Meeting documents
Standards Committee (DCC)
Tuesday 20 November 2007
Meeting: Standards Committee (County Hall, Durham - Committee Room 1A - 20/11/2007 10:00:00 AM)
Item: A8 Annual Report of Social Care Representations Procedure 2006/07
| Standards Committee Report |  |
| Report of David Williams, Corporate Director of Children & Young People’s Services | |
2 Publication of the Annual Report on Representations is a statutory requirement.
3 The NHS & Community Care Act 1990 and the 1989 Children Act specify requirements for Social Care to publish details about representations, including comments/suggestions, compliments and complaints, received from service users, carers and their representatives during the year.
4 Legislation also requires that the Annual Report contains information about how Children and Young People’s Service has performed in its management and operation of the Representations Procedure against national and local standards.
5 The Annual Representations Report was reported to CYPS Senior Leadership Team on the 13th November 2007.
This is the first report to cover representations concerning Children and Young People’s Service and Education Services which are referred to in Section 8. The latter are covered by a separate regulatory framework.
Content 6 The report brings together information gathered in relation to the activities involved with the receiving, handling and consideration of compliments, comments/suggestions and complaints from service users, carers and their representatives.
7 Information includes statistical data on performance against standards, key issues arising from investigations of complaints, in particular, and their impact on policy, procedure and practice, and any lessons learned across branches. Learning from Representations
8 This report highlights a number of areas where improvements in practice have been identified and made as a result of representations. These include: · A significant reduction in the number of complaints progressing to a formal investigation stage as a result of early initial response at a local level. · The importance of communication between staff, service users, advocates or other representatives of the service user is recognised especially where several people are involved in handling a complaint. · The importance of on-going training and supervision for staff is recognised and facilitated in respect of good practice and procedures. · Numerous Agenda Days have been organised to find out what children and young people think about the service they receive and to look at how it could be improved or developed. · Activity Days have been organised in response to children and young people saying they want more to do. · Improved recreational facilities in children’s homes. · Young people were supported to successfully complete a young people’s information pamphlet. · Children and young people have helped draft a new proposal document, giving children and young people the opportunity to review their foster carers and the foster placements. · In response to concerns raised by children and young people, quality assurance checklists have been redefined to reduce the amount of time spent by adults doing paper work at reviews and so make reviews more child focused.
Key Areas for Development
9 This report highlights a number of areas where work is currently ongoing to improve the service: · The importance of learning from complaints and other representations in any service improvements on redesign. · The need to maintain and sustain the improved performance on completion timescales. · Extra staff to be trained in logging on representations to cover staff absence and holiday.
Developments in 2006/07
10 Standards Committee is asked to note that changes to statutory guidance on social care complaints were implemented on the 1st September 06. These changes are acknowledged in the Annual Representations Report 2005/06, however, they occurred after the reporting period. A separate procedure and guidance has now been developed for the Adult Social Care and Children & Young People’s Social Care services and annual reports are now independent. In particular, the changes require us respond to complaints within tighter timescales (20 working days for Stage 1 and 65 working days for Stage 2) and alter the composition of Review Panels.
Conclusion
11 The service receives a number of representations each year. This is predictable given the nature of the services, which are provided at difficult times in people’s lives, and representations are a valuable source of feedback to inform service improvement. This Annual Report indicates positive achievements in Children and Young People’s performance in the handling and consideration of representations, including complaints, during the year 2006/07.
Recommendation
12 Standards Committee are requested to:
(i) note the content of this report and provide feedback on the contents if appropriate;
(ii) endorse the publication of the report and its circulation to key stakeholders including service users and carers, staff and the general public.
Background Papers Annual Report on Representations 2006/07.
| Contact: Ann Hammett, Complaints Officer Tel: 0191 3833981 |
Appendix 1: Implications
| Finance | Cost of staff training | |
| Staffing | Availability of admin staff to log representations | |
| Equalities & Diversity | Consistent with national and local requirements. Representations Procedure has been Impact Assessment. | |
| Accommodation | None. | |
| Crime and Disorder | System can record any complaints about bullying, harassment or racist incidents. | |
| Sustainability | A priority in light of statutory requirements. | |
| Human Rights | Compatible with Human Rights Act - able to record and respond to complaints about alleged breaches. | |
| Localities & Rurality | To ensure improvements in recording practices. | |
| Young People | Responsive to children and young people’s needs. Need to explore issues relating to better outcomes from resolution of complaints. | |
| Consultation | Consultation will take place in respect of the potential changes in the Representations Procedure. | |
| Health | Feedback from representations can improve services, leading to improved outcomes for service users. | |
Children and Young People’s Service Annual Report on Representations 2006/07
CONTENTS Section Heading Page Number SECTION 1 - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4
1. Introduction 4
2. Summary of Findings 4
a) Data Analysis and Methodology 4
b) Number of Representations, including Complaints 5
c) Who Complained 5
d) Stages of Complaints Handling Process and Performance 5 - 6
f) Equality and Diversity 6 - 7
g) Key Learning Points from Complaints, Comments 7 - 8
j) Conclusion 9 - 10
SECTION 2 - ANNUAL REPORT 11
1. Purpose of the Report 11
2. Background 11
3. Management and Operation 11
4. Aims of Representations Procedure 12
5. Who May Use the Children and Young People’s Service 12
Representations Procedure
6. Complaints Handling 13
7. Comments and Complaints Received from 14
Service User Groups
8. Children and Young People’s Service - Formerly Education 15 - 18 9. Equality and Diversity Issues: 19
a) Representations by Black and Minority
Ethnic Groups 19
b) Representations by Age 19
SECTION 3 - ANALYSIS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG 20
PEOPLE’S SERVICES 1. Representations for Children and Their Families 20
2. Comments and Compliments Received from Service 20 - 21
User Groups
3. Representations by Gender 22 4. Causes of Complaints to Children and Young People’s Service 22 - 23
5. Learning Outcomes 23
a) Issues 23
b) Specific Actions Taken to Correct any Deficits 23
c) Compliments 24 - 25
d) Comments 25
6. Examples of Service Development 25 - 26
SECTION 4 - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 27
SECTION 5 - APPENDICES
SECTION 1 - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Introduction
This Executive Summary contains a brief account of the key issues arising from the Children and Young People’s Service Annual Report on the Representations Procedure, for the year ended 31 March 2007.
