Agenda item

The Board will consider the AnnualSummary Compliments,RepresentationsandComplaintsreportfor KirkleesChildren’s Social Care (April 2022-March 2023).

Contact:

Nick Libell, Service Manager Children and Families

The Board considered the Compliments and Complaints Service Annual Summary 2022-23which was presented by Nick Libell, Service Manager – Children and Families.

Nick Libell advised that the purpose of the report was to inform the Board of compliments and complaints in relation to children looked after during the period of 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023. It was advised that:

• Under the Children’s Act 1989, the provision of an annual Complaints report was a statutory requirement.
• 366 compliments and complaints were registered during this financial year.
• 52 of these were compliments, 158 were enquiries and 85 complaints were remedied via the local resolution procedure.
• 23 complaints were responded to via the statutory Stage 1 process (an increase from 15 the previous year).
• There were four Stage 2 investigations, two Stage 3 investigations and four cases were referred to the Local Government Ombudsman.
• In relation to children looked after and care leavers, there were ten Stage 1 investigations during the 22/23 year out of a total of 23.
• The service worked hard to work in a restorative manner to resolve complaints at the earliest opportunity.
• The Compliments and Complaints Team continued to ensure that the complaints process was open and accessible to young people both directly and through an advocate from the Children’s Rights Service.
• 52% of all complaints registered at Stage One, were from young people, with the support of Childrens Rights Service.
• 34.8% of all complaints registered at Stage One, were from Parents.
• Of the 23 stage 1 complaints received, 10 related to Looked After Children.
• Most of the complaints received related to an issue with service provision a delay in communication or to disagree with a particular decision. 
• There had been a small increase in the number of stage 1 complaints, but the overall position was that complaints were being resolved at the earliest possible stage. 
• There was a focus on learning lessons from complaints and integrating this with broader quality assurance work across the directorate to improve outcomes for young people.
• This work included:
  • At all stages, any lessons and findings identified from complaints were expected to be followed up by managers with staff to inform individual learning and development.
  • Themes and patterns for learning identified from complaints were to be shared with the Learning and Development Service.
  • To strengthen embedding learning across the service, the Complaints team and Learning and Development team had strengthened pathways to review complaints and compliments to ensure that key messages influence practice.

In the discussion to follow, questions and comments were invited from Board Members, with the following issues being covered:

• Failure to communicate was present in all complaints and the Board wanted to understand how this had been translated to action to improve outcomes.

• It was important to highlight the compliments to share where there had been good practice and it was requested that this information be provided to the Board at a future meeting.
• When prioritizing workload, the Board highlighted that consideration should be given to what was most important to young people noting that this was a key element in maintaining strong relationships.
• That the outcomes of the 4 complaints which were considered by the Local Government Ombudsman for children and young people be shared with the Board.

In relation to improving outcomes Nick Libell advised that when a complaint was formally received the local resolution part of the complaint was referred to the responding manager to contact the young person or parent by phone or in person with the aim of intervening as early as possible. It was also noted that expectation management in terms of social worker workload was also a key element of this learning.

In relation to the prioritisation of workload Nick Libell advised that there was a pathway to fast track and prioritise complaints from young people. Where complaints come directly from a young person, or their advocate, these were responded to on an accelerated timescale with the ambition of attaining local resolution through quick action and response.

RESOLVED: The Board noted the Compliments and Complaints Service Annual Summary 2022-23, and it was agreed that:

1. Details of the Compliments received, and examples of good practice be provided to the Board at a future meeting.
2. The outcomes of the 4 complaints considered by the Local Government Ombudsman for Children and Young People be shared with the Board.