[28
JUN 99] COVENTRY CITY COUNCIL NEWS
Council Says Thanks For ComplainingA
leading City Councillor has today welcomes people’s complaints and compliments and
asked that they keep coming so that improvements on Council services can be made for the
future.
Councillor Lindsley Harvard, Chair of the City Council’s Best Value Policy Team
will this afternoon ask Members to consider a report on the Council’s Comments
Compliments and Complaints system.
The City Council received 2,219 complaints and 974 compliments about its services last
year (April 1998 – March 1999). The complaints were welcomes by Cllr Harvard as an
opportunity to put matters right and he thanked Coventry people for taking the time to
make contact with the Council to compliment staff about their performance.
Speaking in advance of the Policy Team, Councillor Harvard said:
"Whilst we strive to get things right first time, we are always grateful when
people take the trouble to let us know when they are not receiving the service they think
they are entitled to. A complaint made is an opportunity for us to put something right.
All complaints are investigated thoroughly and are responded to. We will acknowledge our
mistakes and try to do better in the future. I would also like to thank all of the people
who have made contact with the Council to specifically compliment us on a service well
delivered. I hope that people will continue to give us their views at all times in the
future."
Formal complaints can be made to the City Council in a number of ways. Coventry people
are invited to contact us:-
- By use of a freephone telephone number (0800 269851)
- By filling in a Comments Compliments and Complaints leaflet available at reception areas
across the Council
- By making personal contact with an individual council department
Targets are set for acknowledging and resolving complaints. 89% of complaints received
last year were acknowledged within 3 days and 77% were resolved within the target set of
28 days. After thorough investigation, 1,186 of the complaints made were found to be
justified.
NOTES
The total number of complaints received across all Council
departments during the last financial year (April 1998 – March 1999) was 2,209 which
is slight decrease on the previous year’s total 2,288. The number of complaints
received remains static at 974 for 1998/1999 compared to 972 the previous financial year.
The improvements carried out as a result of complaints received included appropriate staff
training where required, reinstatement of any service if necessary, and consideration of
any policies which might apply if they were found to be in need of review. All complaints
received an explanation of the investigation into the points raised.
Compliments related to a wide variety of services such as a
workman satisfactorily carrying out work, help being given to someone in their home, good
advice being given in relation to a service and a problem being dealt with quickly and
thoroughly.
The report also considered the complaints registered with
the Local Government Ombudsman for 1998/1999. The total number of complaints considered by
the Ombudsman during the 1998/1999 financial year totalled 58 compared to 68 the previous
year. The Ombudsman did not find that the Council had caused injustice in any cases
investigated during last financial year, compared to one case of injustice the previous
year.
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