Compliments & Complaints Annual Report 2021 to 2022

The following graph shows the number of complaints managed through the corporate complaints process. 1988 stage 1 complaints have been received during 2021/22 which compares to 2099 received during 2020/21.

The highest number of complaints was for Communities and specifically for the Southern Waste and Recycling Team who received 859 stage 1 complaints for the year. For context in the south of the county the Waste and Recycling Service deal with 344,100 collections each week.

SEND had 129 stage 1 complaints and for context during 2021/22 the number of Education, Health & Care Plans maintained by Buckinghamshire increased by 10% to 5415.

Planning and Development Management had 173 complaints. It is helpful to note that the Council received 7,177 planning applications for 2021/22 and that the total number of decisions made during this period was 6,740.

Revenues and Benefits had 135 complaints. The context here is that we are dealing with approximately 230,000 council tax properties.

The Corporate Complaints Policy states that we will attempt to respond to complaints within 20 working days.

Where a complaint takes longer than 20 working days to answer the Complaints and Improvements Team will write to the complainant and explain that there is a delay.

The average response time for Stage 1 Corporate Complaints for 2021/22 is 21 working days.

The following graph shows the areas with the most stage 1 complaints (above 50).

The highest number of complaints received were for the Waste and Recycling Team (South) with the majority of these being received in the first two quarters of the year. This compares to 994 received in the previous year and the majority of these complaints were about the quality of service received generally with underlying communication problems for the customer but can be further broken down as follows:

• Missed waste collections (all containers)
• Failure to put right a reported missed collection
• Online reporting system being marked as closed before the matter is resolved
• Delays in the delivery of ordered containers

Transport for Buckinghamshire received 219 stage 1 complaints which is an increase from the previous year (209). Complaints were made for the following reasons:

• Communications issues – online reports being close down on Fix My Street before the matter is resolved to the customer’s satisfaction
• Delays in completing works
• The outcome of a decision to not carry out works such as repairs to the pavement or roads
• The quality of service provided where customers are either unhappy with how we have carried out a task such as a road closure or the repair of a road

SEND received 129 complaints which is an increase from 72 for the previous year. The issues being complained about are as follows:

• Communication with customer including failing to reply to customer’s correspondence in a timely manner and delays in issuing EHCP’s

The Council Tax Team received 119 complaints which is an increase on 55 for the previous year. There was an issue with the Council Tax system being updated which lead to the majority of these complaints being received during quarter three and four. The issue encountered included poor communication and delays in issuing refunds.

The complaints about other areas are a mixture of communication issues and disagreements over decisions.