First contact
We do not investigate all the complaints that come to us, but every enquiry receives a response.
In 2010-11, we received 23,422 enquiries from members of the public. Of these, 2,807 were about bodies outside our jurisdiction, 6,990 were about parliamentary bodies and 13,625 enquiries were about the NHS.
The number of enquiries we received during the year differs from the number we resolved in the same period. This is because work on some enquiries continues as they are carried over from one business year to the next. This report provides summary figures for the enquiries we received in 2010-11 and outlines the different ways we worked to resolve them. More detailed information about the complaints we received about public bodies during the year will be published in our health and parliamentary complaint handling performance reports in October 2011.
During 2010-11 we resolved a total of 23,667 enquiries. Of these, 3,340 were about bodies or issues outside our jurisdiction or remit and we advised enquirers on where to complain about issues ranging from financial services and utilities to school admissions or advertising content.
We resolved 15,591 enquiries by giving people advice and assistance on how to progress their complaint. This included the need to complain to the body concerned before bringing the matter to us, the requirement for health complaints to be submitted to us in writing, and the need for parliamentary complaints to be referred to us by an MP. Not everyone fulfilled these requirements and 1,496 enquiries were withdrawn during the year because the enquirer chose not to progress the issue, or did not put their health complaint in writing or obtain an MP referral for a parliamentary complaint.
In 2010-11:
- the government departments we received the most complaints about were the Department for Work and Pensions (2,462 complaints), HM Revenue & Customs (1,671) and the Ministry of Justice (924).
- the health bodies we received the most complaints about were acute trusts, with 6,924 complaints.
- we received 2,714 complaints about primary care trusts and 2,581 complaints about GPs.
Open to all
We are committed to making our service accessible to everyone. During the year we continued to improve our service, ensuring a prompt and tailored response to our customers’ different needs.
We launched a new and more accessible website with a fresh design and simplified navigation. The online complaints tool provides clear guidance on making a complaint and how we can help.
Our ‘call back’ system enables people to get in touch with us by text message, and our new telephone interpreting service allows us to talk on the phone with customers in their preferred language. A text relay service meets the needs of customers with hearing difficulties and our customer service staff received specialist training in helping those who may have difficulties communicating by telephone.
Complaints about government bodies or agencies must be referred to us by a Member of Parliament. Following the General Election in May, we provided briefings for MPs in the new Parliament to further their knowledge and understanding of how we can assist their constituents. We created a new section on our website for MPs and their staff and provide a dedicated telephone line and information pack to help them refer the right complaints to us at the right time.
Knowing our customers
When we have dealt with an enquiry, we may ask the person who made the enquiry to take part in our rolling programme of customer research. In 2010-11 our research revealed:
- 36 per cent of enquirers surveyed said that they have a disability
- this increased to 39 per cent of people who contacted us about an NHS complaint
- 39 per cent of enquirers surveyed were between 55 and 74 years old
- 18 per cent of people surveyed whose enquiries we resolved were from a black or minority ethnic background.
Responding to individual needs
In 2010-11, we provided a service to our customers in over 20 different languages, ranging from Albanian and Arabic to Turkish and Urdu. When Mrs G, who is hearing impaired, contacted us via an interpreter, we communicated the findings of our assessment directly to her by sending a film in British Sign Language, which was her preferred language.
