DPR 1518 Barnet Council Complaints Policy

8/3/2019 DPR 1518 Barnet Council Complaints Policy

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DELEGATED POWERS REPORT NO.

SUBJECT: A formalised Corporate Complaints Policy and an Unreasonably PersistentComplainant Policy

Control sheet

All of the following actions MUST be completed at each stage of the process andthe signed and dated report MUST be passed to Governance Service for publishing

All reports

1. Governance Services receive draft report Name of GSO Governance Officer

Date 7/12/2011

2. Governance Services cleared draft report asbeing constitutionally appropriate

Name of GSO 7/12/2011

Date

3. Finance clearance obtained (report author to complete)

Name of Fin. officer Assistant Director ofStrategic Finance

Date 14/12/20114. Staff and other resources issues clearance

obtained (report author to complete) Name of Res. officer Head of Strategic HR

Date 09/12/2011

5. Trade Union response received (Staffingissues only)

Name of TU rep. Trade UnionRepresentative

Date 12/12/2011

6. Legal clearance obtained from (report author to complete)

Name of Legal officer Assistant Director Legal

Date 09/12/2011

7. Policy & Partnerships clearance obtained(report author to complete)

Name of P&P officer Strategic Policy Advisor

Date 09/12/2011

8. Equalities & Diversity clearance obtained(report author to complete)

Name of officer Strategic Policy Advisor

Date 08/12/2011

9. The above process has been checked andverified by Director, Head of Service or Deputy(report author to complete)

Name Assistant Chief Executive

Date 15/12/2011

10. Signed & dated report, scanned or hard copyreceived by Governance Services forpublishing

Name of GSO Paul Frost

Date 15/12/2011

11. Report published by Governance Services towebsite Name of GSO Paul FrostDate 15/12/2011

Officer reports: 12. Head of Service informed report is published

and can be implemented.Name of GSO N/ADate

Cabinet Member reports: 13. Expiry of call-in period Date N/A14. Report circulated for call-in purposes to

BMOSC members & copied to Cabinet & Headof Service

Name of GSO N/ADate

1518





1. RELEVANT PREVIOUS DECISIONS

1.1 None

2. CORPORATE PRIORITIES AND POLICY CONSIDERATIONS

2.1 There is currently no Corporate Complaints Policy or Unreasonably PersistentComplainant Policy in operation in the council. These policies are aligned with theCorporate Plan 2011-2013 for the Council to become a Customer Centric Council.This is also aligned with the People Values - be human, be collaborative, valuediversity and be trustworthy.

3. RISK MANAGEMENT ISSUES

3.1 I do consider the issues involved are likely to raise significant levels of publicconcern or give rise to policy considerations. Not adopting these policies could leadto significant risk to reputation as there is no formalised process.

4. EQUALITIES AND DIVERSITIES ISSUES

4.1 Have been included in the policy documents in appendix 1 and 2.

5. FINANCIAL, STAFFING, ICT AND PROPERTY IMPLICATIONS

5.1 None. The Complaints Links Officers are already in post.

6. LEGAL ISSUES

6.1 The adoption of a complaints policy will reduce the likelihood of a successfulchallenge by way of Judicial Review by dissatisfied complaints into the complaintinvestigation and resolution process. All dealings with complainants must complywith the council’s equality duties.

7. CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS

7.1 Constitution, Part 3, Responsibilities for Functions, paragraph 6.1 states that Chief Officerscan take decisions concerned where it is in respect of operational matters within the ChiefOfficers sphere of managerial or professional responsibility and is not significant in terms ofbudget or policy

8. BACKGROUND INFORMATION

8.1 There is currently no standard process for complaints handling and administrationacross the council. These policy documents were written to formalise the process andintroduce a consistent approach to complaints handling.

9. LIST OF BACKGROUND PAPERS

9.1 The Corporate Complaints Policy and the Unreasonably Persistent ComplainantPolicy have been attached to this document as appendix 1 and 2.

