix 1 to the report of the Director of Law and Governance and Monitoring Officer

·         That, of the 17 cases investigated, 12 upheld decisions were upheld, with the remaining 5 cases not upheld.

·         That 3 out of the 12 upheld cases received a satisfactory remedy before involvement by the Ombudsman.

·         That 9 out of the 9 cases recommended during 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 (100%) complied with the Ombudsman recommendations.

·         That, separate to the complaints investigated by the LGSCO reported in the Annual Review Letter, 4 upheld decisions during the period in question (finding of maladministration) were decided by the Housing Ombudsman, as detailed in Appendix 2 to the report

·         That, in line with the statutory duty under section 5A (2) of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, the Monitoring Officer provided this annual report to Audit Committee.

(b) That the Assistant Director for Resident Experience provide further information to the members of the Committee on the particular Housing and Communities complaint case no 19019179, where compensation of £7,607 had been awarded to a complainant, including a breakdown of the award to indicate how much comprised compensation and how much penalty and also to detail steps taken to ensure that there would be no recurrence.

(c) That, for the future, where there had been adverse findings by an external body, particularly where there were broader implications for the Council, the Assistant Director for Resident Experience notify the relevant Executive Member and Chair of Scrutiny Committee as a matter of course.