Compliments & Complaints Annual Report 2021

The Children’s Statutory Complaints process has 3 stages. Stage 1 is the local resolution stage and involves the service responding in writing to the complaint. Stage 2 is an independent investigation of the complaint which is carried out externally. The resulting report feeds into the formal response which is completed by the relevant Service Director. Stage 3 is an independent review panel.

The graph above shows that there were 28 cases received at stage 1 of the process, 7 of which escalated to a stage 2 and in turn 1 escalated to a stage 3..

Over the last 12 months 7 stage 1 complaints were from young people, of which 3 were upheld and 2 were partially upheld, with one of them progressing to Stage 2.

9 stage 1 complaints related to Looked After Children (made on their behalf), of which 3 were upheld and 3 were partially upheld, with one of them progressing to Stage 2.

The graph above shows the outcomes of stage 1 complaints. 5 complaints have been fully upheld and 11 upheld in part. In some cases, the complaints are complex and have multiple issues which may lead to complaints being partially upheld.

All seven Stage 2 complaints were partially upheld.

The Stage 3 panel was completed in January 2021 and was not upheld.

Stage 1 of the Children’s Statutory Complaints Process has a target of 10 working days, but this can be extended to 20 working days in certain circumstances; usually where the complaint is complex.

Whilst the average time to respond is within the 20-day target allowed, work will continue with the service to improve on this where possible.

Stage 2 of this process is an independent review of the complaint by 2 external officers commissioned by the Council. The initial timeframe is 25 days with the ability to extend this to 65 days should that be necessary. Only 3 of the stage 2 complaints have reached conclusion at the point of writing this report. The pandemic has affected the timeframes particularly on this part of the process.