Legislation requires Children and Young People’s Service to publish an Annual Report, which gives details about Representations, in terms of Complaints, Compliments and Comments/Suggestions recorded during the year.
New guidance, introduced in September 2006, was built on messages from the report of the Waterhouse inquiry, Lost in Care, which cited many examples of children who had attempted to complain but whose voices had not been heard. Every Child Matters: Change for Children sets out the Government’s agenda for improving outcomes for every child. It is also about making sure vulnerable children and young people get the help they need, when they need it, however large or small their complaint. This guidance follows the core principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Every Child Matters: Change for Children which puts children’s views and wishes at the forefront of the decision-making process.
2. Summary of Key Findings
a) Data Analysis and Methodology
b) Number of Representations, including complaints
· 93.2% of Representations came from people recorded as White British and 1.1% from Mixed Race Asian. · 5.6% of Representations received had no recorded “ethnic status” · There were no complaints recorded specifically in relation to bullying, harassment and/or discrimination. · County Durham has a very low Black & Minority Ethnic population of approximately 1% being from non-white ethnic background. Although some of the Service users’ BME category was not recorded on the SSID system it would appear that a representative proportion of the population is accessing the Representations Procedure. Where the person making the complaint is not the service user the ethnicity of the complainant can only be determined if their details are fully recorded on SSID, for instance as a carer. · There is a need to improve the quality of recording on SSID, a proportion of Representations do not have the ‘Gender’ recorded. · Female service users accounted for the highest percentage of Complaints, Compliments and Comment. · In terms of Gender recorded, 57% of Representations received were made by Female and 43% were from Males, showing that women are more likely to complain. This may reflect the fact that women are more often seen in the role of the primary carer.
Response
Team Managers have been congratulated on this improvement.
Issue: Social Worker contact
Over 20% of families said that contacting their Social Worker was difficult.
Response
There is a need to ensure that Social Workers can be contacted. Team Managers will audit this and report any findings to Service Managers in December. Social Workers will advise their service users when they will be unavailable e.g. due to holidays.
Business cards are to be designed (colourful and child friendly, to include email address and mobile numbers). Social Workers will issue these to Service users upon first contact.
h) National & Local Developments of the Representations System
· resolve complaints quickly, locally - there will be a more personal and flexible approach to handling complaints;
· make sure people who have complaints have access to effective support - this is particularly important for people who find it difficult to make their views heard, and
· support organisations to improve the services they provide by routinely learning from people’s experiences.
i) Areas for Future Developments · Continued early responses to complaints with a view to early resolution. · Managers ensuring that staff responsible for recording Representations on the SSID system actively do so, in order to ensure that information required is accurate and up to date when it is analysed for the purpose of identifying performance and trends.
· The importance of learning from complaints and other Representations. SECTION 2 - ANNUAL REPORT 2006-2007
1. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT
2. BACKGROUND
3. MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS OF THE REPRESENTATIONS PROCEDURE
4. AIMS OF THE REPRESENTATIONS PROCEDURE
o has requested the representative to act on his/her behalf
o is not capable of making the complaint by him/herself. · Individuals who have parental responsibilities, are carers, advocates and others, whom Children and Young People’s Service consider as having sufficient interest in the person’s welfare, will also be eligible to use the Procedure.
6. COMPLAINTS HANDLING
DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL
Children and Young People’s Service
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE REPRESENTATIONS PROCEDURE
Children and Young People’s Service
ANNUAL REPORT ON THE REPRESENTATIONS PROCEDURE
2006/2007
CONTENTS Section Heading Page Number SECTION 1 - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4
1. Introduction 4
2. Summary of Findings 4
a) Data Analysis and Methodology 4
b) Number of Representations, including Complaints 5
c) Who Complained 5
d) Stages of Complaints Handling Process and Performance 5 - 6
Against Standards
e) Causes of Complaints 6f) Equality and Diversity 6 - 7
g) Key Learning Points from Complaints, Comments 7 - 8
and Compliments
h) National and Local Developments of the 8 - 9 Representations System
i) Areas for Future Developments 9j) Conclusion 9 - 10
SECTION 2 - ANNUAL REPORT 11
1. Purpose of the Report 11
2. Background 11
3. Management and Operation 11
4. Aims of Representations Procedure 12
5. Who May Use the Children and Young People’s Service 12
Representations Procedure
6. Complaints Handling 13
7. Comments and Complaints Received from 14
Service User Groups
8. Children and Young People’s Service - Formerly Education 15 - 18 9. Equality and Diversity Issues: 19
a) Representations by Black and Minority
Ethnic Groups 19
b) Representations by Age 19
SECTION 3 - ANALYSIS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG 20
PEOPLE’S SERVICES 1. Representations for Children and Their Families 20
2. Comments and Compliments Received from Service 20 - 21
User Groups
3. Representations by Gender 22 4. Causes of Complaints to Children and Young People’s Service 22 - 23
5. Learning Outcomes 23
a) Issues 23
b) Specific Actions Taken to Correct any Deficits 23
c) Compliments 24 - 25
d) Comments 25
6. Examples of Service Development 25 - 26
SECTION 4 - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 27
SECTION 5 - APPENDICES
Appendix 1 - Receiving a Complaint 28
Appendix 2 - Overview of a Complaint 29
Appendix 3 - Number of Complaints Received 30
Appendix 4 - Specific Causes for Complaints 31
SECTION 6 - CONTACT DETAILS 32Appendix 2 - Overview of a Complaint 29
Appendix 3 - Number of Complaints Received 30
Appendix 4 - Specific Causes for Complaints 31
SECTION 1 - EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1. Introduction
This Executive Summary contains a brief account of the key issues arising from the Children and Young People’s Service Annual Report on the Representations Procedure, for the year ended 31 March 2007.
