Give feedback on this page1. About the policy
Denbighshire County Council actively encourages customers to give their views. All views will be considered and may be used to measure performance and improve service delivery standards.
This policy sets out how customer feedback, whether negative or positive, will be handled by the Authority and the time scales for dealing with customer views. It is designed to be used as a reference point for staff and customers.
2. Policy statement
Denbighshire’s Customer Feedback Policy is part of an overall strategy relating to Customer Care and quality issues. We have adopted a positive policy to actively encourage comments and complaints to provide on-going feedback on the quality of the services we provide. This information will be used to measure our performance to improve the quality of our services.
Denbighshire is committed to being an open, accountable authority which listens to, values and acts on the views of the people it services. Staff aim at all times to approachable, friendly, ready to listen and strive to meet the customers' needs.
Denbighshire County Council aims to improve the quality of its services and customer care and will ensure that all enquiries and complaints are dealt with promptly, politely and fully.
It is our aim to resolve all complaints amicably and to take action when necessary. In order to deal effectively with a complaint, we may need to share information about it with other relevant people in the council. Sometimes we also are required to share information about it with others outside the council. Further information about confidentiality is in section 10.
Feedback from customers is welcome in the language that the customer feels most comfortable with and through the medium of their choice.
3. Types of feedback and how to handle them
Enquiries / Comments: These could be calls for a service response and will not necessarily by critical. They do not have to be formally recorded.
Praise: compliments and thanks are always encouraging and should be formally recorded by the relevant Feedback Officer.
Each directorate and, in some cases, individual departments will have a designated Feedback Officer who is responsible for the handling and monitoring of feedback for their respective sections.
If an individual member of staff or a specific team is involved, the line manager should be told and the people concerned told.
Problem: a difficulty or concern, a question for consideration or a matter of uncertainty which needs to be resolved. The Feedback Officer should note the issue in case the matter escalates into a formal complaint at a later date.
Complaint: this is a written or spoken expression of dissatisfaction about the standard of service, action or lack of action by the Council or its staff. This could affect the complainant as an individual or as one of a group of people receiving a Council service. These must be formally recorded by the Feedback Officer.
The only exceptions to this are when the complaint is about a school or Social Services.
A complaint against a school should be made to a member of the school staff in the first instance. To pursue a complaint further it should be taken up with the head teacher.
If the complaint is about the head teacher it should be directed to the Chair of Governors. Further details are available in the document “General Complaints Procedure: A Guide for Parents/Guardians, Schools, Governing Bodies and the LEA”. A copy is available on the Denbighshire website or you can contact the Complaint Officer, Education Centre, Middle Lane, Denbigh, LL16 3UW
Complaints about Social Services are dealt with under the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 and the Children Act 1989. The legislation and guidance set out how complaints will be handled and how appeals are to be dealt with. The full detail of the Representation and Complaints Procedure for Social Services can be obtained by contacting the Communication/Complaints Assistant at Ty Nant, Nant Hall Road, Prestatyn, LL19 7UG
Complaints which relate to serious emotional/physical abuse may need to be referred to the Police Family Protection Unit and further action will need to comply with the All Wales Child Protection Procedures or the North Wales Procedures for the Protection of Vulnerable Adults.
The following are not considered to be complaints:
- A request for information
- A request for an explanation of the Council’s services or policies
4. How can customers giver their feedback?
Customers can give their feedback in the way they feel most comfortable with. It does not have to be made using official council forms. It can be made by telephone, in person, text, by letter, by e-mail or by web enquiry.
Customers are encouraged to give their contact details, but anonymous feedback will also be considered and, where necessary, appropriate action taken.
Staff will treat complaints in a confidential manner and will not disclose the identity of a complainant without their express permission.
Feedback can also be given by a person acting on behalf of and at the request of the customer.
5: What happens to complaints?
All complaints are recorded by the Feedback Officer for the department concerned. All complaints will be investigated to try to reach a satisfactory solution.
Keeping records of all complaints will help to identify areas where we can improve service delivery. It is important that complaints are seen as a positive force for change.
All complaints will be recorded by the Feedback Officer on the corporate database, ensuring uniformity across the county.
6: Who handles complaints?
Any elected member or member of staff can receive a complaint. Members and staff should immediately report the complaint to the appropriate department’s Feedback Officer. They will record and deal with the complaint.
The Customer Care Service will co-ordinate records for all services.
Any matter that needs to be dealt with by the Police (e.g. theft/assault etc.) Will be investigated by the Police under their own procedures.
