Complaints Policy
1. Introduction
Heckington Parish Council is committed to continuously providing a valuable service to the local community, and as such it is vital to hear people’s suggestions and comments which of course can include complaints. Complaints can be valuable because they may provide a chance to put things right if there has been an error, and to make sure that the same mistake is not repeated.
It is essential that complaints be dealt with positively. The Parish Council wishes to make full use of complaints information to contribute to its continuous service improvement. Important information about areas for improvement can be obtained both from a single complaint and from patterns of complaints, highlighted by detailed monitoring.
2. Definition of a Complaint
A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the Parish Council or its staff which affects the individual customer or group of customers.
i. What the complaints procedure will deal with:
The complaints procedure will deal with matters of maladministration, which is if the Parish Council does something the wrong way, fails to do something it should do or does something it should not do. Some examples include:
- neglect or unjustified delay
- malice, bias, or unfair discrimination
- failure to tell people their rights
- failure to provide advice or information when reasonably requested
- providing misleading or inaccurate advice
- inefficiency, ineffectiveness, bad and unprofessional practice or conduct
ii. What the complaints procedure will not deal with:
- complaints for which there is a legal remedy or where legal proceedings exist already
- complaints against staff behaviour as these are the subject of individual employment contracts and will be dealt with under disciplinary procedures
- Complaints concerning an elected Member as these are subject to the North Kesteven District Council Policy and any received will be forwarded to the Monitoring Officer at North Kesteven District Council for action.
3. Complaints Officer
The Complaints Officer for the Council is the Clerk of the Council. The main duties are:
(i) The day-to-day operation and management of the procedure, including providing a reference point for staff queries on informal complaints.
(ii) To oversee, and undertake where necessary, the investigation of formal complaints at the first stage, within the relevant time scales.
(iii) To maintain a record of all complaints received including details of the nature of the complaint, action taken, outcome, and time taken to resolve.
(iv) To provide a quarterly analysis of the type, category and number of formal complaints received by the Council.
(v) To identify improvement points arising from any complaints.
4. Stages of the Procedure
The stages of the procedure are designed to provide the complainant with a thorough and fair means of redress and to provide a framework for officers to work within.
Everyday problems, queries and comments
The Council receives queries, problems and comments as part of its day-to-day running, and they should not all be regarded as complaints. These are routine and expected and are generally resolved quickly to the customer’s satisfaction.
If someone is dissatisfied with the original service or response they received and wishes to take the matter further then the issue should be recognised as a complaint.
Informal Complaint
During the course of daily business, minor complaints are made to officers about the services provided. The Clerk or another member of the office staff will usually deal with these.
It is not appropriate for every comment to be treated as a formal complaint. Every effort should be made to deal with these problems immediately, either by providing information, instigating the appropriate action or explaining a decision.
Formal Complaint (Stage 1)
A customer may wish to make a formal complaint directly, or may be unsatisfied with the outcome of an informal complaint and may wish to take the matter further. This should be received in writing, and will be recorded as a complaint and passed to the appropriate officer to investigate.
Timescales:
Acknowledgement – within 5 working days
Investigation completed – 14 days thereafter
or Progress Reports issued – 14 day intervals
Review of Investigation and Complaint (Stage 2)
If the complainant is not satisfied with the response, they should be advised of their right to have the complaint referred to a Complaints Panel who will review the complaint, the investigation and the response.
Timescales: Advice given within 5 working days
If the complainant then advises that he/she wishes to go through stage three of the procedure, this should be acknowledged in five working days advising when the Complaints Panel will meet to discuss the issue.
Complaints Panel (Stage 3)
If the issue remains unresolved and the complainant has advised that he or she wishes to exercise their right to have the matter referred to the Complaints Panel, the matter should be referred to an appropriate meeting convened by the Chairman and
Clerk of the Council. The outcome of all formal complaints dealt with by the Panel will be reported to the next full Council meeting.
The procedure at the Complaints meeting shall be as follows:
i. The Complaints Panel shall consist of the Chairman of the Council, the Vice Chairman and a nominated Councillor. In the event that at least two of these persons are not available a further appointment (as many times as necessary) shall be
made at the sole discretion of the Chairman of the Council.
ii. The complainant will be invited to bring a ‘friend’ with them either to represent them or to give moral support. A minimum of two weeks prior notice of such a panel will be given. At the time the complainant is notified in writing of the panel date they will also be requested to present any material/documentation that they wish to give in evidence to the meeting no later than 7 days prior to the meeting and the Council will confirm that it will present any material it intends to present to the complainant within the same time scale.
iii. As general policy the public and press are not permitted attendance at meetings of the Panel although the Chairman will report on the outcome of the meeting at the following full Council meeting.
iv. The order of business for the complaints meeting shall be in accordance with the following guidelines –
1. Chairman’s introductions of those present
2. Chairman’s explanation of the procedure
3. Complainant (or representative) to outline grounds for complaint
4. Members to ask any question of the complainant.
5. If relevant, the Clerk will be in attendance to explain the Council’s position.
6. Members to ask any question of the Clerk.
7. The Clerk and the complainant to be offered the opportunity of a last word (in this order).
8. Clerk and complainant to be asked to leave the room while members decide whether or not the grounds for the complaint have been made. (If a point of clarification is necessary, both parties to be invited back).
9. Clerk or other proper officer and complainant return to hear decision, or to be advised of when the decision will be made.
v. Following the conclusion of the meeting, the complainant will be advised that the decision of the Committee, which is final with no right of further appeal, will be confirmed in writing within 7 days together with details of any action to be taken.
5. Unreasonable and Vexatious Complaints
There will be circumstances when a complainant persists in wishing to proceed when it clearly has no reasonable basis, or when the Council has already taken reasonable action in response, or where some other process, whether through the courts or some other recognised procedure, should or has been taken.
These matters should be referred to the Clerk with a summary of the issues and of the attempts made to resolve the complaint. He may, in such circumstances, decide that no further action can usefully be taken in response to the complainant, and inform the complainant so, making it clear that only new and substantive issues will merit a response.
6. Anonymous Complaints
Anybody communicating with the Parish Council is expected to provide their full name and a postal address. Anonymous complaints should be referred to the Clerk, and may be dismissed at his discretion, according to the type and seriousness of the allegation.
7. Resolution and Remedies
The aim in dealing with all complaints is to reach a resolution for the complainant, whether it is the remedy they were originally seeking or not. Where a complaint is found to be at all justified, consideration may need to be given to the question of an appropriate remedy (the Clerk to make any final decision regarding remedy unless such remedy involves the payment of a financial sum in which case a resolution of the Council will be required). An explanation or an apology will always be needed.