Legislation requires Children and Young People’s Service to publish an Annual Report, which gives details about Representations, in terms of Complaints, Compliments and Comments/Suggestions recorded during the year.
New guidance, introduced in September 2006, was built on messages from the report of the Waterhouse inquiry, Lost in Care, which cited many examples of children who had attempted to complain but whose voices had not been heard. Every Child Matters: Change for Children sets out the Government’s agenda for improving outcomes for every child. It is also about making sure vulnerable children and young people get the help they need, when they need it, however large or small their complaint. This guidance follows the core principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Every Child Matters: Change for Children which puts children’s views and wishes at the forefront of the decision-making process.
The Report also contains information about how Children and Young People’s Service has responded to the Representations received in line with national and local standards, for example timescales for completing or resolving complaints and summarises key learning outcomes for the service.
2. Summary of Key Findings
a) Data Analysis and Methodology
The data provided within this document is taken from the Social Services Information Database (SSID), which is a live database, as it is constantly being updated.
b) Number of Representations, including complaints
During the year 2006/2007, 89 Representations have been recorded from service users, their carers and/or representatives by Children and Young People’s Service.
Number of Representations
Number of Representations
| Service Area | Comments | Complaints | Compliments | Total |
| Children's Services | 2 (2%) | 67 (79%) | 20 (22%) | 89 |
This year has seen a slight decrease in the number of complaints received as recorded complaints and the overall number of Representations received has remained fairly typical and within the range of expectation. However, as per national guidance there have been a significant number of concerns which have been resolved at a face-to-face level thus identifying and fulfilling needs more quickly.
Children and Young People’s Service provide services to families at difficult points in their lives, frequently in contested and emotionally charged situations. It is vital that service users and carers have a voice and that we listen to their views. Representations are a key form of feedback and an indicator that service users and carers feel able to express their views. Children and Young People’s Service regard the complaints received as a positive measure towards understanding the needs and concerns of those who access our services. We positively encourage Representations and any decline in the number of Representations received could indicate that service users were either not able to access our Representations process or not inclined to do so. We do know, however, that this year surveys indicate that service users have indicated that they are more satisfied with the service provided which is discussed below in “key findings”.
c) Who Complained? Children and Young People’s Service provide services to families at difficult points in their lives, frequently in contested and emotionally charged situations. It is vital that service users and carers have a voice and that we listen to their views. Representations are a key form of feedback and an indicator that service users and carers feel able to express their views. Children and Young People’s Service regard the complaints received as a positive measure towards understanding the needs and concerns of those who access our services. We positively encourage Representations and any decline in the number of Representations received could indicate that service users were either not able to access our Representations process or not inclined to do so. We do know, however, that this year surveys indicate that service users have indicated that they are more satisfied with the service provided which is discussed below in “key findings”.
In the year 2006/2007 35% of complaints were made by the children themselves. This is very encouraging and suggests that children find the complaints process easy to access and to use.
d) Stages of the Complaints Handling Process & Performance Against Standards 2006/7
· 99% of complaints were resolved at Stage 1 and only 1 complaint ie 1% progressed to Stage 2 · At Stage1: 67 complaints were received. 63.8% of stage 1 complaints were resolved within the target timescale of 20 days. This is a significant improvement from last year where only 49.3% complaints were handled within 20 days. This can be attributed to the effective systems of monitoring and tracking in place now which provide consistency throughout the handling of complaints. · At Stage 2 legislation allows, for the investigation and response to a complaint about Children and Young People’s Service to be completed within 25 days but, if necessary, can be extended up to a period of 65 days. In Children and Young People’s Services, a mandatory 25 day timescale exists for investigating and responding to complaints. The only Stage 2 complaint received this year remains outstanding because of complex issues surrounding the complainant who has delayed attempts to complete the process.
· There were no Stage 3 Review panels. e) Causes of Complaint
· It should be noted that complaints can have more than one cause, therefore these will exceed the number of actual complaints. (see appendix 4 for specific cases of complaints received). For example, one complaint may refer to several incidents and is therefore recorded several times. · The top two causes identified within complaints received were, “Conduct and Attitude of Staff” (29%) and “Other” (21%), almost identical figures as last year. f) Equality & Diversity
· 93.2% of Representations came from people recorded as White British and 1.1% from Mixed Race Asian. · 5.6% of Representations received had no recorded “ethnic status” · There were no complaints recorded specifically in relation to bullying, harassment and/or discrimination. · County Durham has a very low Black & Minority Ethnic population of approximately 1% being from non-white ethnic background. Although some of the Service users’ BME category was not recorded on the SSID system it would appear that a representative proportion of the population is accessing the Representations Procedure. Where the person making the complaint is not the service user the ethnicity of the complainant can only be determined if their details are fully recorded on SSID, for instance as a carer. · There is a need to improve the quality of recording on SSID, a proportion of Representations do not have the ‘Gender’ recorded. · Female service users accounted for the highest percentage of Complaints, Compliments and Comment. · In terms of Gender recorded, 57% of Representations received were made by Female and 43% were from Males, showing that women are more likely to complain. This may reflect the fact that women are more often seen in the role of the primary carer.
g) Key Learning Points from Complaints, Comments & Compliments
Complaints and other Representations are a key source of feedback for the service, which help us to identify any changes required in order to improve our services. Examples of areas where work is ongoing to address issues identified as a result of Representations made to Children and Young People’s Service include:
Issue: Satisfaction
Findings from 2006-07 revealed an overall increase in satisfaction from previous years.
