NEARLY 700 complaints were lodged with Scottish Borders Council about its performance in the year to March 31, 2014.

And over one third of these gripes were upheld, councillors heard this week.

Whether or not that represents an improvement or a deterioration on previous years is not known because the handling of complaints against the council was not formalised until April, 2013.

The introduction of that internal procedure coincided with a demand from the watchdog Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) that all 32 Scottish local authorities must deal with complaints against standardised performance indicators.

In the foreword to the first report since the system was introduced, SBC chief executive Tracey Logan states: “We are committed to providing high quality services, but occasionally things go wrong.

“When this happens it is important we act quickly to address and resolve the situation. Complaints indicate where we fell short of what people expected and sometimes where we are failing to meet our own standards.

“We can use this information to make service improvements.” The report, noted at yesterday’s meeting of SBC’s executive committee, gives the definition of a complaint as “any expression of dissatisfaction about our action or lack of action or about the standard of service provided by us or on our behalf eg delays in responding to enquiries, failure to provide a service, treatment by or attitude of a member of staff and failure to follow proper procedure.” The report said a total of 696 complaints were received over the year. Of these 85 were voiced in person at council offices or library/contact centres, 231 were made by telephone, 221 were lodged online, 78 were conveyed by letter and 81 by email.

This equates to one complaint for every 164 residents in the region.

The report states that 429 (76.6%) were “closed”, with a response sent and no further action required, at the first stage of the new procedure – where resolution is normally an on-the-spot apology or an explanation that something has clearly gone wrong.

Of these stage one complaints 198 were upheld and 231 were not upheld. SBC achieved an average response time of 3.8 working days, against a benchmark of five.

Stage two in the handling procedure, which requires a detailed investigation, a discussion with the complainer and a full response within 20 working days, was required for 118 complaints of which 46 were upheld. The council achieved a 17-day average response time.

During the year, 44 complaints about SBC were lodged with the ombudsman, compared to 31 in 2012/13. Of these, 47% were deemed “premature” because the complaint had not gone through the council’s procedure. In the event, nine investigations were carried out by the SPSO, of which four were upheld.

The report cited two instances of lessons being learned and services improved as a result of complaints.

The wording of letters to residents entitled to a Council tax exemption or discount has been amended to ensure all recipients were now aware that such exemptions can expire during a year and the full amount charged.

Although the report does not specify which departments elicited most complaints, it concedes that bullying behaviour among children was “one of the most common themes of education complaints” during the year.

“Analysis of these and how they were handled in schools highlights the need for parents to be better informed of the new ‘respectful relationship’ (anti-bullying) policy and the need for staff to share information with parents if they report concerns,” states the report.

“We are looking to work with parent councils and school staff to raise awareness among parents of the approach schools now take.

“This focuses on working with children who display bullying behaviour and children who perceive they are being bullied and trying to turn the situation around restoratively without the use of punitive measures.”