A Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by Montgomeryshire Assembly Member, Russell George, has revealed that Powys County Council has failed to respond to 17 formal complaints since April 2016.
The request for information (see Notes to Editors) asked for details of how many residents had failed to receive a response to their formal complaints within the agreed timescales as set out by the council's own complaints process (20 working days) and had not even received a notification from Powys County Council that an extension was required.
Powys County Council ordinarily has 20 working days to answer complaints and if a longer period of time is needed, the local authority is supposed to write to the complainant with the reason for the delay.
Following the response to his FOI request, Mr George said:
"Powys County Council's shocking admission that it has failed to respond to 17 formal complaints in a 9 month period is a total abdication of responsibility to those residents and service users who dutifully pay their council tax and expect to have their complaint dealt with, investigated and then given a response in a timely fashion.
"20 working days should be ample time for Powys County Council to respond to all but the most complicated issues.
"Year after year, I have to write to the council to highlight the fact that hundreds of people are just not getting responses when issues are raised. Only a fraction of these make formal complaints and they are still not receiving replies.
“In one case (see attachment), a resident has waited since November to hear back from the council and is still waiting. This is not acceptable.
"I will now be asking the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales to investigate Powys County Council over these "non-responses" and its abject failure to comply with its own complaints procedures."
Leader of the Welsh Conservative Group on Powys County Council, Cllr. Aled Davies added:
"There’s just no excuse for this inefficiency and incompetence. It is hypocritical for this independent-run council to say that the local authority expects residents to pay council tax on time and react to their deadlines when they flout their own rules in ignoring correspondence from residents.
"It really doesn’t take much to have the common courtesy to inform people if there is going to be a delay, but they can’t be bothered to do even that.
"The current council leadership must urgently look at improving the way in which it operates its formal complaints process, otherwise the next administration after May's Local Government Elections will need to take much-needed action to improve communication with members of the public who are rightly frustrated and rapidly losing patience.
"Timely, open and transparent communication with the people it serves should be at the very heart of any local authority and I hope that a significant improvement is forthcoming after May 4th from fresh leadership in County Hall."
ENDS
Please find below the response to Mr George's Freedom of Information Request.
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Reference No: F2017-0048
Dear Russell George
Thank you for your request for information dated 10/01/17 concerning Complaints
This is to inform you that your request has been considered and I can provide the following response:
The Request:
How many residents of Powys, in this financial year to date (April 2016 – today) - Have not received a reply to a formal complaint within the stated time that the councils own complaint system states. (excluding when extensions have been requested and the customer is aware that the investigating officer requires more time in which to undertake the investigation)
To further clarify, they have not had a reply (beyond an acknowledgment) within the 20 days, and have not received a request asking for more time.
From 1st April 2016 to date there have been 17 late responses where a request has not been made for an extension or communication with the customer has not been made to advise of lateness.
We believe that this request is now complete and shall be closed immediately. Should any further information be requested regarding this topic, a separate request will need to be submitted.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Powys County Council.
Yours sincerely,
Information Compliance Team