Issue: Satisfaction
Findings from 2006-07 revealed an overall increase in satisfaction from previous years.
Response
Team Managers have been congratulated on this improvement.
Issue: Social Worker contact
Over 20% of families said that contacting their Social Worker was difficult.
Response
There is a need to ensure that Social Workers can be contacted. Team Managers will audit this and report any findings to Service Managers in December. Social Workers will advise their service users when they will be unavailable e.g. due to holidays.
Business cards are to be designed (colourful and child friendly, to include email address and mobile numbers). Social Workers will issue these to Service users upon first contact.
Service Managers are to agree an acceptable response time for returning service user calls and communicate this to all teams.
Over half of the families said that, if their Social Worker was unavailable, there was no-one else for them to talk to. Team Managers will ensure that there is a cover rota for phone calls in each team so that calls can be answered when Social Workers are unavailable.
Issue: Meeting needs
A quarter of families said that the help or services provided only met their needs ‘most of the time’. 20% said it didn’t meet their needs at all.
Response
In the future Service Managers will contact 2/3 service users per month by telephone and determine why needs are not being met. This will be monitored through the audit programme commencing October 2007.
Issue: Feeling treated with respect
Over 10% of families said that staff didn’t always treat them with respect.
Response:
Service Managers to review 15 self review questionnaires per team and target relevant teams or individuals through supervision.
Quality and Performance team will provide the list of comments from service users (on a team basis). Service Managers will then address issues arising from these comments with relevant teams
Over half of the families said that, if their Social Worker was unavailable, there was no-one else for them to talk to. Team Managers will ensure that there is a cover rota for phone calls in each team so that calls can be answered when Social Workers are unavailable.
Issue: Meeting needs
A quarter of families said that the help or services provided only met their needs ‘most of the time’. 20% said it didn’t meet their needs at all.
Response
In the future Service Managers will contact 2/3 service users per month by telephone and determine why needs are not being met. This will be monitored through the audit programme commencing October 2007.
Issue: Feeling treated with respect
Over 10% of families said that staff didn’t always treat them with respect.
Response:
Service Managers to review 15 self review questionnaires per team and target relevant teams or individuals through supervision.
Quality and Performance team will provide the list of comments from service users (on a team basis). Service Managers will then address issues arising from these comments with relevant teams
h) National & Local Developments of the Representations System
During 2006/2007 a number of developments have taken place.
Nationally:
The White Paper Our health, our care, our say, published in January 2006, set out the Government’s commitment to developing ‘a comprehensive single complaints system across health and social care.’ The focus of the new approach will be to:
Nationally:
The White Paper Our health, our care, our say, published in January 2006, set out the Government’s commitment to developing ‘a comprehensive single complaints system across health and social care.’ The focus of the new approach will be to:
· resolve complaints quickly, locally - there will be a more personal and flexible approach to handling complaints;
· make sure people who have complaints have access to effective support - this is particularly important for people who find it difficult to make their views heard, and
· support organisations to improve the services they provide by routinely learning from people’s experiences.
“CSCI welcomes debate on a more coherent and better integrated system of handling complaints across health and social care. People who use services deserve a system that is easier to use and more responsive to their needs and we look forward to contributing to the consultation to achieve this.” Paul Snell, Chief Inspector - CSCI
There is, however, a question which has been posed nationally as to whether or not the children’s complaints procedure should be included. We will await the response.
The Government’s Green Paper, Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care was published in October 2006. Since then consultation has taken place with everyone who might have an opinion on the proposals in the paper. Included in this consultation have been groups representing children, frontline staff, managers and children themselves. More than 2000 individuals and groups responded to the written consultation, and many more at consultation events. Overall people have been supportive of the Green Paper, although there are concerns about the detail of some of the proposals and people emphasised the need to turn the many ideas into a coherent overall strategy.
There is, however, a question which has been posed nationally as to whether or not the children’s complaints procedure should be included. We will await the response.
The Government’s Green Paper, Care Matters: Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care was published in October 2006. Since then consultation has taken place with everyone who might have an opinion on the proposals in the paper. Included in this consultation have been groups representing children, frontline staff, managers and children themselves. More than 2000 individuals and groups responded to the written consultation, and many more at consultation events. Overall people have been supportive of the Green Paper, although there are concerns about the detail of some of the proposals and people emphasised the need to turn the many ideas into a coherent overall strategy.
A White Paper setting out the Department’s next steps, taking into account the results of the consultation will be published later this year. This could have an impact on the complaints procedures relating to children in care.
i) Areas for Future Developments
Future long term plans will be largely dependent upon a number of factors, such as new requirements from national regulations and guidance on complaints handling with the possibility of linking into health complaints.
There continues to be evidence of improvement and strength in the performance around complaints, particularly at Stage 1 of the process. However, we need to ensure that the Representations Procedure is not used simply as a tool to assess the performance of Children and Young People’s Service, but also for learning and service improvement. There is evidence that Children and Young People’s Service has learned from complaints and has taken action as a result. We wish to build on this in the future.
j) ConclusionThere continues to be evidence of improvement and strength in the performance around complaints, particularly at Stage 1 of the process. However, we need to ensure that the Representations Procedure is not used simply as a tool to assess the performance of Children and Young People’s Service, but also for learning and service improvement. There is evidence that Children and Young People’s Service has learned from complaints and has taken action as a result. We wish to build on this in the future.
