Children’s Services

Complaints and Representations Procedure Annual Report 2006 - 2007 

3.1       Comparison with previous years

	Stage 1	Stage 2	Stage 3	Ombudsman	Total
2004/5	20	7	0	0	27
2005/6	19	0	1	0	20
2006/7	13	3	0	0	16

3.3       The total number of complaints has dropped over the past three years.  Although, in one sense, this can be seen as positive, the Complaints Procedure Manager will continue to work with staff and managers to ensure that all complaints are recorded. 

3.2       Complaints by Service Area

	Stage 1	Stage2	Stage 3	Rep
117 Project
Adolescent and Leaving Care Team	7	2		1
Children’s and Families Team	3
Early Years Service				1
Family Placement Team	1	1
Independent Review Service	0
Looked After Team	1
Referral and Assessment Team	1
Youth Offending Team				1
Service Area Total	13	3	0	3

3.3       Compliments

Service Users, carers and their families wishing to compliment the service can do so using the same methods available for making a complaint e.g. website, comments and complaints leaflet.   

Less detail is recorded about compliments, but the comments provide a useful insight into the way services are provided by staff.    Some of the positive comments include:

            Comments regarding social worker in Referral and Assessment:

           JM is encouraging and supportive of the family and it makes a difference.  JM never acts in a judgemental way

            Comments regarding Independent Reviewing Officer from Foster carer

            The foster carer praises PC for the way he devotes time and energy to the child and his apparent genuine curiosity to get to know the child.  She refers to him as being ‘exceptional’.

            Comments regarding social worker in Adolescent and Leaving Care Team

            I have developed a good relationship with AW and things have improved.

            Comments regarding Family Support Worker in Early Years Service

            SM ‘just superb, she goes the extra mile, is good at liaising and communication’.

4.         Monitoring complaints

4.1       Monitoring of complaints is carried out by the Complaints Procedure Manager on a number of different levels.

• Monitoring and tracking of complaints received.  This enables the Complaints Procedure Manager to observe timescales as well as provide advice to managers on the response to the complaint.
• Monitoring actions following the conclusion of the complaint.  This enables the service to consider service developments as a result of complaints.
• Summarising complaints data on a monthly basis which helps to identify trends in complaints.  This information is incorporated in the monitoring of all complaints received by the Council.
• The annual report which is produced for members, officers and is published on the Bath and North East Somerset website forms part of the monitoring process. 

Although the total number of complaints is small, it is interesting to note that the percentage of complaints that have either been upheld or partially upheld has increased from previous years (69% were either upheld or partially upheld in 2006/7 as opposed to only 37% in 2005/6).

The most likely explanation for this is that following the introduction of the new regulations and guidance, managers are asked to meet with the complainant rather than responding by letter only.  Meeting with the complainant can result in the manager receiving more background to the complaint and understanding why the complainant is dissatisfied with the service they have received.  There is a greater likelihood that the complaint is then upheld or partially upheld the complaint.

4.5       Compliance with timescales

Acknowledgement of Stage 1 complaints

The timescales for responding to a complaint have been changed by the new regulations and guidance.  Previously Stage 1 complaints were responded to within 28 days (which equates to 20 working days).  Complaints were acknowledged within 5 days.   In keeping with the key principle in the new guidance that complaints should be responded to swiftly at a local level the complainant should now receive a response in 10 working days and the complaint should be acknowledged in 2 working days.   The 10 days for a response to be provided to the complainant can be extended to 20 working days in agreement with the complainant where an advocate needs to be appointed or where the complaint is particularly complex.

The figures below relate to the period before 1st September 2006.

Stage 1 Acknowledgement	2002 – 2003	2003 – 2004	2004 –2005	2005 – 2006	2006 – 2007
In 5 working days	78%	92%	96%	96%	100%
Between 6 & 10 working days	10%	5%	3%	47%	0
Over 11 working days	12%	3%	0%	0%	0

Standard: Complaints to be acknowledged within five working days (prior to September 2006)

Following a steady improvement year on year in compliance with the timescale, the figure fell to only 33% of complaints being acknowledged within 2 days after the implementation of the new regulations.  One of the contributory factors to this is that the Complaints Procedure Manager only works part-time.