There are three stages in dealing with a complaint:
1: At a local level - in the first instance the complaint should be taken up at the source of the dissatisfaction and staff there should try to deal with it. The information should be given to the relevant Feedback Officer for logging on the corporate system.
2: Formal complaint -if staff have failed to resolve the complaint at a local level the customer can complain to the Feedback Officer for the department concerned. The complaint will be recorded on the corporate system, an acknowledgement letter sent within five working days and a response in full within 20 working days of the receipt of the complaint. Where this is not possible the complainant will be told why this has not been possible and will be kept informed of progress every 10 days until matter is resolved. The correspondence will be in the medium and language of the customer’s choice.
Our intention is to fully resolve all complaints within 20 working days.
The corporate recording and monitoring system will automatically generate the corporate acknowledgement letter.
Complaints will be investigated by the Feedback Officer or an appropriate person nominated by them. If neither are able to resolve the complaint the matter will be referred to the Head of Service or Director. If the matter remains unresolved the complaint may be re-examined by the Chief Executive.
The final response will include a full explanation and advice on what the complainant should do if they are still not satisfied.
3: Appeal - if the complainant has exhausted all stages of the council’s procedures, then an Appeal Panel, involving members may be set up. The appointment of councillors to the panel will be done as and when required by the County Clerk.
Where the Council has been unable to resolve a complaint, the complainant may refer to the Local Government Ombudsman. All Feedback Officers have information on contacting the Ombudsman and the Feedback leaflets also carry the contact details.
7: Complaints against staff
Complaints by members of the public against an officer will be dealt with by a more senior officer not directly involved with the complaint
In the event of the complainant not being satisfied elected members will consider the complaint. A panel will be specifically established for the purpose as and when required.
8: Complaints against Councillors
Complaints against Councillors will be handled by the County Clerk as the person responsible for the Standards Committee.
9: Confidentiality
The Data Protection Act 1998 regulates how the council deals with and uses personal information about individuals. Any personal information about individuals must be dealt with in accordance with the eight principles contained within the Act.
Denbighshire will deal with all customer feedback in accordance with the Act. When Denbighshire receives a complaint, query or comment about its services, it will also invariably receive personal information about the person making the complaint, query or comment (such as their name, address, contact details and any other information which identifies them as a living person).
In order to deal effectively with the complaint, it may be necessary to share this information with:
- relevant departments in the council. For example, a complaint about housing, roads and litter would need to be shared with at least 3 different departments;
- the Cabinet member who covers the subject concerned, if the complaint raises significant issues that affect the Cabinet member's accountability for the service;
- the relevant county councillor(s), if the complaint raises significant issues that affect their role as elected representatives for the area;
- members of the Standards Committee of the Council if the complaint is about the conduct of a councillor;
- the local government ombudsman if the complaint is about the conduct of a councillor;
- the police or other enforcement bodies if the complaint alleges that the law has been broken;
- the relevant body if the complaint is about something that is not the responsibility of Denbighshire County Council. For example, a complaint about the fire service would be forwarded to the North Wales Fire Service.
10: Additional Information
1) When it is not possible to meet the target time scales - acknowledge within 5 working days, respond in full within 20 - the complainant must be told why, in the language and medium of their choice, and be given a new timetable. A progress up date must be given every 10 working days.
2) The Customer Care Service will monitor the Customer Feedback procedure and system and where necessary make recommendations for improvements.
3) Staff complaints about working conditions or the behaviour of colleagues should be raised in the first instance with the appropriate line manager or the Head of Personnel under the corporate Disciplinary, Grievance or Harassment procedures.
4) There may be instances where financial recompense can be made for customers who can prove that they are out of pocket because of Denbighshire’s action or lack of action. Payments have to be approved by the appropriate Head of Service or Director.
11: Reporting
The Customer Care Service with the full co-operation of Directors and Heads of Services, will prepare an annual report on Customer feedback. This will include statistics for performance purposes on the number of Feedback issues raised and the amount of time taken to deal with each one. There will also be an annual review of the Customer Feedback procedures.
In addition to this individual Customer Feedback Officers will, where appropriate, provide a progress report to key members of staff who are actively involved with the comment or complaint.
Customer Feedback Officers will also report on any patterns or trends emerging to the relevant Head of Service on a quarterly basis, prior to the Scrutiny Committee being made aware that a problem may exist.
The report detail should enable the Head of Service to take necessary corrective action . This would allow the Council to be both reactive to comments and complaints received and proactive by reviewing the situation prior to reporting to Scrutiny Committee.