This Annual Report highlights aspects of the performance by Children and Young People’s Service in its handling and consideration of Representations, including complaints, during the year 2006/2007.
Some Representations each year are predictable given the nature of the services, which are provided at difficult times in people’s lives. Representations are a valuable source of feedback to inform service improvement. This Annual Report indicates positive achievements in Children and Young People’s Service’s performance in the handling and consideration of Representations, including complaints, during the year 2006/07.
The report highlights a number of areas for ongoing action:
The report highlights a number of areas for ongoing action:
· The importance of learning from complaints and other Representations. SECTION 2 - ANNUAL REPORT 2006-2007
1. PURPOSE OF THE REPORT
This Annual Report provides details about the performance of County Durham Children and Young People’s Service in respect of its handling and consideration of Representations, (complaints, compliments, comments and suggestions), received from service users, their carers and/or representatives, during the year from 1 April 2006 to 31 March 2007.
2. BACKGROUND
New procedures and accompanying guidance applies to all Children and Young People’s Service, undertaken by Durham County Council in relation to statutory duties and functions set out in Section 1A of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970 and subsequent legislation including the Children Act 1989 and the Representations Procedure Regulations 2006.
Legislation also requires the publication of an Annual Report to inform services users, their carers and/or representatives, elected members, staff and other members of the general public, about how the Service has performed in meeting key national and local standards, particularly in respect of handling complaints.
Legislation also requires the publication of an Annual Report to inform services users, their carers and/or representatives, elected members, staff and other members of the general public, about how the Service has performed in meeting key national and local standards, particularly in respect of handling complaints.
3. MANAGEMENT AND OPERATIONS OF THE REPRESENTATIONS PROCEDURE
Overall management and operation of the Representations Procedure for children and young people fall under the responsibility of the Designated Complaints Manager.
The Complaints Officer, managed within the Service Development Team, assists with the handling, monitoring and tracking as well as advising and mediating in the resolution of complaints within her service branches.
The initial recording of information about complaints, compliments and comments is managed through the central administration Office, with assistance from Personal Assistants attached to Senior Managers. The operation of the Children and Young People’s Service computerised information system (SSID) for the recording and analysis of all Representations is overseen by Children and Young People’s Service’s Information and Communications Services section.
The responsibility for publicising and promoting information and related materials, leaflets and booklets about the Representations Procedure is co-ordinated by the Information to the Public Team.
The Complaints Officer, managed within the Service Development Team, assists with the handling, monitoring and tracking as well as advising and mediating in the resolution of complaints within her service branches.
The initial recording of information about complaints, compliments and comments is managed through the central administration Office, with assistance from Personal Assistants attached to Senior Managers. The operation of the Children and Young People’s Service computerised information system (SSID) for the recording and analysis of all Representations is overseen by Children and Young People’s Service’s Information and Communications Services section.
The responsibility for publicising and promoting information and related materials, leaflets and booklets about the Representations Procedure is co-ordinated by the Information to the Public Team.
4. AIMS OF THE REPRESENTATIONS PROCEDURE
The primary aims of the Procedure:
· To recognise and value the needs and rights of services users and others to express their views and concerns about the actions and decisions taken by the Children and Young People’s Service. · To enable individuals, who are eligible to make appropriate complaints, or other positive comments to have easy access to the Representations Procedure · To enable and empower staff to listen to the experiences of service users and carers, take seriously their concerns and complaints and use best customer care practice to try and resolve or remedy any problems to their satisfaction · To provide information about important lessons learned, from complaints in particular, to make quality improvements to performance and service delivery. 5. WHO MAY USE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES’ REPRESENTATIONS PROCEDURE?The Representations Procedure can be accessed and used by individuals who are in receipt of services including their carers and or representatives. Legislation recognises the following:
· Any person to whom the Local Authority has a power or duty to provide, or secure the provision of, a service, and whose need or possible need for such a service has (by whatever means) come to the attention of the Local Authority. · Anyone representing or acting on behalf of a person, as described above, in any case where that person: o is a child or young persono has requested the representative to act on his/her behalf
o is not capable of making the complaint by him/herself. · Individuals who have parental responsibilities, are carers, advocates and others, whom Children and Young People’s Service consider as having sufficient interest in the person’s welfare, will also be eligible to use the Procedure.
THE NEW PROCEDURE FOR CHILDREN ACT 1989 COMPLAINTS
| Stage 1 - Local Resolution |
| Complainant brings concerns to the attention of the person providing the services locally. The Local Authority should consider mediation and conflict resolution at this stage and at all other stages. The Local Authority should make an initial attempt to resolve matters within 20 working days. |
| If not resolved - or if there is agreement for investigation |
| Stage 2 - Investigation |
| The Local Authority should provide an investigation that produces a report and an adjudication within 25 working days (or within the extended period of 65 working days). |
| If not resolved |
| Stage 3 - Review Panel |
| A panel of 3 independent people should meet to consider the complaint and produce recommendations. |
| If not resolved |
| Referral to Local Government Ombudsman (note that complainant can approach the Local Government Ombudsman at any stage). |
a) The following chart illustrates the breakdown of Comments and Compliments received from Service User Groups across the service.
