Issue - meetings

To present a draft updated Unreasonable Behaviour Policy for the Council and seek approval from the Cabinet (report of the Assistant Director – Governance (Monitoring Officer) enclosed.

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Governance (Monitoring Officer) which presented a draft updated Unreasonable Behaviour Policy for the Council, and which sought approval from the Cabinet.

The Portfolio Holder Corporate, Governance and Communications presented the report.

The following points were raised:

·       Members noted that incidences of unreasonable behaviour towards staff were logged and commented that the Authority had a duty of care towards staff.  It was also apparent from the information contained at Appendix B that the numbers were increasing.

·       The Portfolio Holder advised that incidents were logged and more detail would be sought.  With regard to the upturn under some of the headings within the report, the demand on Customer Services was also increasing – actions were being taken to mitigate this (e.g., customer call back/notification of queue position) but more time was required to see what effect this was having.  Despite this, abuse of staff would not be tolerated in any way.

·       Members commented that as well as being clear on what the Authority expected from individuals, it should be clear what they could expect from the Authority e.g., response times – reference to this information may assist in diffusing some situations.

DECISION:

That the draft Unreasonable Behaviour Policy at Appendix A be approved.

(Other options considered:

·       To keep the current policy – this was not recommended.

Reasons for decision:

·       To ensure that the Council has suitable procedures in place for dealing with unreasonable and abusive behaviours and unreasonably persistent complainants.)

To present a draft updated Unreasonable Behaviour Policy for the Council and seek feedback from the Committee (report of the Assistant Director – Governance (Monitoring Officer) enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Governance (Monitoring Officer) which sought feedback from the Panel on a draft updated Unreasonable Behaviour Policy for the Council prior to consideration at Cabinet.

The Information Manager and Data Protection Officer introduced the report which included the following main points:

• The Unreasonable Behaviour Policy replaced the policy formerly known as the Vexatious and Unreasonable Behaviour Policy;
• Appendix A detailed the draft Unreasonable Behaviour Policy which had been fully reviewed and aligned across the partnership;
• The review of the policy ensured that updates were included and that the policy remained fit for purpose and complied with prevailing statutory requirements;
• Adoption of the policy ensured that the council followed clear processes when dealing with incidents of unreasonable behaviour and unreasonably persistent complainants;
• The policy had been clearly written to be accessible and understandable by officers, members, and members of the public, and set out clear processes for different situations, for example, the ‘Periodic Review of Restriction’ stated at point 7.2 of Appendix A, was deliberately left to the discretion of officers so that situations could be dealt with according to individual circumstances; and
• Appendix B outlined unreasonable behaviour statistics across the partnership provided by PSPS Customer Contact monitoring; this had evidenced an increase in abusive contact over the period and therefore the requirement of a policy.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

• Members welcomed the policy which was well-written, and when enforced, would serve to protect officers.

• Members referred to the statistics at Appendix B and noted a significant increase in reports of received abusive behaviour from 2021/2022 to 2023/2024. Was this due to a real increase or more accurate reporting?
  • The Group Information Officer and Data Protection Officer responded that PSPS staff had received training in the identification of inappropriate behaviour which impacted the increase from 2021/2022 to 2022/2023. Therefore, the comparison of the 2022/2023 baseline data with that of 2023/2024 gave a better indication of the increased trend in actual incidents. 

• Members queried whether long call waiting times to certain council departments accounted for some of the frustrations experienced.
  • The Assistant Director – Wellbeing and Community Leadership responded that a number of mechanisms had been implemented by PSPS to deal with call waiting times, including:
    • A call-back service, which had seen calls being responded to within 30 to 40 minutes;
    • Automated notification of position within the call queuing system so that callers could choose whether to wait or select a call-back;
    • Whilst the Contact Centre endeavoured to deal with enquiries at the first point of contact, detailed enquiries were referred to relevant teams. Whilst response times of referred calls were dependent upon officer commitments/availability, service standards relevant to each department were in place; and
    • It was acknowledged that post-Covid expectations were greater and therefore the implemented Contact Centre mechanisms and reviewed Unreasonable Behaviour Policy aimed to address the issue from both angles.

• Members relayed an experience where a Contact Centre call waiting period had greatly  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10