10. OFFICER’S DECISION





DATA PROTECTION 11

Appendix 1

Corporate Complaints Policy London Borough of Barnet



Corporate Complaints Policy

Document Control

DocumentDescription


Version 001

Date Created 30 November 2011

Status Agreed

DocumentOwner

Jody Nason Lauren Doody

DocumentClassification:

Authorisation Name Signature Date

Prepared By: Jody Nason

Checked By

Version Control

Versionnumber

Date Author Reason for New Version

V001 30November2011

J Nason First draft




Date last reviewed: [ 5 December 2011 ]

Date of next review: [ June 2012 ]




Contents

1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 2 Purpose and Scope .......................................................................................... 1 3 Responsibilities ................................................................................................. 1 4 What is a complaint? ........................................................................................ 1 5 Who can complain? .......................................................................................... 1 6 How can a complaint be made? ....................................................................... 2 7 Timeline ............................................................................................................ 2 8 Is there a deadline for making a complaint? ..................................................... 4 9 What complaints fall outside of the Council’s responsibility? ............................ 4 10 Unreasonably Persistent Complaints ................................................................ 5

11 Anonymous Complaints .................................................................................... 5 12 Complaints about social care ............................................................................ 5 13 Complaints about Councillors ........................................................................... 5 14 Complaints about schools ................................................................................ 5 15 Freedom of Information, Environmental Impact Assessments, EnvironmentalInformation Regulations, Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations ................ 6 16 Complaints about Barnet Homes ...................................................................... 6 17 Complaints about staff ...................................................................................... 6 18 Complaints spanning more than one area ........................................................ 6 19 Whistleblowing .................................................................................................. 6 20 Complaints involving other agencies ................................................................ 6

21 Enquiries by Members of Parliament and councillors ....................................... 6 22 Petitions ............................................................................................................ 7 23 Environmental Health ....................................................................................... 7 24 Putting things right ............................................................................................ 7 25 Learning from complaints ................................................................................. 8 26 Performance management ............................................................................... 8 27 Confidentiality ................................................................................................... 8 28 Retention of complaint documents ................................................................... 8 29 Equality and diversity ........................................................................................ 9 30 Associated Policies / Legislation ....................................................................... 9 31 Review Policy ................................................................................................... 9 32 Contact Information/ Further Guidance ............................................................ 9




C:\Documents and Settings\paul.frost\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\RB637VPK\appendix 1 (3).doc

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1 IntroductionThe London Borough of Barnet recognises the importance of complaints andwelcomes them as a valuable form of feedback about our services and thoseprovided by third party providers.

2 Purpose and ScopeA complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction of our services, whether justified ornot. The Council recognises the importance of customer complaints and welcomesthem as a valuable form of feedback about our services. We will use the informationgained from complaints to help improve the quality of the services we provide andour relations with our customers.

3 ResponsibilitiesThe Council will deal with complaints impartially, objectively and professionally. We

will treat complainants with respect, as we ourselves would like to be treated.Complainants and their families will not receive adverse treatment because theyhave made a complaint.

4 What is a complaint?A corporate complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction of our services, whether

justified or not.

There are separate processes for Statutory Complaints in the Children’s Service andalso Adult Social Care and Health.

Who can complain?

Anyone who uses or is affected by our services can make a complaint. Thisincludes

residents

people who work in or visit the borough

local businesses

community groups

Some people need help to make a complaint, and so we accept complaints made ontheir behalf, provided that the person affected has given their consent. Socomplaints could be made by a concerned relative or carer, a councillor or Memberof Parliament, a solicitor or other advocate, or an advice agency.





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In cases involving children or vulnerable people, if it seems that the person mayunable to give their consent, we will need to make a judgement as to whether it isappropriate to accept the complaint from their representative.

Councillors can use the complaints procedure in their capacity as citizens andservice users – for example, they could complain as any other tenant about thefailure to do repairs to their Council house, or about delay in dealing with theirapplication for Housing Benefit. But the complaints procedure is not appropriate forcomplaints which arise from their role as Members of the Council.

Similarly, members of staff may use the complaints procedure about mattersaffecting them or their family directly, such as delay in completing the assessment oftheir child’s special educational needs, or a planning matter which affects thempersonally.

How can a complaint be made?

A complaint can be made in person, over the telephone, via an e-form, fax or bystandard letter.

Whilst we accept complaints through all of these different methods, we encouragecomplainants to provide a written explanation so that we have a clear record toassist with our enquiries.

The Council is committed to ensuring that the services we provide are relevant andaccessible to all sections of our community.

If customers have particular needs we should to do our best to meet them to make iteasier for them to use the complaints procedure

5 TimelineWe will acknowledge a complaint within two working days of receiving it. Thisacknowledgement will include full contact details of the Officer who will beinvestigating the complaint.

