Compliments, Concerns & Complaints Policy

Pembrokeshire County Council’s Commitment

Legislative Framework

When to use this policy

Informing Us of a Compliment, Concern or Complaint

How we will respond

Learning Lessons

What we expect from you

If you need help

The Ombudsman

 

Pembrokeshire County Council’s Commitment

Pembrokeshire County Council are committed to continuous improvement and to building stronger relationships with the communities that we serve. Our Compliments, Concerns and Complaints Policy is a core part of our performance management framework. We welcome the feedback we receive from the public and service users to assist us to identify what we do well and where we need to improve.

If you are pleased with the service you have received from us or would like to make a comment or suggestion, we would welcome your feedback. This will give us an understanding of what is important to you and will help us to review and develop our ways of working.

Pembrokeshire County Council are committed to dealing effectively with any concerns or complaints you may have about our services. We also aim to clarify issues you may be unsure about and wherever possible, we will put right any mistakes we may have made. We will provide any service you are entitled to which we have failed to deliver. If we did something wrong, we will apologise and, where possible, try to put things right for you.

We take the concerns and complaints from the public seriously and try to learn from any mistakes we have made using the information we gain from handling complaints to continually improve our services. The Council’s Senior Leadership Team are responsible for the Council’s performance and receive quarterly updates on the performance management framework, which includes a summary of all compliments, concerns and complaints. The Senior Leadership Team will be made aware of any serious complaints. The Senior Leadership Team require assurance that the Council is delivering on its aims and objectives and where there are shortfalls, that we learn and improve.

The Council’s Governance and Audit Committee are responsible for reviewing and assessing the Council’s ability to handle complaints effectively and can make recommendations for improvement. The Governance and Audit Committee receive regular updates on the number of compliments, concerns and complaints received, our response times and a high-level overview of outcomes.

The feedback we receive through compliments, concerns and complaints will assist us to undertake self- assessments of our performance to enable us to reflect on how well we are operating as a Council and what action is needed to ensure we can continue to provide efficient and effective services, now and in the future.

We share summary (anonymised) information on complaints received and complaint outcomes with the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales (PSOW) as part of our commitment of accountability and learning from complaints.

 

Legislative Framework

In accordance with Section 36 of the Public Services Ombudsman (Wales) Act 2019 (opens in a new tab), the Council is required to have a Complaints Handling Procedure, which complies with the Ombudsman’s Statement of Principles and Model Complaints Handling Procedures.

The Social Services Complaints Procedure (Wales) Regulations 2014 (opens in a new tab) specifies the arrangements required for the handling and consideration of Social Services complaints, including the two-stage procedure, statutory timescales and reporting arrangements.

The Representations Procedure (Wales) Regulations 2015 (opens in a new tab) specifies the arrangements required for dealing with complaints in respect of specific functions as outlined within paragraphs 8, 9 and 10 of the regulations.

In addition to the legislative framework outlined above, Pembrokeshire County Council view Compliments, Concerns and Complaints as an integral part of measuring our performance. The Council has a duty under the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 (opens in a new tab) to keep performance under review and to consult with local people on performance. The feedback received through Compliments, Concerns and Complaints forms part of the Council’s performance self-assessment.

The Policy is fully compatible with the Welsh Language Standards Regulations of 2018 (opens in a new tab).

 

When to use this policy

Pembrokeshire County Council is committed to dealing effectively with any concerns or complaints about our services. In this policy the term ‘complaint’ refers to a concern or complaint.

When you express your concerns or complaint to us, we will usually respond in the way we explain below. However, sometimes you may have a statutory right of appeal, such as planning application decisions, so rather than investigate your concern, we will explain to you how you can appeal.

Sometimes, you might be concerned about matters that are not covered by this policy, such as policy decisions by Welsh Government, and we will then advise you about how you can make your concerns known.

A complaint is:

Examples of a complaint are:

Example 1:

A customer is dissatisfied with the lack of responses to numerous emails and telephone calls made by them to the Council about their care assessment plan which have remained unanswered and unresponded to.

Example 2:

A customer is dissatisfied with the lack of contact, support and advice provided by Housing in relation to their imminent move into a Council owned property. The house has been offered but no support has been given in relation to the next steps. Calls requesting support have not been returned and no clear written guidance has been provided in the absence of a call back.