12: Habitual or vexatious complainants
The vast majority of complainants are responsible in how they behave and act. However habitual or vexatious complainants can be a problem for staff dealing with them.
There are times when there is nothing further which can be reasonably done to assist or to rectify a real or perceived problem. This section of the policy identifies situations where a complainant might be considered to be habitual or vexatious and identifies ways of responding to these situations.
The implementation of this section of the Customer Feedback Policy will occur only in exceptional circumstances and after all reasonable measures have been taken to try to resolve the complaint. This section will be implemented only after careful consideration by, and with the authorisation of, the relevant head of service.
In determining arrangements for handling such complainants staff are presented with two key considerations:
to ensure that the Customer Feedback procedure has been correctly implemented so far as possible and that no material element of the complaint is overlooked or inadequately addressed. The need to ensure an equitable approach is crucial.
to be able to identify the stage at which a complainant has become habitual or vexatious.
12.1 Definition of a habitual or vexatious complainant
Each case will be viewed individually but a complainant, and/or anyone acting on their behalf, may be deemed to be habitual or vexatious if previous or current contact with them shows that they meet any of the following criteria, dependent on degree.
Where complainants:
- persist in pursuing a complaint where the Authority's Customer Feedback Policy has been fully and properly implemented and exhausted (eg where several responses have been provided)
- change the nature of their complaint or continually raise new issues or seek to prolong contact by continually raising further concerns or questions after receiving a response whilst the complaint is being addressed. Care must be taken not to overlook any new issues which are significantly different from the original complaint as they might need to be addressed as separate complaints.
- are unwilling to accept documented evidence.
- deny receiving an adequate response despite evidence of correspondence specifically answering their questions
- do not clearly identify the precise issues which they wish to be investigated, despite reasonable efforts by staff to help them specify their concerns
- where the concerns identified are not within the remit of the Authority to investigate. For example, because the relate to another body, such as the police
- focus on a trivial matter to an extent which is out of proportion to its significance and continue to focus on this point. It is recognised that determining what is a 'trivial' matter can be subjective and careful consideration must be used in applying this criterion
- have in the course of addressing a registered complaint had an excessive number of contact with the Authority placing unreasonable demands on staff. This can be in person, by telephone, letter, fax or email. Careful consideration and judgement needs to be made to determine the precise number of 'excessive contacts' based on the specific circumstances of each individual case.
- have harassed or been personally abusive or verbally aggressive towards staff dealing with their complaint or their colleagues. Staff must recognise that complainants may act out of character at times of stress, anxiety or distress and should make reasonable allowances for this. Incidents of harassment should be documented.
- in cases where a complainant or their representative has threatened or used actual physical violence towards staff. This will cause personal contact with the complainant and/or their representative to be stopped and the complaint will be pursued only through written communication. All such incidents must be recorded and the matter reported to the police.
12.2 Dealing with habitual or vexatious complainants
When complainants have been identified as habitual or vexatious the appropriate Head of Service will decide what action to take. They will implement such action and will notify complainants in writing of the reasons why they have been classified as such and what action will be taken. A record must be kept, by the relevant customer Feedback Officer, for future reference of the reasons why a complainant has been classified as habitual or vexatious.
Action can be:
- withdrawal of contact with the complainant either in person, by telephone, by fax, by email, by letter of any combination of these, provided that one form of contact is maintained, or alternatively to restrict contact to liaison through a third party. If staff are to withdraw from telephone contact with a complainant there will be an agreed statement for them to use should they receive a call from them.
- notify the complainant in writing that their points have been responded to fully and that every effort has been made to resolve the complaint, but that there is nothing more to add and continuing contact on the matter will serve no useful purpose. The complainant should be notified that correspondence in relation to their complaint or any further complaints relative to the same period of time or the same or similar issues as an earlier complaint is at an end.
- in extreme circumstances inform the complainant that the Authority reserves the right to pass unreasonable or vexatious complaints to the Authority's solicitors and may result in legal action against the complainant. If this course of action is taken, temporarily suspend all contact with the complainants whilst seeking legal action.
The decision to classify a complainant as vexatious or habitual will be recorded on the complaints monitoring system and reported in an anonymous format as part of the overall Customer Feedback report.
12.3 Withdrawing habitual or vexatious status
The status can be withdrawn at a later date if, for example, complainants subsequently demonstrate a more reasonable approach or if they submit a further complaint for which normal complaint procedures would appear appropriate.
Complainants can also apply to have their habitual or vexatious status withdrawn. In this instance the Chief Executive and/or a Director not involved will review the circumstance and make a decision whether or not to withdraw the status.