North Yorkshire County Council, which has had a soaring number of compliments has been heralded in an official report for its handling of complaints.
In his annual report to the authority on complaints, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Michael King said the authority was going above and beyond to remedy errors.
The watchdog’s comments come as figures have revealed compliments received by the council have more than doubled over the past five years, rising from 1,063 in 2015 to 2,286 this year.
Many of the compliments related to “excellent service” offered by library and health and adult services staff.
Over the same period complaints have risen from 857 to 1,289, an increase of about 50 per cent.
The authority’s highways work accounted for a third of the complaints the council received.
A report to the council’s executive states that in general, the number of complaints received by the council increases over time, due to greater demand for services and rising expectations against a backdrop of the authority’s funding having dropped dramatically over the last decade.
Ombudsman Mr King highlighted how the council had maintained the improvements it made to its handling of complaints over the last two years.
He commended the way the council has “proactively offered to remedy some of the complaints”. He said in one case, after reviewing the complaint, the council accepted it had not provided enough information about how it would charge a man for his social care after he received an unexpected invoice.
Mr King said the council had offered a suitable financial remedy and improved its procedures to prevent a repeat of the fault, meaning the ombudsman did not need to make any additional recommendations.
He added: “In another case, the council went further than our initial recommendation when responding to a complaint about school transport for a child with special educational needs, to prevent the additional stress a tribunal appeal might cause the family. I welcome this constructive approach.”
Richard Flinton, the council’s chief executive, said the compliments and complaints findings were a learning opportunity for the authority, which was continually striving to improve its services.
He said: “The report shows this, in that compliments are now rising at a faster rate than complaints. We accept that in running so many services and in all the thousands of interactions we have with people who use them, we have things we need to do better, and as a council we seek to learn from our record.”
Be the first to comment