POLICY ON UNREASONABLY PERSISTENT COMPLAINANTS AND UNREASONABLE COMPLAINANT BEHAVIOUR

1.  BACKGROUND

1.1 The aim of this policy is to assist officers and members in dealing with unreasonably persistent complainants and unreasonable complainant behaviour, during the course of the investigation of a complaint, or following the conclusion of a complaint.

1.2 A complainant who has been designated an unreasonably persistent complainant may make a complaint to the Ombudsman about the way in which he or she has been treated. The Ombudsman is unlikely to be critical of the Council's action if it can demonstrate that its policy has been operated properly and fairly.

2.  DEFINITION

2.1  Unreasonable and unreasonably persistent complainants are those complainants who, because of the frequency or nature of their contacts with the Council, can hinder the Council's consideration of their, or other people's complaints.

2.2  Unreasonable and unreasonably persistent complainants may have justified complaints or grievances, but are pursuing them in inappropriate ways, or they may be intent on pursuing complaints which appear to have no substance or which have already been investigated and determined.

3.  ACTIONS AND BEHAVIOURS OF UNREASONABLE AND UNREASONABLY PERSISTENT COMPLAINANTS

3.1 Examples of the types of actions / behaviours on the part of complainants which may cause this policy to be invoked. These are not exhaustive but could include one or more of the following:

• Refusing to specify the grounds for a complaint, despite offers of assistance from Council staff;

• Refusing to co-operate with the complaints investigation process while still wishing their complaint to be resolved;

• Refusing to accept that issues are not within the remit of a complaints procedure despite having been provided with information about the procedure's scope;

• Insisting on the complaint being dealt with in ways which are incompatible with the adopted complaints procedure or with good practice;

• Making what appear to be groundless complaints about the staff dealing with the complaints, and seeking to have them replaced.

• Changing the basis of the complaint as the investigation proceeds and/or denying statements he or she made at an earlier stage;

• Introducing trivial or irrelevant new information which the complainant expects to be taken into account and commented on, or raising large numbers of detailed but unimportant questions and insisting they are all fully answered;

• Electronically recording meetings and conversations without prior knowledge and consent of the other persons involved;

• Adopting a ‘scattergun’ approach: pursuing a complaint or complaints with the Council and, at the same time, with other people or bodies such as the Member of Parliament / a Councillor / the district auditor / the Standards Board / local police / solicitors / the Ombudsman;
• Making unnecessarily excessive demands on the time and resources of staff whilst a complaint is being looked into, by for example, excessive telephoning or sending emails to numerous council staff, writing lengthy complex letters every few days and expecting immediate responses;

• Submitting repeated complaints, after complaints processes have been completed, essentially about the same issues, with additions / variations which the complainant insists make these ‘new’ complaints worthy of being put through the full complaints procedure; and / or

• Refusing to accept the decision on a complaint – repeatedly arguing the point and complaining about the decision;

4. CONSIDERATIONS PRIOR TO TAKING ACTION UNDER THE POLICY

4.1  If the complaint has been concluded but the complainant is in effect refusing to take no for an answer, the Council may end communication with the complainant, and where appropriate refer the complaint to the Ombudsman.

4.2  If the complaint is ongoing there needs to be continuing contact with the complainant.

4.3  Prior to deciding whether the policy should be applied, the relevant Service Manager, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, needs to be satisfied that:

• The complaint is being or has been investigated properly;

• Any decision reached on it is the right one;

• Communications with the complainant have been adequate; and

• The complainant is not now providing any significant new information that might affect the Council’s view of the complaint.

4.4  If the relevant Service Manager, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, is satisfied on these points, he / she should decide whether further action is necessary prior to deciding to designate the complainant as unreasonable or unreasonably persistent. Examples of further action might be:

• If no meeting has taken place between the complainant and an officer / officers, and provided that the Council knows nothing about the complainant which would make this inadvisable, the complainant should be invited to a meeting with an officer of appropriate seniority, with a view to dispelling any misunderstandings and moving matters towards a solution;

• If more than one service area is being contacted by an unreasonably persistent complainant, consider (a) setting up a strategy meeting to agree a cross-service area approach; and (b) designating a key officer to co-ordinate the Council’s response(s);

• If the complainant has special needs consider offering to find for him / her an independent advocate; or

• Before applying any restrictions warn the complainant that if his / her actions continue, the Council may decide to treat him / her as an unreasonably persistent complainant and explaining the reasons why.

