Issue details

Following a joint consultation in late 2023 with the Housing Ombudsman, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) issued its Complaint Handling Code (‘the Code’) which is to be implemented by Local Authorities.

The LGSCO has issued the Code as “advice and guidance” for all local councils in England under section 23(12A) of the Local Government Act 1974. This means that councils should consider the Code when developing complaint handling policies and procedures and when responding to complaints. The Code only applies to complaints where there is no statutory process in place.


Updates to the Corporate Complaints, Compliments and Comments Procedure:

The following amendments to the introduction:

1.3 This procedure sets out how we will deal with your complaints, compliments and comments, in accordance with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code (the Code)…
1.4 … Stage 2 complaints will usually be investigated by the Complaints Investigator or Complaints and Information Governance Manager...
1.6 The Council has appointed the Complaints and Information Governance Manager in line with the Code to oversee its complaint handling performance. The Complaints and Information Governance Manager will assess any themes or trends to identify potential systemic issues, serious risks, or policies and procedures that require revision.
1.7 In addition to this, the Council has appointed the Assistant Director, Law and Governance as a member of the governing body (or equivalent), to have lead responsibility for complaints in its governance arrangements, to support a positive complaint handling culture. This person is referred to as the Member Responsible for Complaints (‘the MRC’).

The following amendments to the definition:

3.1 Darlington Borough Council defines a complaint as:

‘An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by the organisation, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual or group of individuals’.

The following amendments to ‘Complaints about contracted services’:

(a) If you receive a service from a contractor on behalf of the Council you can use the Council’s complaints procedure. We would encourage you to contact the Council’s Complaints and Information Governance Team in the first instance. We might deal with your complaint under the adult social care, children’s social care, public health or housing complaints procedure depending on the service you are complaining about.

The following amendments to ‘7.3 Housing complaints, compliments and comments’

a) Following the introduction of the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code on 1 April 2024, we have to ensure complaints about the Council in our role as a social landlord (as well as in respect of our ownership and management of leasehold housing) are dealt with in the manner set out in the Act that Code.

The following amendments to Stage 1 (Local Resolution):

11.1 (b) At stage 1 we will acknowledgement and log your complaint within five working days of the complaint being received. We will appoint a Responding Officer to look into your complaint. This will usually be the manager of the service you are complaining about or the Housing Complaints Response Officer.
c) We will appoint a Responding Officer to look into your complaint. This will usually be the a manager of the service you are complaining about or the Housing Complaints Response Officer.

The Responding Officer will contact you with a thorough response within 10 working days of your complaint being acknowledged and logged. If this is not possible, they will contact you with an explanation and a date by when the stage one response should be received. This should not exceed a further 10 working days without good reason.
(f)When we inform you about an extension to these timescales, we will provide you with the contact details of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman.

(g) If you are unhappy with the outcome at stage 1 you should contact the Complaints and Information Governance Team to request moving your complaint to stage 2.

k) If your complaint is about the senior manager of the service concerned we may ask a manager from another service to look into your complaint. If your complaint is about the Housing Complaints Response Officer, we may ask their line manager to look into your complaint. Where appropriate we will investigate your complaint at stage 2 of the corporate complaints procedure. This will depend on the nature of your complaint

The following amendments to Stage 2 (Formal Investigation):

11.2 (b) At stage 2 we will acknowledge and log your complaint within five working days of your escalation request being received.

(e) The Investigating Officer will contact you with a thorough response within 20 working days your complaint being acknowledged. If it is not possible to respond within 20 working days, we will provide an explanation and a date when the stage two response will be received. This should not exceed a further 20 working days without good reason.

(g) If it is not going to be possible to investigate your complaint within 40 working days, the Investigating Officer will contact you and explain the reason why. When we inform you about an extension to these timescales, we will provide you with the contact details of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman where appropriate.

(i) Where your complaint is about the corporate complaints procedure or where there is a potential conflict of interest we will appoint a senior manager from another service or the MRC to investigate your complaint..

The following amendments:

We may need to agree to extend the timescales where there is a good reason to do so.

The following amendments to ‘Putting things right’:

13.3 Remedies may also include:

- Apologising;
- Acknowledging where things have gone wrong;
- Providing an explanation, assistance or reasons;
- Taking action if there has been delay;
- Reconsidering or changing a decision;
- Amending a record or adding a correction or addendum;
- Providing a financial remedy;
- Changing policies, procedures or practices.

We will take account of the guidance issued by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman when deciding on appropriate remedies.

The following changes to ‘Recording and reporting’:

We will produce an annual complaints performance and service improvement report for scrutiny and challenge, which will include:

a) an annual self-assessment against the Code to ensure this procedure remains in line with its requirements.
b) a qualitative and quantitative analysis of our complaint handling performance. This will also include a summary of the types of complaints we have refused to accept.
c) any findings of non-compliance with the Code by the Ombudsman.
d) the service improvements made as a result of the learning from complaints.
e) any annual report about our performance from the Ombudsman.
f) any other relevant reports or publications produced by the Ombudsman in relation to our work.

14.2 The annual complaints performance and service improvement report will be reported through our governance arrangements, ordinarily to the relevant Scrutiny Committee and Cabinet and published on the section of our website relating to complaints. Cabinet’s response to the report will be published alongside this.