 

A complaint is not:

Examples include:

Example 1:

A customer wishes to complain about a member of staff in relation to their conduct in office. This would be passed to our Human Resources Service to be considered and investigated under the appropriate Human Resources Policies and Procedures. The customer is not notified of the outcome of any investigation as it does not fall within the scope of the complaints policy. A separate policy in Human Resources Services applies in this case.

Example 2:

A customer wishes to complain that their refuse was not collected today. This is an initial request for service. This will be passed to the service concerned to look into to follow up accordingly.

 

This policy does not apply to Whistleblowing, Freedom of Information, Data Protection or Data Access issues. We have a separate procedure to follow for these matters. For further information, please contact:

Freedom of Information: foi@pembrokeshire.gov.uk

Data Protection: DataProtection@pembrokeshire.gov.uk

Access to Records: accesstorecords@pembrokeshire.gov.uk

 

Pembrokeshire Schools

This policy does not cover Schools. Schools follow their own complaints procedure, so compliments, concerns and complaints should be addressed directly to the School concerned.

Please see link for further information: Complaints Relating to Schools - Pembrokeshire County Council

 

Concerns or Complaints regarding County Councillors and Lay Members

The Corporate Complaints process is not able to address complaints regarding Councillors or Lay Members, however complaints made to Councillors or Lay Members (relating to the issues raised above) should be sent to the Corporate Complaints Team to ensure that they are addressed and resolved.

All Councillors and Lay Members of Pembrokeshire County Council adhere to a Code of Conduct for Members. Formal complaints that a Councillor may have breached this Code should be addressed to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales. The Ombudsman’s website contains explanations on the standards of behaviour expected by the Code and the basis on which the Ombudsman decides whether or not to investigate a complaint. You may wish to contact the Head of Law and Governance in the first instance who is;

Rhian Young, Head of Law and Governance: email: rhian.young@pembrokeshire.gov.uk

 

Informing Us of a Compliment, Concern or Complaint

Compliments and Comments

We would like to understand what we do well and what our customers value. If you would like to provide positive feedback or make a comment or suggestion on how we could improve, please tell us by:

Emailing us: compliments@pembrokeshire.gov.uk

Completing an online form: Compliment / Comment Form

In writing to: Compliments & Comments, Pembrokeshire County Council, County Hall, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, SA61 1TP

By calling our Contact Centre: 01437 764551

 

Concerns & Complaints

You can express your concern or complaint in any of the following ways:

For Corporate Complaints Email us: corporatecomplaints@pembrokeshire.gov.uk

For Social Care Complaints Email us: SocialCareComplaints@pembrokeshire.gov.uk

Completing an online form: Concern / Complaint Form

Ask for a copy of our form from an officer you are already in contact with: Tell the officer that you would like us to deal with your concern formally

In writing to: Corporate Complaints, Pembrokeshire County Council, County Hall, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, SA61 1TP

By telephone to our Contact Centre: 01437 764551

You can make a complaint in whatever format or language you wish. We welcome complaints in Welsh and will deal with Welsh and English complaints to the same standards and timescales.

Complaint forms will be available at Pembrokeshire County Council public offices. Copies of the Compliments, Concerns and Complaints Policy and forms are available in English and Welsh and can also be made available in other languages. Formats such as audio and large print can also be provided if required. Information can be obtained from County Hall, Haverfordwest and our Libraries and Leisure Centres.

 

How we will respond

Compliments and Comments

Your compliments will be recorded and passed to the relevant Service Manager to share with the team to ensure that good customer service is acknowledged and recognised. We will consider whether there is wider learning that can be taken from your feedback and share with services as appropriate. We will publish some anonymised compliments and comments, unless you specifically ask us not to. You will receive an acknowledgement within 15 working days to let you know of any further action we are planning to take as a result of your feedback.

 

Concerns and Complaints

We will respond to you in the same way as you communicated with us (e.g. if you complained by email in Welsh, we would respond to you by email in Welsh) unless you inform us that you have particular requirements.

We will ask you to tell us how you would like us to communicate with you and establish whether you have any particular requirement – for example, if you need documents in large type.

We will deal with your complaint in an open and honest way and we will make sure that your interactions with us in the future will not suffer because you have made a complaint.

