To enable the Cabinet to consider the recommendation made to it by the Audit Committee in respect of the proposed new Corporate and Housing Complaints Policy and its adoption.

RESOLVED that –

(a)     the recommendation made by the Audit Committee be accepted and that the response of the Portfolio Holder responsible for Housing and Planning thereto be endorsed;

(b)     the new Corporate and Housing Complaints Policy, as set out in Appendix 2 to this report, be approved and adopted with effect from 1 September 2025;

(c)     the Assistant Director (Corporate Policy and Support) be authorised to make minor adjustments to the Policy, following consultation with the Portfolio Holder designated as the Member Responsible for Complaints to address such matters as amendments to the Code of Complaints Handling by either the Housing Ombudsman or the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (or both); and

(d)     the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning be nominated as the Council’s Member Responsible for Complaints under the Policy and provide monitoring throughout the year, highlighting and addressing reoccurring themes to Cabinet and/or the Leader of the Council where necessary to do so.

Members were aware that the Audit Committee (“the Committee”) at its meeting held on 26 June 2025 had discussed the proposed new Corporate and Housing Complaints Policy. The Officer report submitted to the meeting of the Audit Committee held on 26 June 2025 was attached as Appendix 1 to the reference report (A.1) and at Appendix 2 to report A.1 was the proposed new Policy.

Invited to the meeting of the Audit Committee had been Keith Simmons, the Assistant Director (Corporate Policy and Support), and, in addition to the detailed report and appendix, a precis of the Executive Summary presented to the that meeting was set out as follows:-

·      an overview of the proposed new combined Corporate and Housing Complaints Policy for the Council had been provided;

·      the new policy had been prepared following a review of the current separate policies and assessment of the requirements of the parallel Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code and the Local Government and Social Care Complaint Handling Code;

·      the contributing factor for the proposed new policy being adopted was that the two Ombudsman Services had similar complaint handling codes. This also meant that the complaints would be handled more consistently and in line with national Codes; and

·      adoption of the Corporate and Housing Complaints Policy for the Council would provide opportunity for training and support using a “lessons learned” approach.

The Audit Committee had resolved to recommend to Cabinet that the proposed new Corporate and Housing Complaints Policy be adopted.

Cabinet had before it the following formal response of the Housing and Planning Portfolio Holder to the Audit Committee’s recommendation:-

“I want to firstly say how grateful I am to have seen the proposal from the Audit Committee in relation to updating the Council’s Corporate Complaints policy.  The fact that the tenants panel and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman have endorsed the new Policy speaks volumes for me. 

We all strive for the best possible service to our residents, businesses and customers. So negative comments about the delivery of those services are not what we would like to receive.  However, through acknowledging, reflecting on, and acting on complaints we can actually make positive changes that improve not only our quality of delivery, but our overall effectiveness.

I’ve been the Member Responsible for Complaints from our tenants and leaseholders for just over a year now and only last month I presented Annual Housing Complaints Performance and Service Improvement Report to Cabinet which included a self-assessment carried out against the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code for 2024/25.  I am keen that this approach to complaint handling and using complaints to improve performance is further developed across the Council. 

This new re-unified policy for complaints offers the opportunity to demonstrate continuous improvement by the Council.  I urge Cabinet to approve its adoption and the approval of all the recommendations submitted. I am content to extend my role concerning complaints handling and oversight of performance from housing to all services.  In doing this, I will obviously liaise with other Portfolio Holders as issues arise in their areas of responsibility.

The implementation date in the recommendations has been included to enable training and documentation to be prepared and delivered across the Council.  This would avoid a rushed implementation if an implementation date was not identified.”

Having duly considered the recommendation made by the Audit Committee and the contents of the proposed Corporate and Housing Complaints Policy:-

It was moved by Councillor Baker, seconded by Councillor I J Henderson and:-

RESOLVED that –

(a)     the recommendation made by the Audit Committee be accepted and that the response of the Portfolio Holder responsible for Housing and Planning thereto be endorsed;

(b)     the new Corporate and Housing Complaints Policy, as set out in Appendix 2 to this report, be approved and adopted with effect from 1 September 2025;

(c)     the Assistant Director (Corporate Policy and Support) be authorised to make minor adjustments to the Policy, following consultation with the Portfolio Holder designated as the Member Responsible for Complaints to address such matters as amendments to the Code of Complaints Handling by either the Housing Ombudsman or the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (or both); and

(d)     the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Planning be nominated as the Council’s Member Responsible for Complaints under the Policy and provide monitoring throughout the year, highlighting and addressing reoccurring themes to Cabinet and/or the Leader of the Council where necessary to do so.