LGO publishes review of complaints handling for every council in England

The Local Government Ombudsman has published year-end reviews for all local authorities in England, outlining their performance in relation to complaints.

The reviews provide a summary of the enquiries and complaints received by the LGO, and the outcomes of those complaints. They also cover the local authorities’ response times and the level of liaison with the LGO.

In a statement, the Ombudsmen said they hoped that councils “will use the reviews in a positive way, as part of the corporate quality assurance and performance management processes.”

They added: “The reviews will also be of interest to local people in holding their council to account.”

In addition, the annual reviews update councils on developments at the LGO over the year. For 2009/10, these have included:

• The launch of a new schools complaints service in April 2010. The LGO has been considering parent and pupil complaints in four local authority areas – Barking and Dagenham, Cambridgeshire, Medway and Sefton. A further ten local authority areas are expected to join the pilot in September, with a full rollout of the LGO’s jurisdiction by September 2011.
• Preparations for the Ombudsmen’s new powers under the Health Act 2009 to investigate complaints about privately arranged and funded adult social care. These come into effect from 1 October 2010 (or when the Care Quality Commission has re-registered all adult care providers undertaking regulated activity).
• The Council First procedure, which was introduced in April 2009 and requires (with some exceptions) complainants to go through all stages of a council’s own complaints procedure before the Ombudsmen will consider the complaint.
• Training in complaint handling. The LGO plans to carry out a review of local authority training needs to ensure its programme helps councils improve their complaints handling.
• Proposals for introducing statements of reasons on individual decisions of an Ombudsman following an investigation of a complaint. The LGO has been carrying out more detailed work on its proposals, following consultation in 2009, and intends to introduce the new arrangements “in the near future”.

Annual reviews for the previous three years have also been placed on the LGO website. For more information, click here.