Compliments & Complaints Annual Report 2023 to 2024

The graph below illustrates the stage 1 corporate complaints by directorate. A total of 2,199 cases were handled at stage 1, and an additional 1,258 contacts were managed by the Complaints and Improvements Team as either enquiries or outside the complaints process.

The graph illustrates the number of stage 1 complaints filed since Buckinghamshire Council was established.

Complaints have decreased as expected following the high volume received during the previous year's Southern Waste round reorganisation. However, they remain slightly higher compared to earlier years. The number of complaints received per quarter was relatively stable throughout the year: Q1 (517), Q2 (598), Q3 (536), and Q4 (555). Although there was an increase in Q2, this was followed by decreases in both Q3 and Q4. Notably, the smaller number of complaints received in Q1 was the outlier when viewed together.

Although Communities had the most complaints, they saw the biggest decrease in Southern Waste service, dropping from 1788 to 574 due to resolving round reorganisation issues—a 68% reduction. Conversely, Highways experienced a 55% rise in complaints, increasing from 236 to 367. The delay was caused by unresolved jobs from the previous contractor when Buckinghamshire Highways took over.

The Planning, Growth & Sustainability directorate had the second-highest number of complaints at 319, up 17% from last year. About half (155) were related to Planning & Environment, especially planning development and enforcement. The service continues to process high volumes of applications and cases 6,893 in the previous year. Housing complaints increased by 73%, from 77 in 2022/23 to 133 in 2023/24, including issues with Bucks Home Choice due to high demand for larger accommodations in Buckinghamshire. The Housing Team also assisted 5370 people with homelessness applications, a 62% increase from 2021/22. An improvement programme has been set up, featuring a Private Rental Scheme, better collaboration with social landlords, and refinements to the assessment process.

Children’s services received a total of 262 complaints during 2023/24, marking a 22% rise. The SEND service remains under strain, as demonstrated by the 49 additional complaints, primarily concerning delays in EHC Needs Assessment requests. These SEND complaints represent 65% of all complaints received by Children's services, up from 57% the previous year. There is a continually growing demand on the service due to the number of Education, Health & Care Plans maintained by Buckinghamshire. Requests for plans grew by a further 12% over the previous year, reaching 7003 in 2023/24.

Children’s Services had a total of 214 complaints during 2022/23 which is a little less than 2021/22 figure of 229. SEND had 123 stage 1 complaints compared to 129 for 2021/22 and for context during 2022/23 the number of Education, Health & Care Plans maintained by Buckinghamshire increased by 10% (for the second year in a row) to 6034. Children’s Social Care had 57 corporate complaints and this is in addition to the statutory complaints received and documented in section 5 of this document.

The graph below shows the 10 services with the highest number of complaints. Resources experienced an 18% drop in complaints, mainly due to fewer Revenues & Benefits issues. A system upgrade in 2022/23 had temporarily boosted complaint numbers, but that trend did not continue in the last financial year.

The Feedback, Compliments, and Complaints Policy specifies that the Council will respond in writing to complaints within 20 working days. If this deadline cannot be met, the Complaints and Improvements Team will inform the complainant about the delay. In 2023/24, there was a 27% improvement in meeting this deadline, with 79% of stage 1 complaints being addressed on time. Additionally, the average response time decreased to 16 days from 25 days in the previous year. This improvement was achieved through ongoing review, process automation, and collaboration among colleagues across services.

The percentage of stage 1 complaints that were upheld or partially upheld decreased to 60% from the previous year's 78%. However, the level of upheld complaints in SEND cases remains high at 78%, reflecting the challenges faced by SEND services as discussed in paragraph 3.7. While we recognise that the delays are part of a broader national issue for SEN, many complaints focus on the communication about these delays and the perceived lack thereof. We are exploring ways to improve communication to reduce the number of complaints.