The North West Leicestershire Council Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 25 June 2024 focused on corporate complaints and feedback. The meeting included discussions on the handling of housing complaints, the analysis of complaint trends, and the integration of feedback mechanisms.

Corporate Complaints and Feedback

The Customer Services Team Manager presented a report on corporate complaints and feedback. A member suggested that housing complaints should be broken down into more detailed categories due to their prevalence. Officers confirmed that this level of detail was available internally.

The Portfolio Holder for Customer Services emphasised the importance of analysing complaint trends to identify potential failures. He noted improvements in the complaint handling process in recent years and advocated for stronger democratic oversight and increased Portfolio Holder awareness of stage 2 complaints. He also mentioned being informed about staff conduct issues as appropriate within the HR process.

Committee members and the Portfolio Holder discussed data on complaints against staff, concluding that the data did not show a meaningful decrease. They deliberated on potential measures to improve this in the future.

The use of satisfaction surveys was also discussed. The Customer Services Team Manager advised that efforts were underway to centralise and integrate feedback mechanisms across services, in line with the Ombudsman’s Code. The goal is to achieve consistent satisfaction across all services.

The Chair requested that future reports include month-by-month data tracking complaints, with comparisons to previous years to account for seasonal factors. The Customer Services Team Manager agreed to provide this in future reports.

The Chair thanked members for their comments, which will be presented to the Cabinet on 25 June. The full minutes of the meeting can be found here.