The Council has a three stage Complaint Policy in place. We encourage resolution at

the earliest stage possible.

We encourage customers to approach service managers initially about theirconcerns and our aim is to resolve matters informally if at all possible. Similarly,customer service officers in the First Contact Team are also encouraged to resolvecustomers’ problems wherever possible. If a resolution is not possible, then thecomplaint should be directed to the First Contact team who will log the complaint andpass it to the Departmental Complaints Officer for investigation under stage one ofour corporate complaints policy.

At stage one:





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Complainant is routed through First Contact Team who will log the complaint andsend it directly to the Departmental Complaints Officer. The complaint isacknowledged within 2 working days of receiving the complaint.

The Departmental Complaints Officer will liaise with a Service Manager to resolvethe complaint and to respond to it within 10 working days of receipt of the complaint.The response will be coordinated by the Departmental Complaints Officer.

At stage two:

If the complainant is unhappy with the resolution provided at stage one thecomplainant should contact the Departmental Complaints Officer directly. At thisstage, the complaint will be considered at stage two. The complaint is acknowledgedwithin 2 working days of receiving the complaint.

The Departmental Complaints Officer will liaise with a relevant Head of Service toresolve and respond to the complaint within 20 working days of receipt of thecomplaint. The response will be coordinated by the Departmental Complaints Officer.

The Council reserves the right to turn down a request for a Stage two investigation.This might be because:

The complainant has not provided any new evidence to support their view.

The points raised by the Complainant have already been considered in the previousinvestigation.

The points raised by the Complainant would not lead to a change in the outcome ofthe original investigation.

At stage three:

If the complainant is unhappy with the resolution provided at stage two thecomplainant should contact the Corporate Customer Complaints Officer directly. Atthis stage, the complaint will be considered at stage 3. The complaint isacknowledged within 2 working days of receiving the complaint.

The Corporate Customer Complaints Officer will liaise with the relevant ServiceDirector to investigate and to obtain documentation and relevant evidence. Theresolution and response will be agreed by the Chief Executive and will be sent within20 working days of receipt of the complaint. The response will be coordinated by theCorporate Customer Complaints Officer with oversight from the Chief Executive.

Ombudsman

Complainant contacts the Ombudsman requesting a review of Council’s decision.The Local Government Ombudsman looks at complaints about councils and someother authorities in a fair and independent way and is a free service. The





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Ombudsman liaises with Corporate Customer Complaints Officer to obtain relevantbackground information. The Corporate Customer Complaints Officer will alsoensure that the Ombudsman’s decision is communicated across the council and,where appropriate, will arrange for an apology or for the payment of compensation.

6 Is there a deadline for making a complaint?We encourage complainants to make a complaint as soon as possible after theincident because it is easier to collate relevant documentation at the time. Werequest that you contact us within 12 months of the incident.

However, each case will need to be decided on its merits, and discretion may needto exercised if, for example, it is a serious matter, or the person has just found outthat that they have been affected by something that happened or was decided somewhile back, or illness other personal circumstances have prevented them

complaining earlier. The Corporate Customer Complaints Officer should beconsulted before coming to a final view to exclude a complaint on these grounds.

7 What complaints fall outside of the Council’sresponsibility?

Certain types of complaint will not be dealt with through the Council’s complaintsprocedure because there are other processes more suitable for dealing with them, orbecause they are outside the Council’s control. These include

Matters of law or central government policyComplaints from staff about personnel matters, including appointments,dismissals, pay, pensions and discipline. These are dealt with under theCouncil’s personnel procedures.Complaints where the customer or the Council has started legalproceedings, but not just because the customer has threatened legalproceedings against the Council. Indeed a good complaint response canavoid the need for protracted and expensive legal proceedings and can domuch to protect the Council’s interests in the event of a later claimComplaints that have already been decided by a court or independenttribunal should not be accepted, but complaints about the implementation ofa court or tribunal’s decision should be investigated, for example therecovery of Council Tax after a Liability Order has been obtainedServices for which there are alternative statutory appeal or tribunalprocesses, including

Appeals against the refusal of planning permissionAppeals against statutory NoticesParking appealsSchool admission or exclusion appealsSpecial Educational Needs TribunalsHousing Benefit appealsHousing AppealsReviews/appeals against the Fairer Contribution Policy





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But complaints about the way that the appeal was handled, for example a delay inpreparing the Council’s submission to the Housing Benefit Appeals Service, shouldbe dealt with under the Council’s complaints procedure.