Replies at Stage One

Full response – Stage 1	2002 – 2003	2003 – 2004	2004 – 2005	2005 – 2006	2006 – 2007
Replied in 20 working days	74%	78%	83%	80%	60%
Replied in 21 – 25 days	7%	8%	11%	10%	20%
Replied in over 26 working days.	19%	14%	6%	10%	20%

Standard:  Twenty Working days

When the time scale for responding to a complaint was reduced to 10 working days, the percentage responded to within this time scale fell to 50% with the remaining 50% taking longer than 20 days.   Again this is an area that will require improvement.  As managers have been trying to meet with the complainant to discuss the complaint wherever possible this could be having an impact on the response times.  The reason recorded for delay on 3 complaints (42% of the total complaints) is unavailability of interviewee.  

4.6       Equalities Monitoring

Information about ethnicity, gender and disability is collected using a supplementary form to the complaints form.  This information is recorded on the Respond3 database but is not passed on to the manager with the details of the complaint.

Disability	Complainant	Service user (where different)
Disabled	2	15%	1	8%
Not Disabled	3	23%	9	69%
Not known/ declared	8	62%	3	23%

  

Ethnicity	Complainant	Service user (where different)
White British	8	61%	10	77%
White Irish	1	8%	0	0
White Other	1	8%	0	0
Mixed White/ Black Caribbean	1	8%	0	0
Not known	2	15%	3	23%

 

Gender	Complainant	Service user (where different)
Male	2	15%	8	61%
Female	9	70%	5	39%
Both	2	15%	0

                                            

5.         Learning from complaints

5.1       Many of the actions resulting from complaints are to do with improving things for the individual.   Complaints are also used as a reminder to staff about improving performance with regard to customer care and effective communication.   This is illustrated by the fact that 23% of complaints received in this period came under the category of ‘attitude or behaviour of staff’.   

5.2       Some complaints, however, also highlight shortfalls in the service which can have an impact beyond the experience of the individual.

5.3       The following are examples of issues identified at Stage 1of the complaints process which required further action to ensure either the problem does not arise again or that improvements can be made to the quality of the service delivery.

• It was found that communication had not been as good as it could have been with one particular family and more regular telephone contact would have meant that the family felt more in touch with the situation.   This was noted as a learning point for the team as it could be applied in all similar circumstances.  Staff were asked to note the regular telephone contact should be maintained.
• Responding to people who call unexpectedly at Reception was raised in two complaints.  Staff were reminded to consider how they respond to unexpected callers.  They were reminded that they should see the person in Reception and that speaking to them on the telephone while the person is in the public area of the reception is not appropriate.  Staff were also reminded that they should be clear with callers about the reasons why they cannot see them in Reception and to make a suitable alternative arrangement if they cannot be seen immediately.
• Staff were reminded that they should always ensure that appointments are cancelled when they are unwell and not in work.   In response to one complaint arrangements were also put in place to ensure the young person had an alternative named person to contact if their social worker was off sick as they did not feel able to speak to a Duty Officer that they didn’t know.             

5.4       At Stage 2 it is usual for a number of complaints to be considered in one investigation.  This often leads to more than one outcome for each complaint.  Many of the outcomes relate solely to the individual complainant, however, service improvements that were identified as a result of Stage 2 complaints this year include:

• Reinforcement that a detailed financial and practical support plan must be included with a placement agreement (even when it is an emergency placement).
• The timescale for completing a Core Assessment should be improved.  Work to achieve this was already underway when the complaint was concluded.

 

• Resolutions for difficult communication:

 

6.         Accessing the procedure

 

Information for the public

 

6.1       Following the introduction of the new regulations and guidance, the information for the children, young people and their carers about making a complaint was revised and is published on the Council’s website.    

6.2       The regulations and guidance also require that information about the complaints procedure is made available to children and young people in a way that is considered appropriate to their age.   This is in the process of being developed.     

6.3       The Disabled Children’s Team has been working on a project known as the ‘Hear Me’ project which has developed a communication tool for children with a disability.   Included within this are cards using symbols to enable a child or young person with communication difficulties to indicate that they are unhappy about some aspect of their life and, where appropriate, access the complaints procedure.  Information including a flow chart has also been developed to explain the complaints procedure to parents and cares. .   

6.4       The literature available on the complaints procedure encourages complainants to make contact with the team or Complaints Procedure Manager in a way that is best suited to them.  The figures below give a breakdown of the way in which people have made their complaint.            

Complaint form	5	39%
In person	6	46%
Telephone	2	15%

7.         Advocacy

7.1       ‘Get it sorted’ Guidance is issued by the Department of Education and Skills in 2004 sets out the entitlement of all children and young people to the assistance of an advocate when making a complaint.   When the child or young person first makes contact about a complaint they are given the opportunity to access the local advocacy service, Shout Out!.  Many children and young people however already have an advocate and often the complaint is made with the assistance of the advocate.