4.5  If a decision is taken to apply the policy, the complainant must be informed in writing that:

• the decision has been taken;

• what it means for his / her contacts with the Council;

• the restrictions will last for a particular period (need to specify); and

• what the complainant can do to have the decision reviewed.

The complainant must also be provided with a copy of this policy.

5.0 PROCEDURES AND ACTIONS

5.1  The main kinds of "trigger" actions / behaviours which may cause these policy procedures to be invoked are those listed in 3.1 above (but may include others)

5.2  The options for action (not exhaustive) open to the Council are:

• Placing time limits on telephone conversations and personal contacts;

• Restricting the number of telephone calls that will be taken (for example, one call on one specified morning / afternoon of any week);

• Limiting the complainant to one medium of contact (telephone, letter, email etc.) and / or requiring the complainant to communicate only with one named member of staff;

• Requiring any personal contacts to take place in the presence of a witness;

• Refusing to register and process further complaints about the same matter;

• Where a decision on the complaint has been made, providing the complainant with acknowledgements only of letters, faxes or emails, or ultimately informing the complainant that future correspondence will be read and placed on the file but not acknowledged. A designated officer is to be identified who will read future correspondence;

5.3  The relevant Service Manager, in consultation with the Monitoring Officer, will decide:

• Whether the policy will be applied to a complainant;

• What restrictions will be placed on contacts and for how long; and

• Whether restrictions can be lifted or should continue.

5.4  If the complainant is dissatisfied with the decision to invoke the policy and / or any particular restrictions applied, he / she has a right to request that the decision be reviewed. The Council Manager (or in his / her absence, the Assistant Council Managers ) will determine whether the decision to invoke the policy, should be amended or upheld. It is up to the Council Manager to decide what information is required to determine the review and / or whether there should be a meeting / hearing.

5.5  All Members of the Council and the Council Manager shall be informed that contact with a named complainant is being restricted and why, and who will have access to that information on request.

5.6  The Monitoring Officer will produce annually, a report to the Standards Committee showing the numbers of complaints to whom such a policy has been applied in that year and the kinds of restrictions which have been imposed.

6.0  FURTHER CONSIDERATION

6.1  Full written records of all contacts with unreasonable and unreasonably persistent complainants must be kept, to include, for example:

• When a decision is taken not to apply the policy when a member of staff asks for this to be done, or to make an exception to the policy once it has been applied;

• When a decision is taken not to put a further complaint from such a complainant through its complaints procedure for any reason; or

• When a decision is taken not to respond to further correspondence, make sure any further letters, faxes or emails from the complainant are checked to pick up any significant new information.

6.2  When unreasonable and unreasonably persistent complainants make complaints about new issues, these should be treated on their merits, and decisions will need to be taken on whether any restrictions which have been previously applied, are still appropriate and necessary.

6.3  Reviews of decisions to restrict a complainant’s contacts or the Council’s responses to them can only be taken by the Council Manager, or in his / her absence, the Assistant Council Managers. When a review is carried out, the complainant should be advised in writing of the outcome and, if restrictions are to continue to be applied, the date when these will next be reviewed.

6.4  Any restrictions must be kept under review. A check should be made after six months, on whether there has been any further contact from the complainant. If a complainant to whom the Council has decided the policy will apply has no contact with the Council within that six month period, the position should be reviewed and a decision made on whether any restrictions placed on the complainant’s contacts should be cancelled. The outcome of this review should be noted on the records of unreasonable and unreasonably persistent complainants.

6.5  If the restrictions are cancelled, urgent consideration should be given to re-introducing the restrictions if the behaviour which led to the original decision re-commences.

6.6  In the possible event of relations between the Council and unreasonable and unreasonably persistent complainants breaking down badly while complaints are under investigation and there is little prospect of achieving a satisfactory outcome, there is little purpose in following through all stages of the Council’s complaints procedure. In such circumstances the Ombudsman may be prepared to consider complaints before the complaints procedure has been exhausted. In this eventuality, relevant Service Managers (or their nominees) should seek guidance from the Monitoring Officer, who may subsequently decide to inform the Ombudsman accordingly.