Training for refuse staff after complaints
SOME refuse staff will be given further customer care training after more than 100 complaints about amenity services were received by Crawley Borough Council.
Between April and June, 108 complaints were made by customers, compared to 91 between January and March. During the same period, some 1,430 rubbish bins were not collected, compared to 1,275 in the previous quarter.
A report which went before the council’s performance monitoring scrutiny panel on Tuesday (September 18) stated that Chris Harris, head of amenity services was so concerned by the jump in figures that he met with representatives at contractor Veolia to discuss the issue.
It stated: “The head of amenity services is concerned at this increase and has discussed this at length with our contractor Veolia.
“They have agreed to undertake further bespoke customer care training with all staff, using past high level complaints as case studies.
“Senior managers from the council will take part in delivering this training to emphasise the council’s requirements in terms of excellent customer care.”
Over all, complaints received by the council between April and June have increased by more than 25 per cent compared to the same period last year.
Of the 216 registered, 34 were classed as serious and three were referred to the Ombudsman, though all were discontinued as there was no reason to pursue the investigation.
After amenity services, Crawley Homes received the most complaints with 45 about issues such as housing maintenance and management, anti-social behaviour management, sheltered housing and leasehold services.
A review of 40 complainants was carried out and almost half – 43 per cent - were unhappy with the outcome of their complaint while more than one third – 35 per cent – were dissatisfied with the entire complaints process.
On the flip side of the coin, 80 compliments were recorded and increase of 6 on the previous quarter.
A council spokesman said: “We would like to see a greater level of satisfaction and to that end we monitor the nature of complaints and the effective use of the procedure.
“The report shows a trend over the last couple of years of reduced numbers of complaints and an increase in the numbers of complaints being responded to within the 10 days target.
“We will continue to review this but do not have any plans to change the procedure at present.”
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Friday 24 May 2013
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