Normally, we will only be able to look at your corporate complaint if you tell us about it within 6 months (12 months for Social Care Complaints). This is because it is better to look into a complaint while the issues are still fresh in everyone’s mind.

In exceptional circumstances, we may look at complaints which are brought to our attention later than this. However, you will have to let us know why you have not been able to bring it to our attention earlier and you will need to provide sufficient information about the issue to enable us to consider it.

If you are making a complaint on behalf of somebody else, we will need their agreement for you to act on their behalf. This can be done by completing the ‘Representative Authorisation Section’ which will be provided by a Member of the Complaints Team. This will also be made available in our customer service centres.

Typically complaints will fall into two categories;

 

Stage 1 Complaint: Informal Resolution

We believe it is best to deal with things straight away. If you have a concern, please raise it with the person you are dealing with. They will try to resolve it for you there and then. If there are any lessons to learn from addressing your concern, the staff member dealing with it will draw them to the attention of the relevant complaints officer.

Most complaints can be quickly resolved at this stage. However, if you are not satisfied with our response, you can ask for it to be progressed to Stage 2, formal investigation. The Council has the discretion to go straight to a Stage 2, formal investigation, and you will be advised at the earliest opportunity should this occur. If the person you are dealing with cannot help, they will explain why and you can then ask for a formal investigation at Stage 2 of our policy.

Corporate Complaints

For corporate complaints the service area will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days. A response will be issued to you within 10 working days of receipt of the complaint.

In an attempt to resolve matters, we will offer to discuss your complaint with you either face to face, by telephone, or by Microsoft Teams.

 

Social Care Complaints

For Social Care Complaints, these will be acknowledged within 2 working days. A response will be issued to you within 15 working days of receipt of the complaint.

 

Stage2 Complaint: Formal Investigation

Corporate Complaints

For corporate complaints, a Stage 2 formal investigation can be undertaken if you have not received a response at Stage 1, are unhappy with the response received at Stage 1 or think your complaint has not been considered properly.

At a Stage 2 formal investigation, it would be helpful if you could provide some information on the issues with which you remain unhappy, the reasons why you think these issues were not properly addressed at Stage 1, as well as any details of the outcome you are hoping for.

The service area will acknowledge your complaint within 5 working days. Following this you should expect to receive a response within 20 working days.

A Complaints Contact Officer will compile a formal record of your complaint scope and desired outcome and an appropriate investigator will be appointed from within the Council to look into your complaint. You will be notified who the investigator is and the complaint investigation will commence when you and the investigator have agreed the scope of the complaint.

Once the investigation is concluded, a formal report is submitted to the Complaints Team to record and this report is shared with the relevant Corporate Manager/Head of Service or Director for their consideration. The Corporate Manager/Head of Service or Director will then formally respond to you by letter, including a copy of the report confirming the outcome of the complaint and any actions or agreed recommendations.

 

Social Care Complaints

For Social Care complaints at Stage 2, formal investigation, your complaint will be acknowledged within 2 working days. We aim to provide a response to your complaint within 25 working days.

A Complaints officer will compile a formal record of your complaint scope and desired outcomes and an independent investigator, external to the Council, will be commissioned to investigate your complaint. The independent investigator will agree the final scope of the complaint with you.

Once the investigation is concluded, a formal report is submitted to the Complaints Team to record and this report is shared with the relevant Head of Service or Director for their consideration. The Head of Service or Director will then formally respond to you by letter, including a copy of the report confirming the outcome of the complaint and any actions or agreed recommendations.

 

Appointment of an Independent Person

In all complaints relating to Children’s Services, an Independent Person is appointed to support the lead independent investigator.

 

Investigation of Complaints

The individual who is investigating your complaint will firstly aim to establish the facts. The extent of the investigation will depend on the complexity of the issues you have raised. In some instances, we may ask to meet with you to discuss your complaint.

We will look at relevant evidence which could include files, notes of conversations, letters, emails or whatever may be relevant to your particular complaint. If necessary, we will talk to the staff or others involved and look at our policies, procedures, any legal entitlement or legislation and guidance.

The investigator looking at your complaint will usually need to view the records we hold relevant to your complaint. If you do not want this to happen, it is important that you tell us. Where it is necessary to disclose your identity to another person in order to investigate the complaint, then it is important that you tell us if you do not want this to happen. Depending on the nature of your complaint, it may be necessary to obtain your permission to access your personal records. If permission is not provided, then we will explain that this will have an effect on the ability to conduct the investigation.

