Decision Report 201801223

Summary

Ms C complained that the council had failed to respond to complaints about anti-social behaviour and repairs over many years. She also complained that the council had not handled her complaint reasonably.

We found that the council had failed to act on reports of disrepair over a four year period. We also found that the council's complaint investigation had not acknowledged this, or apologised for any failings. We upheld Ms C's complaints.

Recommendations

What we asked the organisation to do in this case:

• Apologise to Ms C for the failure to take action following reports of disrepair and for their failure to handle her complaint reasonably. The apology should meet thestandards set out in the SPSO guidelines on apology available atwww.spso.org.uk/leaflets-and-guidance.

What we said should change to put things right in future:

• The council should review their procedures for monitoring repair work to ensure it is monitored for completion.

In relation to complaints handling, we recommended:

• The council's complaints handling system should ensure that failings (and good practice) are identified, and that they are using the learning from complaints to inform service development and improvement (where appropriate).