Islington Council ‘very sorry’ to residents for delays in handling complaints

Islington Town Hall. Photograph: Islington Council

Town Hall bosses were forced to apologise to residents for the amount of time it took handling their complaints.

An investigation into its complaints backlog by the Local Government Ombudsman was triggered after it looked into the length of time the council spent dealing with a resident’s complaint into anti-social behaviour. She had waited six months for the council to start investigating.

Overall, the Ombudsman discovered that by this  February, 44 people had waited over the council’s target of 20 working days for the council to respond to stage 2 complaints – with 11 people waiting between nine months and a year.

Twelve people faced a wait of between six months and a year for a stage two formal complaint which is investigated on behalf of the council’s chief executive.

Overall, more than 80 per cent of the  189 stage two complaint requests the council received between September 2020 and September 2022  were completed late.

The Ombudsman said people on average faced a four-month wait but 26 people who filed complaints in September 2021 drummed their fingers waiting for an average of eight and a half months.

The council said covid was partly to blame. After lockdowns ceased, it saw a jump in housing complaints and the number of dissatified residents “dramatically increased in 2021” and has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.

“At its worst, it responded to the 26 complaints it received in September 2021 in an average of around eight and a half months,” said the Ombudsman.

Nigel Ellis, chief executive at the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, said the council had struggled to put the resources into place to cope with the demand.

“While I sympathise with their situation, this can never be an excuse for poor practice.”

The council has paid out more than  £6,825 for the delays –  funds which could have otherwise been used if the backlog had not developed to such an extent,” said the Ombudsman.

It hired more complaints staff and also brought in temporary staff to help clear the backlog  and has also ordered an urgent independent review of the service.

It also aims to resolve complaints at stage one.

The Ombudsman found fault in the delays and said the council’s apology must also highlight their option of taking their complaints to the Ombudsman’s service.

It also has to discuss a report into its complaints procedure at a council meeting, which is held in public.

Cllr Diarmaid Ward, the council’s deputy leader and executive member for performance said: “We’re committed to handling all complaints effectively and in a reasonable amount of time. 

“We’re very sorry some residents have experienced delays in responses to their complaints.  Like many local authorities, we saw a significant increase in complaints following the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to an increase in response times.”

He added: “We have taken urgent action to address this, including increasing the number of complaints staff, bringing in an experienced complaints manager, and regularly monitoring progress. 

“For several months we have also been carrying out a full review of complaints, in collaboration with the Ombudsman service, to bring further improvements. 

“We apologise again to everyone affected by delays to complaints responses.” 

Cllr Ward pointed out the Ombudsman noted that “councils have seen unprecedented pressure in the past decade. Budget cuts, increasing demand for adult social care and special educational needs support and the Covid-19 pandemic have all created a challenging environment in which to operate.”