/20071120/Agenda/Image.gif)
8.CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICES (FORMERLY EDUCATION)
Compliments/Expressions of Interest for the Period 1 April 2006 - 31 March 2007
· 1 Access and Pupil Services · 3 Achievement Services · 4 Advisory and Specialist Teaching Service (Learning Support Service) · 1 Behaviour Support/Education Otherwise than at School Service · 1 Deputy Director of Education · 6 Durham Music Service · 3 Educational Psychology Service · 4 Education Welfare Service · 5 Finance and Staffing Unit · 11 Home and Hospital Support Service (Learning Support Service) · 3 Policy and Planning Unit · 2 Resources Unit · 4 SEN Placement Provision · 19 Sure Start County Durham
· Children and Young People’s Service (former Education) has never recorded comments.
| Summary | Stage 1 | |
| Service | No's received | No's resolved/not pursuedinvestigation ongoingNo's resolved to satisfactionNot pursued furtherinvestigation ongoing |
| CYPS | 4 | 431 |
| (former | | |
| Education) | | |
| TOTAL | 4 | |
The complainant expressed concern that several schools in County Durham were not teaching pupils for 190 days (380 sessions) during the academic year - as required by statute.
Outcome of Complaint:
The complainant remained dissatisfied with the responses received at Stages 1 and 2 of the complaints procedure and so it was referred to Corporate Services for further investigation and formal review i.e. Stage 3 of the procedure. The Investigating Officer agreed that the Statutory Regulations were clear and that any school which failed to provide at least 380 sessions of school contact time with pupils during a school year was in breach of the Regulations.
Achievement of Performance Targets:
Acknowledgement Yes
Substantive Response/Progress Report Yes
Remedial Action:
The Chief Inspector from Children and Young People’s Services wrote to all schools to remind them about the requirements laid down in the Regulations and provided schools with the opportunity to discuss the issues at the Corporate Director’s termly meeting to ensure schools could continue to be innovative, whilst still complying with the legislation. Nature of Complaint:
The complainant expressed concern with the level of service provided by the Educational Psychology Service (EPS) - including the failure of the Educational Psychologist to provide a written report following an assessment of the complainant’s son. Outcome of Complaint:
Investigation of the complaint found that the resignation of the Educational Psychologist had left the EPS short-staffed and a limited allocation of “cover” had been provided by another Educational Psychologist (in addition to his usual workload). The EPS agreed with the complainant that the level of service provision had not been satisfactory and apologised for the failure of the Educational Psychologist to provide a written report. The Service acknowledged that it had failed to provide the appropriate level of service as it had not been operating at full staffing levels.
Achievement of Performance Targets:
Acknowledgement Yes
Substantive Response/Progress Report Yes
Remedial Action:
It was anticipated that the Service would return to full staffing from September.
Nature of Complaint:
The complainant expressed concerns about the Home to School Transport arrangements for her son.
The complainant alleged that the County Council had:
a. revoked the existing transport arrangements for her son; and
b. failed to take account of disability rights and to consider the request of the complainant as a parent.
Outcome of Complaint:
Investigations found that:
a. the Council did not revoke the existing arrangements for the complainant’s son - a home to school contract had previously existed with Stockton-On-Tees Local Authority. The contract had ended following the complainant’s house move when the transport arrangements became the responsibility of DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL. DURHAM COUNTY COUNCIL was required by legislation to operate a formal tendering procedure and the former contractor from Stockton was unsuccessful in his application; and
b. the individual needs of the complainant’s son and complainant had been considered and taken into account.
Achievement of Performance Targets:
Acknowledgement Yes
Substantive Response/Progress Report Yes
Remedial Action:
Support and advice were offered to the complainant, school and new transport operator to ensure issues/concerns would be resolved.
Nature of Complaint:
The complainant expressed concerns about her son’s SEN assessment and the outcomes of the assessment for his education. The complainant expressed specific concern about some written correspondence which had been lost and which, in the view of the complainant, had led to her son not accessing Speech and Language Support Programme (SALSP) assistance.
Outcome of Complaint:
It was acknowledged that written correspondence between County Hall and the SALSP office (to seek advice re the suitability of the SALSP programme) had been lost “en route”. The paperwork has since been considered by the SALSP Panel but the application did not meet the criteria for access. The alternative options available to the complainant were outlined together with the opportunity to discuss these in more detail with an appropriate officer.
Achievement of Performance Targets:
Acknowledgement Yes
Substantive Response/Progress Report Yes
Remedial Action: Protocols regarding the internal transfer of information between these offices have now been tightened up to prevent the reoccurrence of lost correspondence.
9. EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY ISSUES
Representations by Black and Minority Ethnic Groups
| Children's Services |
| Service AreaTotal RepresentationsCommentsComplaintsCompliments |
| White British8326219 |
| Mixed Race Asian1010 |
| Not Recorded5041 |
| Total8926720 |
Representations by Age
/20071120/Agenda/Image 1.gif)
SECTION 3 - ANALYSIS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICES 1. REPRESENTATIONS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICE
This section of the report covers Representations received regarding Children and Young People’s Service.
In respect of the Representations received within Children and Young People’s Service the following pie charts give an indication of the breakdown.
Compliments are historically not well recorded in Children and Young People’s Service and special attention was focussed on this area to provide a more accurate picture. The results have been extremely encouraging with a marked improvement. In the previous year compliments constituted 4% of Representations as compared to this year where compliments have risen to 22%.
In respect of the Representations received within Children and Young People’s Service the following pie charts give an indication of the breakdown.
Compliments are historically not well recorded in Children and Young People’s Service and special attention was focussed on this area to provide a more accurate picture. The results have been extremely encouraging with a marked improvement. In the previous year compliments constituted 4% of Representations as compared to this year where compliments have risen to 22%.
2. COMMENTS AND COMPLIMENTS RECEIVED FROM SERVICE
USER GROUPS
The following charts illustrate the breakdown of Comments and Compliments received from Service User Groups across the service.
