Decision details

The Director of Legal Services advised Members of the publication of the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales’ (‘PSOW’) Annual Report and Annual Letter to this Council for 2020- 2021.

Members were advised that during the reporting period the overall number of complaints about public bodies had reduced by 16%, albeit there was an increase in the number of complaints about how complaints were handled by public bodies.  He added that new complaints about local authorities had decreased by 11% compared to the previous year.  

During 2020-2021 40 complaints were received by the PSOW relating to RCTCBC (for periods 2019/20 – 39 and 2018/2019 – 36) which equates to 0.17 complaints per 1000 residents. He added that this represented the fourth lowest total in Wales out of the 22 local authorities and RCT has consistently been in the lowest quartile for complaints received for several years. 0.25 complaints per 1000 residents was the average across the 22 LA’s.

A Model Complaints Handling Policy had been issued to Local Authorities in September 2020, which has been reviewed and the Council’s own complaints handling policy updated where necessary.

The Deputy Leader stated the report contained a lot of statistical data with Children and Adult Social Services receiving the highest amount of complaints.  She noted however that it was positive to see that the number of interventions required by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales had decreased significantly.

It was resolved:  to note the 2020-2021 Public Services Ombudsman for Wales’ Annual Report and Annual Letter to this Council.