If there is any doubt about whether the complaint should be accepted, the customershould be advised to send it in. If it is decided not to accept the complaint, thecustomer should be told why and, if possible, an alternative route should besuggested.

8 Unreasonably Persistent ComplaintsWe may, at any stage of the complaints policy, review a complaint and give adecision, without a formal investigation, where a Senior Officer or the CorporateCustomer Complaint Officer considers it to be deliberately repetitious or vexatious.

Separate guidance for this can be found in our Unreasonably PersistentComplainants Policy.

9 Anonymous ComplaintsAnonymous complaints will be dealt with on a case by case basis because theymight highlight areas for investigation by the Corporate Anti Fraud Team under thewhistleblowing policy. A separate policy can be found atwww.barnet.gov.uk/whistleblowing

12 Complaints about social careComplainants who receive or use a service from Children’s Social Care will be dealtwith under separate guidelines. These can be found in appendix 1 .

These complaints are dealt with under the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 orChildren Act 1989 complaint procedures.

13 Complaints about CouncillorsComplaints about councillors’ conduct are not generally dealt with under theCouncil’s complaints procedure but should be made to the Standards Board for

England. However complaints about a councillor’s actions in some situations shouldbe considered under the Council’s complaints procedure, for example a Chair’smanagement of a Committee meeting and his or her application of standing orders.Advice should be sought from the Council’s corporate complaints team and LegalServices if there is any doubt about the appropriate route.

14 Complaints about schoolsSchools have their own complaint procedures. Complaints about a school or amember of the school staff should be made to the Head Teacher and then theschool’s governing body.





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15 Freedom of Information, Environmental ImpactAssessments, Environmental Information Regulations, Re-use of Public Sector Information RegulationsFreedom of Information (FoI), Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) will not bedealt with under the Council’s Corporate Complaints Policy. There is a separatereview, appeal and complaint route, which leads to the Information Commissioner ifthe complaint is not resolved satisfactorily internally.

16 Complaints about Barnet HomesBarnet Homes is the Council’s Arms Length Management Organisation isresponsible for managing the Council’s housing stock. Barnet Homes has its owncomplaints procedure which mirrors the Council’s. Complaints at stages 1 and 2 aredealt with by BH’s Complaints Officers. Stage 3 complaints are heard by an

independent panel of residents and board directors which is held monthly.

17 Complaints about staffThe Council takes complaints about staff very seriously. Complaints about staffshould be made directly to the Council, where the complaint concerns an agencyworker then the Council will coordinate any investigation with the relevantrecruitment agency .

18 Complaints spanning more than one areaSometimes complaints concern two or more service areas or departments. Thecouncil will provide one coordinated response.

19 WhistleblowingThere is separate guidance in place for whistleblowing, seewww.barnet.gov.uk/whistleblowing for further information.

20 Complaints involving other agenciesThe Council works closely with other agencies and in some cases, have

commissioned other organisations to provide services on its behalf. Complaintsabout these other agencies should be made directly to the Council. We will liaisewith the agency in question to ensure that your complaint is investigated fully andrecorded on our system.

21 Enquiries by Members of Parliament and councillorsThe complaints policy is intended for to allow those who are dissatisfied with ourservice to tell us in order for us to rectify mistakes and prevent them from happeningagain. Councillors and MPs may bring a formal complaint by acting as theirconstituent’s advocate.





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22 PetitionsPetitions can be received at Council meetings. Please see the Council’s PublicParticipation Rules for further information.

23 Environmental HealthSome services deal with matters that the customer might consider to be a complaint,but which are routine everyday business for their department. Examples may includecomplaints about noisy neighbours, barking dogs, dumped rubbish, bonfires, blockeddrains, abandoned cars, rogue traders, dirty restaurants or food poisoning. Theseinitial and even subsequent complaints are deemed to be service requests andalthough the customer may say they wish to 'complain' about e.g. a noise, theyshould not be dealt with as a formal complaint, but should be referred to and dealtwith by the department in the usual way and within the departments own targetresponse time for the particular issue. However, if a customer wishes to complainabout how their initial or follow up service request was dealt with or perhaps not dealtwith, then this would fall under the complaints procedure.