Complaints by Service User Groups
The following graph shows the Complaints received by Quarter. 67 recorded complaints were relating to Children and Young People’s Service compared to 78 from the previous year. This could be explained by the numbers of complaints which are now being dealt with locally on a face to face level, as per Government Guidance.
/20071120/Agenda/Image 2.gif)
/20071120/Agenda/Image 3.gif)
3. REPRESENTATIONS BY GENDER
4. CAUSES OF COMPLAINTS TO CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICE
Throughout the period from 1st April 2006 to 31st March 2007, Children and Young People’s Service received complaints from Users and their representatives about a wide range of issues.
Causes of Complaint
/20071120/Agenda/Image 4.gif)
Most of the Complaints received regarding Children and Young People’s Service are about the “Conduct or Attitude of Staff”. Children and Young People’s Service also received a high proportion of “Complaints about Lack of a Service”. However from the complaints where the investigation was completed, 40% of them were not justified and no further action was taken.
5. LEARNING OUTCOMES
a) Issues
From complaints received in Children and Young People’s Service, the predominant issues appear to concern:
· Staff conduct or attitude (often concerning individual members of staff's commissions or omissions) · Lack of a service · Communication · To a lesser extent there is also an issue with:
Parents’ contact with children who are looked after
These issues arise in all service areas.
The highest numbers of complaints are made in relation to the Children in Need teams, with 58% of all complaints recorded. Of these, the predominant issues are conduct of staff and communication. This is a significant increase from last year’s 32%
Complaints recorded about the Looked After Service are more often concerned with provision of service.
b) Specific actions taken to correct any deficits
There are numerous examples of changes to practice as a result of complaints and Representations.
For example:
For example:
Complaint: The parent of a disabled child was furious with her social worker when transport failed to arrive on more than one occasion to take her child to nursery school. The complainant thought that it was the social worker who had not made adequate provision for transport.
Outcome: The transport company was at fault and the driver had been given an incorrect itinerary. An apology was given by the company with an assurance that the service provided would be more reliable in the future. As a result of the complaint more training is being provided by the company.
Outcome: The transport company was at fault and the driver had been given an incorrect itinerary. An apology was given by the company with an assurance that the service provided would be more reliable in the future. As a result of the complaint more training is being provided by the company.
Complaint: The family of a child with a disability complained about the Social Worker, who, they allege, refused to provide services after an occupational therapy assessment.
Outcome: The Social Worker was fulfilling the occupational therapist’s recommendations and the complaint was forwarded to the OT department. This initiated better communication between departments and the need for clarity of explanation has been noted and is being worked upon.
Complaint: The complainant requested more help from the Social Worker, initially stating that she was unhappy with the placement of her son and the lack of contact with him.
Outcome: When the complaint was investigated it transpired that the complainant had become homeless and contact could be made only by her mobile telephone. The Social Worker acted as a liaison between her and the council to arrange temporary accommodation and the complainant was very satisfied, withdrawing her complaint about the lack of contact with her son.
Outcome: The Social Worker was fulfilling the occupational therapist’s recommendations and the complaint was forwarded to the OT department. This initiated better communication between departments and the need for clarity of explanation has been noted and is being worked upon.
Complaint: The complainant requested more help from the Social Worker, initially stating that she was unhappy with the placement of her son and the lack of contact with him.
Outcome: When the complaint was investigated it transpired that the complainant had become homeless and contact could be made only by her mobile telephone. The Social Worker acted as a liaison between her and the council to arrange temporary accommodation and the complainant was very satisfied, withdrawing her complaint about the lack of contact with her son.
c) Compliments
Compliments are received regularly on services. In particular, individual members of staff are singled out for praise by service users. There are messages for the development and delivery of services in compliments as well as complaints.
It is clear that many of our staff often “go the extra mile” for service users. Comments have been received. For example:
We would like to thank you for your input into Rachael’s life over the last 15 years.
Thank you for all the support and assistance you gave to the family whilst looking after baby Martin’s interests.
Mrs S. passed on a brief note saying how impressed she has been with the work done with Nicola.
We are delighted with the service we have received.
A huge thank you for everything.
We are currently encouraging teams to consistently record all compliment to enable us to provide positive feedback and this is beginning to filter through as can be seen in the increased number of compliments.
It is clear that many of our staff often “go the extra mile” for service users. Comments have been received. For example:
We would like to thank you for your input into Rachael’s life over the last 15 years.
Thank you for all the support and assistance you gave to the family whilst looking after baby Martin’s interests.
Mrs S. passed on a brief note saying how impressed she has been with the work done with Nicola.
We are delighted with the service we have received.
A huge thank you for everything.
We are currently encouraging teams to consistently record all compliment to enable us to provide positive feedback and this is beginning to filter through as can be seen in the increased number of compliments.
d) Comments
Children and Young People’s Service actively seeks the comments of service users, in order to inform service improvements and developments. The Investing in Children membership scheme has been an excellent vehicle for such activity. The service is committed to having all teams achieve Investing in Children membership to demonstrate the impact of young peoples’ views. In general, Agenda Days are held, at which young people who are users of service offer comments and feedback on those aspects of service they find most important. An action plan is then drawn up by the team concerned. When this has been implemented, young people themselves assess whether change has been effective. If it has, Investing in Children membership status is conferred.
