Lewisham Council is set to implement a significant overhaul of its corporate inquiry handling processes, aiming to improve efficiency, transparency, and resident satisfaction. The move follows a comprehensive review by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which highlighted systemic issues in how the council manages complaints, member enquiries, and other formal requests.
The council's Draft Annual Complaints Report for 2025/26 revealed that a substantial number of service requests
were being misclassified as formal complaints, inflating complaint numbers and distorting escalation rates. Officers acknowledged that this often stems from unclear contact methods for residents, leading them to use the complaints process as a default. The Overview and Scrutiny Committee identified several systemic issues, including a need to improve the initial triage of incoming contacts to accurately distinguish between service requests, complaints, and other types of enquiries, requiring better staff training and clearer definitions. They also noted concerns over Stage Two response times and the quality, tone, and completeness of responses, particularly for vulnerable residents.
In the 2025/26 reporting period, the council did not meet its target for responding to complaints and casework within established timescales, with Stage One responses at 87.5% and Stage Two at 56%. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) investigated 52 complaints about the council, with an alarming 87% upheld rate, resulting in £49,185.24 in financial remedies paid out.
Key areas identified for improvement include:
- Triage and Classification: Enhancing the initial sorting of incoming contacts to accurately distinguish between service requests and formal complaints, with better staff training and clearer definitions. The council defines a corporate complaint in line with the LGSCO's Complaint Handling Code as:
An expression of dissatisfaction, however made, about the standard of service, actions or lack of action by Lewisham Council, its own staff, or those acting on its behalf, affecting an individual resident or group of residents.
The LGSCO Code states that effective complaint handling enables individuals to be heard and understood, and the starting point for this is a shared understanding of what constitutes a service request and what constitutes a complaint. The council acknowledges that many individuals register service requests and general enquiries through the complaints process because service areas may not have adequate or visible contact methods in place. The council intends to refine its mandatory fields for drop-downs to better capture the specific reasons for complaints and to distinguish between service requests and actual complaints. - Response Quality and Timeliness: Addressing concerns over Stage Two response times and improving the overall quality, tone, and completeness of responses, particularly for vulnerable residents. To achieve this, the council will review and update system response templates, develop enhanced training and guidance for officers and Members on case management processes, and consider a dedicated quality assurance (QA) function for certain types of corporate enquiries prior to responses being issued. Monthly QA of complaints will be extended to member enquiries, including tone and completeness of response, with feedback provided to response authors.
- Learning from Complaints: Strengthening the use of complaint data to identify trends, drive service improvements, and prevent recurring issues, including learning from LGSCO decisions. Lewisham Council will ensure this learning is integrated through regular meetings with services to discuss lessons learned, by expecting directorates to have service improvement plans addressing LGSCO decisions, and by reviewing customer journeys of escalated complaints. An internal remedies policy will be written to guide staff, and new corporate KPIs will track performance and service improvements. A specific learning outcome section will be incorporated into the complaints management process for managers to complete.
- Resource Allocation: Examining the dispersed nature of the complaints function across different directorates and ensuring adequate resources are dedicated to effective complaint handling.
- Communication: Improving proactive communication with residents about service changes and issues through a clearer, multi-channel approach.
An update on the Corporate Inquiries Transformation Project revealed plans to explore a hub-and-spoke
operating model. This aims to centralise oversight and standards while retaining service-specific expertise, leading to greater consistency and accountability. Enhanced training for officers and members on case management and complaint handling is also planned, alongside a review of system response templates to improve quality and tone.
Improved data and reporting tools are being developed to provide better visibility of trends and themes, and to establish clear ownership for learning from cases. Resident and stakeholder engagement will be integrated into the project's next phase to ensure improvements reflect a broad range of experiences and needs. The project will explore opportunities for further resident engagement as it develops.
Councillor Claire Wills, Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, highlighted the importance of a holistic and joined-up approach, emphasizing consistency in training, triage, and communication. The potential use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a tool to assist with processes like triage was also discussed. While AI offers potential benefits in assisting with processes, significant risks were identified, including the potential loss of the resident's voice, the risk of disseminating incorrect information, and the challenge of managing unmanageable submissions, such as a 2,343-page AI-generated complaint. Safeguards include explaining the council's approach to residents on its website, asking for clarification when unsure, and ensuring proper training and checks and balances are in place for officers. AI can assist officers by helping them compare questions asked with answers provided.
The development of improved data and reporting tools is planned as part of the Corporate Enquiries Transformation Project, with a dedicated workstream on iCasework, Data and Reporting
to develop dashboards and reporting tools. However, a specific timeline for this development is not yet provided. The meeting information can be found in the Public reports pack for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 22nd September 2026.