7.2       Parents and carers are also given the opportunity to contact an advocacy service.  In most cases they would be given the details of Complaints Procedure Advocacy at the Care Forum but some will also use the advocacy run by Bath Mind.  Adults do not have the same rights to an advocate and the advocacy services operate their own allocation procedures.  

7.3       If the complainant initially declines advocacy support this is kept under review by the Complaints Procedure Manager with the complainant.  Complainants will sometimes want to support if they progress their complaint to Stage 2.   

7.4       During 2006/7, 5 of the 16 complainants used an advocacy service to assist them with their complaint and one complaint chose to use a member of his family as his advocate.

7.5       The Complaints Procedure Manager will also ask the complaint if they require any other assistance in order to access the complaints procedure.  For example, where English is not their first language assistance with interpretation and translation can be given.

8.         An overview of the Complaints Procedure

8.1       The implementation of the new Complaints Procedure

The implementation of the new regulations and guidance during the year has had a significant impact on the management of the procedure.  The timing of the publication of the regulations and guidance meant that there was very little time in which to prepare prior to 1st September 2006.  Much of the development work needed has therefore been undertaken following the implementation date.   This work includes the development of procedures for staff and managers and revising the information on the procedure for the children, young people and their carers.  

Monitoring of the procedure has also been more difficult as it has been necessary to run two separate databases. 

More emphasis will now be placed on training of staff and addressing issues such as the timescales for responding to complaints and improving the mechanisms for using information to improve service delivery.

8.2       Management arrangements                              

Management arrangements for the Complaints Procedure Manager post have changed during the year.  The post which was previously a job share post is now held by one manager covering both Children’s Services and Adult Social Services reporting to the Strategic Planning Manager in Children’s Services.  This arrangement satisfies the requirement of the guidance that the Complaints Manager is not managed by someone with operational line management responsibility.

8.3       Training for staff

During 2006/7 the Complaints Manager provided training to each of the teams in conjunction with the manager of the Shout Out! advocacy service.  The purpose of the training was to reinforce the importance of the use of advocacy within the complaints procedure.

Sarah Watts

Complaints Procedure Manager

 

Appendix 1

The procedure

 

Relevant legislation

 

Children Act 1989

Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000

Adoption and Children Act 2002

Health and Social Care (Community Health Standards) Act 2003

The Children Act Representations (England) Regulations 2006

 

Stage One – Local Resolution

The majority of complaints should be considered and resolved at Stage 1.  Staff at the point of service delivery and the complainant should discuss and attempt to resolve the complaint as quickly as possible.  I

Complaints at Stage 1 should be concluded within 10 working days. This can be extended by a further 10 days where the local authority cannot provide an answer within 10 days or where the complainant has requested an advocate.  The complaint can be extended for 10 days while an advocate is appointed.

If the complaint is resolved at Stage 1 the manager must write to the complainant confirming what has been agreed.  Where the complaint cannot be resolved locally or the complainant is not satisfied with the response, the complainant has 20 working days in which to request a Stage 2 investigation.

There are some complaints that are not appropriate to be considered at Stage 1 and these can progress directly to Stage 2.

Stage Two - Investigation

Once the complainant has decided to progress to a Stage 2 investigation, the Complaints Manager arranges for a full investigation of the complaint to take place.  The investigation is carried out by someone who is not in direct line management of the service or person about whom the complaint is made.  An Independent Person is also appointed to take part in all aspects of the investigation to ensure that it is conducted fairly and thoroughly and that it takes the views and wishes of the child or young person into account.

The complainant should receive a response to their complaint in the form of a report and adjudication letter within 25 days of making the complaint.  This can be extended up to a maximum of 65 working days where the complaint is particularly complex or where a key witness is unavailable for part of the time.

The Adjudicating Officer should ensure that any recommendations contained in the response are implemented.  This should be monitored by the Complaints Manager.

Appendix 1

Stage Three - Review Panel

Where Stage 2 of the procedure has been completed and the complainant remains dissatisfied, he can ask for a Review Panel.  The purpose of the Panel is to consider whether the Local Authority adequately dealt with the complaint in the Stage 2 investigation.  The Panel will be made up of three people who are independent of the local authority. 

The Panel should focus on achieving resolution for the complainant and making recommendations to provide practical remedies and solutions. 

The complainant has 20 working days in which to request a Review Panel from receipt of the Stage 2 report and adjudication letter and the Panel must be held within 30 days of receiving the request.