SPSO Annual Report 23 24 complete
Renfrewshire Council · 20 January 2025
Back to Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Board — 20 January 2025 and its agenda
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To: Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Board On: 20 January 2025 Report by: Director of Finance & Resources Heading: Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) Annual Report 2023/24 1 Summary 1.1 Rosemary Agnew, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) has issued the SPSO Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023-24 2023/24. This report can be found on the SPSO’s website and by clicking the link below at https://www.spso.org.uk/sites/spso/files/communications_material/annual_report/S PSO%20Annual%20Report%20and%20Financial%20Statements%202023-24.pdf. 1.2 The SPSO is the final stage for complaints about councils, the National Health Service, housing associations, colleges and universities, prisons, most water providers, the Scottish Government and its agencies and departments and most Scottish authorities. 1.3 The report advised that Public Service cases received in 2023/24 increased in comparison to 2022/23. 1.4 It was noted that the health sector was the sector about which the SPSO received most complaints, with local authority cases receiving the second highest number. 1.5 The statutory functions of the Ombudsman, together with the complaints process and a look forward to the coming year are set out within the SPSO’s report. 2 Recommendations 2.1 That the SPSO’s 2023/24 Annual Report be noted; and 2.2 That it be noted that 54 complaints were determined by the SPSO against Renfrewshire Council in 2023/24 and none went to public investigation.
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3 Background 3.1 SPSO Role and Function The SPSO has a wide remit which covers a variety of functions and services. There are four distinct statutory functions: • the final stage for complaints about most devolved public services in Scotland; • powers and responsibilities to publish complaints handling procedures and monitoring and supporting best practice in complaints handling; • independent review service for the Scottish Welfare Fund with the power to overturn and substitute decisions made by councils on Community Care and Crisis Grant applications; and • Independent National Whistleblowing Officer for the NHS in Scotland; the final stage for complaints about how the NHS considers whistleblowing concerns and the treatment of individuals concerned. 4 Complaints Overview 4.1 The report advised that case numbers received in 2023/24 increased by 33% in comparison to 2022/23. This significant increase in cases received meant that complaint numbers were now above pre-pandemic levels. While the SPSO could not attribute this rise to any specific issue, they advised it was likely the impact of several factors; pressures on public service resources, cost of living pressures, general dissatisfaction with public services (particularly delays), and a greater awareness of the SPSO as they developed and implemented their engagement and communication strategy and visibly contributed to public consultations. 4.2 Despite the substantial increase in cases received, there was only a small increase in the number of cases carried forward from the previous year, as a proportion of the total caseload for the year. This was largely as a result of increased productivity by the SPSO and a focus on continuing to plan and structure their approach to reducing unallocated and older cases. There had been a 21.5% increase in complaints output over the year and the SPSO was successful in continuing to reduce both the number of unallocated cases and the waiting time for allocation. The report also advised that they were also successful in reducing the number of older cases at assessment and investigation stages. 4.3 The report noted that nationally, in 2023/24 the SPSO received 4,686 complaints (5,735 in total when including complaints carried over from last year) compared with 3,527 complaints received in 2022/23 and 3,665 in 2021/22.
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Public Service Complaints received and carried forward 4.4 There were 4,651 cases closed in 2023/24, 201 went to investigation stage compared to 192 in 2022/23. A breakdown of Public Service complaints which were closed at assessment and after investigation is outlined in table below: 4.5 Cases closed overall rose by a 21.5% following on from a 9.7% rise in 2022/23. The significant increase in complaints output reflected the changes to their process to improve efficiency at the early stage of the SPSO’s assessment and investigation process, and the impact of the additional temporary staffing resources during 2022/23 which came to an end during 2023/24. 5 Public Service Complaints Received 5.1 The table below shows the breakdown of public service complaints by sector and remains generally consistent with previous years. Once again, health is the highest subject of complaint followed by local authorities. Nearly two-thirds of cases received were about health and local authorities.
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Cases determined by sector 5.2 Of the investigations completed in Scotland as a whole, three cases were reported in full as public investigation reports (down from seven the previous year). These were cases where the SPSO decided to publish the investigation in full because there was evidence of significant personal injustice or hardship, systemic failure, significant complaints handling failures, or it is a test/precedent case. None of these cases involved Renfrewshire Council. 5.3 Cases that are not published in full as public investigation reports are usually published as decision summaries. Public reports and decision summaries can be found in the 'Our findings' section of the SPSO website. 6 Premature Public Service Complaints Rate 6.1 A premature complaint is one that has been submitted to the SPSO before the organisation’s complaint process has been completed. Normally these are returned to complainants offering them advice on how to progress their complaint. There was a significant increase in premature public service complaints this year. The actual number of premature complaints received increased by 50.1% (918 in 2023/24 compared to 460 in 2022/23). This was due to complainants attempting to navigate the public service complaints process over a number of months and not being updated in line with the organisation’s complaints handling procedures and the SPSO statement of complaint handling. 7 Complaints in relation to Renfrewshire Council 2023/24 7.1 No complaint details for specific organisations were included in the report. However, information received separately from the SPSO, indicated that the number of complaints determined by the SPSO relative to Renfrewshire was 54 compared with 35 in 2022/23 and 43 in 2021/22. Of the 54 cases 14 reached the advice stage, 39 were completed at the early resolution stage and one was resolved at the investigation stage. A copy of the investigation report is attached as Appendix 1.
