Initial assessment decisions
Of the 6134 complaints recorded on the quarterly returns, 210 (3%) do not yet have an initial assessment decision.
The split of initial assessment decisions for the other 5924 complaints is as follows:
Initial assessment decision |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
Total |
No further action |
45.2% |
54.2% |
54.9% |
52.9% |
53.4% |
48.3% |
55.4% |
49.7% |
52.2% |
Referred to another authority |
0.0% |
0.2% |
0.0% |
0.6% |
0.3% |
0.0% |
0.3% |
0.0% |
0.2% |
Other action |
16.4% |
13.2% |
10.7% |
10.1% |
13.2% |
11.4% |
11.9% |
17.0% |
12.7% |
Investigation |
35.4% |
26.2% |
28.0% |
28.9% |
28.0% |
36.7% |
23.9% |
23.2% |
28.4% |
Referred to SfE |
3.0% |
6.1% |
6.4% |
7.5% |
5.2% |
3.6% |
8.5% |
10.2% |
6.5% |
Initial assessment decisions by authority type
Unitary councils are more likely to investigate a complaint than other types of authorities. Also, county councils use other action far more often than other authority types. Metropolitan, district, and unitary councils refer the largest proportion of complaints to Standards for England.
Authority Type |
No further action |
Referred to |
Other action |
Investigation |
Referred to |
County Council |
49% |
0% |
19% |
28% |
4% |
District Council |
51% |
0% |
14% |
29% |
7% |
London Borough |
59% |
1% |
12% |
27% |
2% |
Metropolitan Council |
58% |
0% |
10% |
25% |
7% |
Unitary |
52% |
0% |
11% |
30% |
7% |
Timeliness of decisions
Our guidance recommends that it should take, on average, 20 working days from receipt of a complaint to an initial assessment decision being made.
As of 31 March 2010, 64% of initial assessment decisions during the financial year 2009/10 were made within 20 working days.
|
2008/09 |
2009/10 | ||||||||
Assessed within |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
08/09 |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
09/10 |
0 - 5 days |
4% |
5% |
6% |
3% |
5% |
6% |
4% |
4% |
6% |
5% |
6 - 10 days |
8% |
11% |
15% |
15% |
13% |
16% |
13% |
13% |
17% |
15% |
11 - 15 days |
23% |
21% |
20% |
24% |
22% |
19% |
19% |
24% |
26% |
22% |
16 - 20 days |
23% |
30% |
29% |
30% |
29% |
22% |
19% |
23% |
25% |
22% |
21 - 25 days |
15% |
10% |
14% |
10% |
12% |
15% |
13% |
16% |
10% |
14% |
26 - 30 days |
8% |
5% |
6% |
5% |
6% |
6% |
6% |
6% |
9% |
6% |
More than 30 days |
19% |
18% |
11% |
13% |
15% |
16% |
26% |
14% |
7% |
16% |
The chart below shows that 74% of initial assessments of complaints received during quarter 4 were made within 20 days. This figure is likely to fall when some of the complaints that have not yet been assessed are reported on next quarter.
Review requests
There are 1107 review requests recorded on the quarterly returns, meaning that 36% of no further action decisions are reviewed.
94% of review decisions are to take no further action
5.5% are to refer the complaint to the monitoring officer
0.5% are to refer the complaint to Standards for England.
Review timeliness
Reviews of no further action decisions must be carried out within 3 months. The table below shows that, during 2009/10, 97% of reviews have been completed within 90 calendar days (an approximation of 3 months)
|
2008/09 |
2009/10 | ||||||||
Reviewed within |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
08/09 |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
09/10 |
0 - 30 days |
51% |
28% |
39% |
24% |
32% |
42% |
40% |
50% |
38% |
43% |
31 - 60 days |
38% |
47% |
46% |
62% |
51% |
27% |
47% |
33% |
63% |
38% |
61 - 90 days |
7% |
16% |
12% |
11% |
12% |
26% |
10% |
17% |
0% |
17% |
More than 90 days |
4% |
8% |
3% |
4% |
5% |
5% |
3% |
0% |
0% |
3% |
Case information & reporting