6 EXAMPLES OF SERVICE DEVELOPMENTS THAT HAVE BEEN IMPLEMENTED DURING THE LAST YEAR AS A RESULT ARE:
· Numerous Agenda Days have been organised to find out what children and young people think about the service they receive Also to look at how it could be improved or developed · Activity Days have been organised in response to children and young people saying they want more to do. · Young people were supported to develop further activities, in particular gardening. This was very much in keeping with issues that were raised at Agenda Days. · Young people supported to apply for a grant from KoolKash to develop further activities. · Letters sent out to children and young people in response to issues and concerns raised at Agenda Days. This was to continue the dialogue with children and young people. · Improved recreational facilities in Children’s Homes · Some services also now send out letters to children and young people if a member of the Social Worker is off work due to sickness or holidays · Young people have been involved in the recent recruitment of Social Workers. · Young people were supported to start a new “Boys Club” · Young people were supported to successfully complete a young people’s information pamphlet. · Children and young people have helped draft a new proposal document, giving children and young people the opportunity to review their foster carers and the foster placements. · In response to concerns raised by children and young people, quality insurance checklists have been redefined to reduce the amount of time spent by adults doing paper work at reviews.
SECTION 4 - CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS This Annual Report highlights aspects of the performance by Children and Young People’s Service in its handling and consideration of Representations, including complaints, during the year 2006/2007.
The service receives a large number of Representations each year. This is predictable given the nature of the services, which are provided at difficult times in people’s lives, and Representations are a valuable source of feedback to inform service improvement. This Annual Report indicates positive achievements in Children and Young People’s Service performance in the handling and consideration of Representations, including complaints, during the year 2006/07.
In order to maintain and sustain improvements in the service the following recommendations are suggested:
1 Case workers should be reminded that the recording of ethnicity is mandatory and this entry should be checked and completed where necessary.
2 When the White Paper : “Transforming the Lives of Children and Young People in Care”, setting out the Department’s next steps, taking into account the results of the consultation, is published later this year the department needs to look at any impact on the complaints procedures relating to children in care.
3 All staff need to be encouraged to continue to record compliments so good practice can be shared.
4 Extra staff to be trained in logging on Representations to cover staff absence and holiday.
SECTION 5 - APPENDICES APPENDIX 1 - Receiving a Complaint Local standard:
Acknowledgement within 5 working days
National Standards:
Complaints at Stage 1 about either Children and Young People’s Service must be responded to within 20 days, or sooner.
Complaints at Stage 2 have different time limits for resolution. For complaints about Children and Young People’s Service, a mandatory 25 days limit applies for investigating and responding to complaints, although an extension of up to 65 days is permitted in extenuating circumstances. It is crucial to maintain dialogue with the complainant to explain how the investigation has progressed and give a date when a full response will be provided.
Investigations of complaints under the Children Act 1989 require the appointment of an Independent Investigator as well as an Independent Person and their involvement in the consideration of the complaint.
The Review Panel must be held within 30 working days of the receipt of a request for a Review. The Local Authority should acknowledge the complainant’s request for a Review in writing within 2 days of receiving it. The Panel Review should be provided locally and with due regard to the complainant’s availability and convenience. The complainant should be notified of the Panel’s date and location in writing at least 10 working days before the Review Panel meets and be invited to attend.
The Local Authority must send its response to the Panel’s recommendations to the complainant (and other participants as necessary) within 15 days of receiving the Panel’s report. The response should be developed by the relevant manager of Children and Young People’s Service setting out how the Local Authority will respond to the recommendations and what action will be taken. If the manager deviates from the Panel’s recommendations he should demonstrate his reasoning in the response. In developing his response he should invite comment from all the attendees including the Independent Person from Stage 2.
APPENDIX 2 - Overview of ‘Complainant’
The table in appendix 2 shows a detailed breakdown of the Complainant for each Branch in Children and Young People’s Service detailing who made a complaint.
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICE TABLE
| Complainant | Children and Young People’s Service |
| Carer | 4 |
| Client | 24 |
| Educational Professional | 1 |
| Other | 2 |
| Parent | 26 |
| Relative(Non Parent) | 9 |
| Staff Member | 1 |
| Total | 67 |
Below is a pie chart representing ‘the Complainant’
/20071120/Agenda/Image 5.gif)
It can be seen that the majority of Complaints are made by Clients, Relatives or Parents. This holds true for all Branches.
APPENDIX 3 - Complaints Received Stage 1 and Stage 2 Complaints
The following table illustrates the number of Stage 1 and Stage 2 Complaints recorded as received by Children and Young People’s Service during the period 1st April 2006 to 31st March 2007.
| Complaints Received | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Totals |
| Children's Services | 66 | 1 | 67 |
Stage 3 Complaints
During the period 1st April 2006 to 31st March 2007 there were 0 Stage 3 Complaints received by Children and Young People’s Service. APPENDIX 4 - Specific causes for Complaints received by Children and Young People’s Service
| Classification Description | Care Management | Equipment/ Adaptations | General Social Work | Nursing/ Residential Care | Provision | Not Recorded | Total |
| Conduct Or Attitude Of Staff | 1 | 1 | 15 | 1 | | | 18 |
| Lack Of A Service - Other | | | 11 | | | | 11 |
| Lack Of Service - Communications/Information | | | 3 | | | | 3 |
| Lack Of Service - Contact/Visits | | | 1 | | | | 1 |
| Other | | | 11 | 1 | | 1 | 13 |
| Provision Of Service | | | 8 | | | | 8 |
| Provision Of Service - Placement Provision | | | 1 | | | | 1 |
| Quality Of Service - Other | | | 5 | | | | 5 |
| Quality Of Service - Privacy | | | 1 | | | | 1 |
| Not Recorded | | | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 |
| Total | 1 | 1 | 61 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 69 |
Any comments or queries about this report can be made to: -
Ann Hammett
Complaints Officer
Children and Young People’s Service
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UG
Telephone: 0191 383 3981
e-mail: ann.hammett@durham.gov.uk