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7.2 Complaints Determined in relation to Renfrewshire Council 2023/24 7.3 7.4 8 8.1 There were 58 cases received in 2023/24 relative to Renfrewshire, the main subjects of these are as follows, with 2022/23 figures in brackets. The subjects are the SPSO’s and may not relate directly to the way Renfrewshire Council services are organised: Education 7 (5); Environmental Health & Cleansing 15 (6); Finance 6 (3); Housing 14 (7); Legal & Admin 1 (2); Other 1 (no data available); Personnel 0 (0); Planning 2 (3); Roads & Transport 2 (0); Social Work 8 (7); Subject Unknown/Out of Jurisdiction 2 (2); and Welfare Fund – Community Care Grants 0 ( 0) It should be noted that received and determined numbers do not tally as complaints received include cases carried forward from previous years. Looking Forward The SPSO has commenced the year with a new strategic plan. While their values remain the same, they have updated their strategic themes and strategic objectives. Stage Outcome Group Renfrewshire Council Advice A&G - Complaint submissions - mature 3 A&G - Complaint submissions - premature 6 A&G - Enquiries 5 Organisation not in jurisdiction 0 Total 14 Early Resolution Cause and impact test not met (s 5 (3)) 1 Discretion – Insufficient benefit would be achieved by investigation 10 Discretion – alternative action proposed 1 Discretion – Alternative route used or available 1 Discretion - Good complaint handling 19 Discretion – referred back 1 Discretion - Resolved - both parties satisfied with proposed outcome 4 Member of the public test not met (s 5 (6)) 0 Organisation not in jurisdiction 0 Premature 0 Right of appeal to court/tribunal/Scottish ministers (s 7 (8)) 1 Subject matter not in jurisdiction 0 Time limit (s 10) 0 Unable to proceed 1 Total 39 Investigation Fully upheld 0 Not duly made or withdrawn 0 Not upheld 0 Resolved 1 Some upheld 0 Total 1 Total 54
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8.2 The SPSO is continuing their journey in improving complaint handling times and the number of cases awaiting allocation. In particular, they have advised that they will continue to reduce both the age and number of unallocated public service complaints. 8.3 The report advised that, as with previous years, they had set themselves an ambitious business plan which, although ambitious, was achievable if resources and workload remained constant and as planned, although increasing public service complaint volumes were of a concern. 8.4 The report highlighted that while the SPSO would continue with agile projects to improve efficiency and find new ways of delivering their service, the risk of being unable to absorb increasing case numbers was growing. The report noted that significantly, 2024/25 would see a shift towards more rights-based approaches to complaint handling as they implemented and monitored the Child Friendly Complaints Principles and case handling approaches.
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Implications of the Report Financial – None HR & Organisational Development – None Community Planning – None Legal – None Property/Assets – None Information Technology – None Equality & Human Rights – The recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. Health & Safety – None Procurement – None Risk - None. Privacy Impact – None COSLA Policy Position Implications – None Climate Risk – None Children’s Rights - None List of Background Papers (a) Background Paper 1 - SPSO Annual Report and Financial Statements 2023- 24 2023/24. SPSO’s website https://www.spso.org.uk/sites/spso/files/communications_material/annual_re port/SPSO%20Annual%20Report%20and%20Financial%20Statements%202 023-24.pdf. (b) Background Paper 2 - Data tables for the 2023/24 annual statistics - Statistics 2023-24 | SPSO website (c) Background Paper 3 – SPSO database – Investigation Reports - Investigation Reports | SPSO (d) email from SPSO (5/12/24) detailing confidential data list for closed complaints for Renfrewshire Council for 2023/24 ___________________________________________________________________ Author: Carol MacDonald, Senior Committee Services Officer Email: carol.macdonald@renfrerwshire.gov.uk
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SPSO decision report Case: 202203947, Renfrewshire Council Sector: Local Government Subject: Kinship care Decision: resolved, no recommendations Summary C complained on behalf of their client (A), who has looked after their grandchildren since the sudden death of the children's parent (B) but never received kinship care allowance. A kinship care assessment commenced and the outcome was that A was not suitable to be approved as kinship carer. However, a Children's Hearing panel decided that both children should remain in the care of A (contrary to the recommendation of social work). A couple of years later the children's other parent (D) died (and it was stated by C that D would not have been able to look after the children prior to that). After this, C states a regular payment was given to A, albeit less than the kinship care rate. C states that the children had previously had a social worker involved and A had worked with social work regarding the care of the children, and that they had asked A to look after them following their parents (B) death. C considered that A was eligible for an allowance because the children are 'looked after' as they were cared for under a Section 25 arrangement Children (Scotland) Act 1995 and then a Compulsory Supervision Order. C refers to Regulations 36, 38 & 39 in The Looked After Children (Scotland) Regulations 2009. C was concerned about the length of time taken to commence a kinship care assessment and that this was not commenced at the point that the council asked C to look after the children. The council stated that there is a new kinship care assessment in progress. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org) page 1 / 1 APPENDIX 1