More information about the Environmental Health Team can be found athttp://www.barnet.gov.uk/index/environment-planning.htm .

24 Putting things right

When the Council is at fault, we need to put things right by acknowledging ourmistakes and apologising for them, explaining why things went wrong and what theCouncil will do to prevent the same mistake happening again. This should happen atthe earliest possible point in the process.

So far as possible, we will put the customer back in the position they would havebeen if there had been no fault. Sometimes it is not possible to do this, and, in suchcases compensation may be appropriate.

In other cases a remedy could include

taking some specific action such as mending a leaking roof, backdating are-housing application, assessing paying Housing Benefit, or reconsidering adecision

paying some compensation. Money is not the only, or the best, remedy inevery case but the Council will pay compensation if people are out of pocketbecause of our mistakes, or if they have been caused undue hardship,inconvenience or distress. We follow the guidelines issued by the LocalGovernment Ombudsman in deciding the appropriate amount ofcompensation. These can be found on the Ombudsman’s website athttp://www.lgo.org.uk/publications/guidance-notes/ under the title ‘Remedies’.





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Where the customer owes money to the Council, for example rent or CouncilTax arrears, any compensation will normally be offset against those arrears.But this will not normally apply where there is a legitimate dispute about thedebt (for example, if there is a Housing Benefit claim pending), or if thecompensation is for a specific purpose, such as replacing damaged

possessions.

25 Learning from complaintsThe Council is committed to learning the lessons of complaints and using them toimprove services.

Where a complaint highlights the need for a working practice, procedure or policy tobe introduced or an existing one revised the departmental complaint officer mustmake sure that necessary actions to bring about the change are carried out.

The Council’s Corporate Complaints Officer holds regular meetings with seniormanagers in service areas to review the lessons arising from Stages 2 and 3 andLocal Government Ombudsman complaints.

Regular surveys of customers who have made complaints should be undertaken andthe feedback used to help improve both service delivery and the complaintsprocedure .

26 Performance managementAll complaints must be accurately recorded on the Council’s database. DepartmentalComplaints Officers are responsible for adhering to the Council’s ComplaintsStandards.

The Corporate Customer Complaints Officer will report quarterly to the CorporateDirectors Group. This report will identify any trends in the complaints data and on theperformance of the Council’s Complaints Procedure. The quarterly report will includecomplaints which highlight areas of in which the Council can learn from complaintsand improve our service delivery.

27 ConfidentialityAll complaints will be dealt with in accordance with the requirements of the DataProtection Act 1998 and Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The identity of the person making a complaint will be made known only to those whoneed to know in order to consider the complaint, and will not be made public by theCouncil.

28 Retention of complaint documentsRetention of complaint documents will adhere to the Council’s Data Retention Policy.





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29 Equality and diversity

The Equality Act 2010 places a duty on Barnet Council to have due regard to the

need to:(a) eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct

prohibited by the Act(b) Advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected

characteristic and those who do not share them(c) Foster good relations between persons who share a protected characteristic

and those persons who do not share them

We have sought to do this through our Equalities Policy which defines our

commitments and values and seeks to ensure that fairness and transparency arekey elements of this policy

30 Associated Policies / Legislation

Policy/Legislation

Records Management Policy

Equalities Policy

Unreasonably PersistentComplainants Policy

31 Review Policy

This policy will be reviewed and updated when we receive best practise guidelines and updates fromthe Local Government Ombudsman.

32 Contact Information/ Further Guidance





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Further advice and guidance is available from Jody Nason

Address: London Borough of Barnet

Building 4

North London Business Park

Oakleigh Road South

London NW 11 1NP

Tel No: (020) 8359 7540

E-mail: [email protected]



DATA PROTECTION 11

Appendix 2

Unreasonably Persistent Complainants London Borough of Barnet



Unreasonably Persistent Complainant Policy]

C:\Documents and Settings\paul.frost\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Outlook\RB637VPK\appendix 2.doc

Document Control

DocumentDescription

Unreasonably Persistent Complaints Policy

Version 1

Date Created 5 December 2011

Status Draft / Final / Approved by [ ]

DocumentOwner

Jody Nason Lauren Doody

DocumentClassification:

Authorisation Name Signature Date

Prepared By: Jody Nason

Checked By

Version Control

Versionnumber

Date Author Reason for New Version

Date last reviewed: [ 5 December 2011 ]





Date of next review: [ June 2012 ]





Contents

1 Introduction ....................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 2 Invoking this policy ........................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 3 New complaints from complainants who have had contact reduced under the

Unreasonably Persistent Complaints Policy ..... Error! Bookmark not defined. 4 Review .............................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined. 5 Record Keeping ................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined. 6 Associated Policies/Legislation ......................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 7 Review of Policy ............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 8 Contact Information/ Further Guidance ............ Error! Bookmark not defined.





