LGSS Customer Feedback Procedure: Comments, Compliments and Complaints

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1 LGSS Customer Feedback Procedure: Comments, Compliments and Complaints 1 Responsible Owner: Pam Whitehouse, Customer Engagement and Service Improvement Manager Senior Responsible Owner: Claire Townrow, Head of Customer Engagement, Business Development & Change

2 LGSS Law Feedback Procedure If your feedback relates to LGSS Law please contact: How to give your feedback to LGSS Customer feedback can be reported to LGSS via the following channels: Complete our simple online form us : LGSS-Feedback@LGSS.co.uk Write to us : LGSS Customer Feedback E1 Floor 2 One Angel Square 4 Angel Street Northampton NN1 1ED LGSS Customer Feedback Feedback is important to the development and improvement of our services. Without feedback we are unaware of where areas of excellence are, or where we need to focus our attention. This procedure covers all types of feedback whether that be a compliment, comment or complaint about our services or our staff. 2 We want to ensure that you are aware of the steps we will follow upon receipt of any type of feedback via the formal feedback channels. Examples of feedback A comment: is something you would like the Service Manager to be mindful of in the future when considering improvements. This could be feedback about our staff, policies, procedures or the service you have received whether it was good, bad or indifferent. It could be about our website content or maybe you would like to suggest an improvement to a process you have used. A compliment: Whilst we love to receive thanks for the work we do, a compliment is more than a thank you. You may have experienced a procedure that was easy to use, a system that worked well for you or a team member may have gone above and beyond to help you. We would love to hear about it and will share your compliment with the person or team involved. A complaint: Is when the level of service you have received falls below standard or outside of our service levels. It may be that you feel the action we have taken is not adequate/appropriate or that the time we have taken to respond is not acceptable. It is any expression of dissatisfaction about our services, staff or policies.

3 What happens next? Our aim is to put things right if they go wrong as quickly as possible and take forward lessons learnt. Recording your compliment The person receiving your compliment will record it centrally. It will then be passed to the relevant LGSS Head of Service and LGSS Director within 2 working days. All compliments are shared with the team or individual concerned. If you feel our employee/s have gone above and beyond their role to support you, you can nominate them for an Employee Recognition Award. Our Employee Recognition Awards are assessed by the LGSS Management Board and presented to winners on quarterly basis. You can make a nomination by completing this online form. Recording your comment The person receiving your comment will record it and send it to the relevant service manager. Where you have requested a response we will send you an acknowledgement and provide you with the contact details of the Service Manager within two working days of receiving your . Please expect a response from the Service Manager within 10 working days. All comments are assessed to ascertain how we can improve our service to you. Where improvements are identified, they will be added to the corporate service improvement plan and monitored through to completion. 3 Submitting a complaint It is important to note that there is a 3 month time limit, from when an issue occurred, for making a complaint. However, the time limit may be extended if it is still possible to consider the complaint effectively and efficiently or if there are other circumstances which may enable resolution of the complaint. The LGSS Head of Service will take the following factors into consideration when deciding if a complaint should be accepted outside of the 3 month time limit: Is it a genuine issue of vulnerability? If an investigation were to be conducted, what would be the benefit to the customer and what could we as an organisation learn from it? Is there likely to be sufficient access to information or individuals involved at the time the problem occurred to enable an effective and fair investigation to be carried out? Other special factors

4 Any complaints made to LGSS will be investigated objectively, and thoroughly in a positive problem-solving manner. Stages of Complaint Resolution We define our complaints process in four stages. As a customer providing feedback you must complete the process in order and cannot skip stages. Stage 0 Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Local resolution with the individual or team you are dealing with. Informal resolution with the manager of the person or team you are dealing with. Formal resolution with the Service Manager of the person or team you are dealing with. Final response from the Head of Service Complaints handled at Stages 0 and 1 will be recorded and managed locally by the team/service your complaint relates to. Once your feel your complaint requires intervention at stage 2 the following steps should be followed: 4 Forward any correspondence about the complaint to LGSS-Feedback@LGSS.co.uk with a brief introduction explaining the need for support at stage 2. Your correspondence should show your attempts to resolve the matter at stages 0 & 1. Recording your complaint: the person receiving your complaint will record it. You will receive an automated receipt within 4 hours to let you know your feedback has been received. Acknowledging your complaint: whenever possible your complaint will be dealt with at the first point of contact. If this is not possible your complaint will be acknowledged within 2 working days in writing and you will be given the details of the Service Manager investigating your case. Responding to your complaint: Our aim is to give you a full response within 10 working days from the date of receipt. If for any reason we cannot do this the Service Manager will let you know why and when you can expect to receive a response. In any event the Service Manager will keep you informed and will endeavour to respond within a maximum of 20 working days unless deemed a complex complaint.

5 Complex Complaints: Some complaints may involve several LGSS services or members of staff or, the complaint may implicate a whole service. In such instances we will identify an appropriate Service Manager to investigate your complaint. We will provide you with their contact details. The Service Manager will confirm the nature and details of your complaint. They will also confirm the outcome you are seeking either over the telephone, in writing or if deemed appropriate, in person. Once you have agreed your complaint with the Service Manager we will aim to complete the investigation and respond within 25 working days. If this is not possible we will advise when you can expect a response and ensure lines of communication between you and the Service Manager remain open. You may be offered the opportunity to meet with a Senior Manager to discuss the outcome of your complaint if we feel it will be conducive to the resolution. Room for error: if we have made a mistake we will apologise and try to put things right. We will explain what actions we intend to take to remedy the immediate situation and prevent any further incidents Where no fault is found: There are occasions where we find due procedure has been followed and all necessary measures have been taken however, the outcome may not be deemed favourable by you. In these cases, we will be clear about what has happened and explain the steps taken. 5 How will we put things right? If we have made a mistake we will apologise and tell you what action we will take to ensure the same situation does not arise again. The apology will be given by the Manager on behalf of the relevant service. All Services report on any changes and improvements to their area as a result of customer feedback and this is reported back to customer organisations on a quarterly basis. Your right to respond: on receipt of a response you have up to 10 working days in which to respond to the Service Manager. If you are not satisfied with the response, you can request that the Service Manager submits the case to the LGSS Head of Service or LGSS Director for further review. If the matter cannot be resolved by the LGSS Head of Service working collaboratively with both you and the Service Manager, the case will be escalated for a final review by the LGSS Head of Service. If the complaint relates to the Head of Service in any way, we will refer to the relevant LGSS Director. The outcome of this review will be final.

6 Evaluation and Monitoring We will ensure that records are kept of the nature and treatment of each compliment, comment and complaint considered under this procedure. Particular attention will be paid to the lessons learnt, nature of complaints and trends, the timeliness of responses and resolutions. LGSS report formally on comments and compliments and all complaints managed at stages 2 and 3 along with associated service improvements to: Monthly Quarterly Bi-Annually Annually LGSS Directorate Management Teams LGSS Management Board Customer Performance Reviews Customer Performance Reviews Customer Performance Reviews LGSS Management Board Joint Committee Scrutiny Committee 6 Reviewing the Feedback Procedure LGSS will review the Customer Feedback Procedure annually using any feedback received from our customers and will make changes as appropriate. If you have any questions about this procedure, you can contact us at LGSS- Feedback@LGSS.co.uk and we will respond within 2 working days.