We will set out our understanding of your complaint and ask you to confirm that we are correct in our understanding. It would be helpful if you could tell us what outcome(s) you are hoping for.

If there is a simple solution to your problem, we may ask if you are happy to accept this. For example, where you asked for a service and we ascertain straight away that you should have had it, we will offer to provide the service rather than investigate.

We will aim to resolve complaints as quickly as possible, and expect to deal with the vast majority within 20 working days (25 working days for Social Care complaints). If your complaint is more complex, we will:

 

Welsh Language Complaints

Complaints relating to the Welsh language or to compliance with the Welsh language service delivery and policy standards, as applied to the Council, will be dealt with in the same way as any other complaints received and will be responded to in accordance with the Welsh language standards.

Staff are aware of the requirements of the standards with training sessions provided as part of the induction process and periodic awareness raising campaigns.

Complaints relating to the receipt of an unsatisfactory service, where it is considered the Council has treated the Welsh language less favourably than the English language or where there is a claim of interference with your freedom to use Welsh can also be directed to the Welsh Language Commissioner. The address for the Welsh Language Commissioner is detailed below.

Email: post@welshlanguagecommissioner.wales

In writing to: Welsh Language Commissioner, Market Chambers, 5-7 St Mary Street, Cardiff, CF10 1AT

Telephone: 0345 6033 221

Complaints received via the Welsh Language Commissioner will be dealt with in accordance with the Commissioner’s own complaints process.

 

What if there is more than one body involved?

If your complaint covers more than one body, (e.g. Health Board and Council, School and Council), we will usually work with them to decide who should take the lead in dealing with your concerns. You will then be given the name of the person responsible for communicating with you while we consider your complaint.

If the complaint is about a body working on our behalf, (e.g. public toilets or transport operators) you may wish to raise the matter informally with them first. However, if you want to express your concern or complaint formally, we will look into this ourselves and respond to you.

 

Outcomes

 

Putting things right

 

Training for Council Employees

We will make sure that our staff are trained to handle complaints effectively and receive appropriate training in the use of the Council’s Compliments, Concerns and Complaints Policy. We will arrange workshops to take place in English or Welsh depending on the requirements of staff.

 

Learning Lessons

We take your complaints seriously and try to learn from any mistakes we have made. Our Senior Management Team, Cabinet and Governance and Audit Committee consider a summary of all complaints quarterly and are provided with a detailed annual complaints report.

When a Stage 2 formal investigation is concluded the Chief Executive and the Statutory Officers Group will be provided with the report where applicable, to ensure full oversight of all formal complaint investigations, process, recommendations and learning.

We also share summary (anonymised) information on complaints received and outcomes with the

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales as part of our commitment to accountability and learning. Where there is a need for significant change, the service area will develop an action plan setting out what they will do, who will do it, and when we plan to do it by. This will be monitored by the Complaints team to ensure compliance and can be escalated if required.

 

What we expect from you

In times of trouble or distress, some people may act out of character. There may have been upsetting or distressing circumstances leading up to a concern or complaint which has a substantial impact on the person concerned. We do not view behaviour as unacceptable just because someone is forceful or determined.

We believe that all complainants have the right to be heard, understood and respected. However, we also consider our staff to have the same rights. We therefore expect you to be polite and courteous in your dealings with us. We will not tolerate aggressive or abusive behaviour, unreasonable demands or unreasonable persistence. We have a separate policy to manage situations when we find that someone’s actions are unacceptable.

 

If you need help

Our staff will aim to help you make your concerns known to us. If you need extra assistance, there are a number of advocacy services available and our staff will help signpost to the most relevant.

 

The Ombudsman

We aim to resolve your concerns and complaints to your satisfaction. However, if we do not succeed in resolving your complaint, you may complain to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales. The Ombudsman is independent of all government bodies and can look into your complaint if you believe that you personally, or the person on whose behalf you are complaining:

The Ombudsman normally expects you to bring your concerns to our attention first and to give us the chance to put things right. You can contact the Ombudsman by:

Ombudsman Wales website (opens in a new tab)

Email: ask@ombudsman.wales

Address: Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, 1 Ffordd yr Hen Gae, Pencoed, CF35 5LJ

Telephone: 0300 790 0203