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1. Introduction

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction of our services, whether justified ornot. The Council recognises the importance of customer complaints and welcomesthem as a valuable form of feedback about our services. We will use the informationgained from complaints to help improve the quality of the services we provide andour relations with our customers.

The Council will deal with complaints impartially, objectively and professionally. Wewill treat complainants with respect, as we ourselves would like to be treated.Complainants and their families will not receive adverse treatment because theyhave made a complaint.

However, in some circumstances it is necessary to restrict contact between theCouncil and Complainants. We do not expect staff to tolerate unacceptablebehaviour including behaviour which is abusive, offensive or threatening. In thesecircumstances, we will take action to protect our staff; this is what is outlined in thispolicy.

Raising legitimate queries or criticisms are not usually regarded as unreasonablypersistent. Also, if a complainant is unhappy with the outcome and seeks tochallenge it, this will not result in him or her being labelled as unreasonablypersistent.

2. Invoking this policy

Where a complainant displays unreasonably persistent behaviour our UnreasonablyPersistent Complaints Policy will be invoked.

In the first instance, we will ensure that the complaint has been dealt with effectivelyin accordance with the council’s Corporate Complaints Policy.

When we are satisfied that the complaint has been resolved and that thecomplainant is displaying unreasonable behaviour the Head of Service will contactthe complainant with an official warning. In this warning, the Head of Service willexplain why the complainant’s behaviour is classed as unreasonably persistent, andwill ask the complainant to change their behaviour.

If the complainant does not alter his or her behaviour, the Head of CustomerServices will write to the complainant to explain which measures have been put inplace to restrict the complainants contact with the council and for how long thesemeasures will be in place. In most cases restrictions will be in place for between 3-6months and subject to a review after this point.

These restrictions could include:





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Banning the complainant from making contact by telephone except through a thirdparty.

Banning the complainant from sending emails to individual and/or all council officersand insisting they only correspond by letter.

Banning the complainant from accessing any council building except by appointment

Requiring contact to take place with one named member of staff only

Restricting telephone calls to specified days / times / duration

Requiring any personal contact to take place in the presence of an appropriatewitness

Letting the complainant know that we will not reply to or acknowledge any further

contact from them on the specific topic of that complaint (in this case, a designatedmember of staff should be identified who will read future correspondence)

Where the decision has been made to restrict contact with complainants, we willexplain:

Why we have taken the action

What action we are taking

The duration of this action

The review process of this policy

The right of the complainant to contact the Local Government Ombudsman torequest that this decision is overturned.

Should the unreasonably persistent complainant continue to behave in a way whichis unacceptable, the council reserves the right to refuse to correspond with thecomplainant.

The council reserve the right to contact the Police in circumstances in whichbehaviour towards staff in a way which threatens their welfare and safety.

3. New complaints from complainants who have had contact reduced underthe Unreasonably Persistent Complaints Policy

New complaints from complainants who have had contact reduced under theUnreasonably Persistent Complaints Policy will be considered by the Head ofCustomer Services on its own merits.





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4. Review

Any restrictions on contact between complainants and the council will be reviewedon a regular basis depending on the time length of restriction imposed, usually afterthree months.

The complainant will be informed of the review and of the outcome.

5. Record Keeping

A record will be kept of all unreasonably persistent complainants. This will include:what decision was made, when the decision was made and why the decision wasmade.

These records will be retained in accordance with the Council’s Record RetentionPolicy

6. Associated Policies / Legislation

Policy/Legislation


Statutory Complaints Policy(Adults and Childrens)

7. Review Policy

This policy will be reviewed following the receipt of best practice guidelines from theLocal Government Ombudsman

8. Contact Information/ Further GuidanceFurther advice and guidance is available from Jody Nason

Address: London Borough of Barnet

Building 4

North London Business Park

Oakleigh Road South

London NW 11 1NP





Tel No: (020) 8359 7540

E-mail: [email protected]