Compliments & Complaints Annual Report 2021

Stage 2 of the corporate complaints process involves an in-depth review of the stage 1 response carried out by stage 2 officers who work within the Complaints and Improvements Team.

The above graph shows the number of stage 2 complaints received between 1 April 2020 and 31 March 2021. 172 Stage 2 complaints were considered in total and this represents an escalation rate of 8.2% from stage 1 complaints.

As a comparison the former five councils looked at a total of 220 stage 2 complaints during 2019/20.

Of the 172 stage 2 complaints 141 were escalated from stage 1 complaints and the remaining 31 were cases that bypassed stage 1.

The graph above shows the split of outcomes by directorate. Of the 164 cases completed 84 were not upheld which means that the outcome at stage 1 is agreed at stage 2.

28 cases were fully upheld indicating an overturning of the stage 1 decision. 20 of these were for Communities; the rest are spread over Resources, Deputy Chief Executive’s Service, Planning, Growth & Sustainability and Children’s Services.

The response time for stage 2 complaints is 20 working days. Sometimes these are complex cases that may require an extension to this timescale. When this happens the stage 2 officer will write to the customer and explain that there will be a delay giving a new expected date for response.

From the graph above you can see that the majority of stage 2 complaints were completed within 40 days. We are currently looking at how we can improve on the timescales including a review of the stage 2 process.