Hackney’s mayor’s office has struggled to deal with the number of complaints escalated to the council’s top table over the last year.
In 2017/18, 2,967 grievances were lodged with the town hall, down from 3,005 the previous year. But the amount that were escalated increased. Top tier complaints, investigated by the mayor and cabinet, went up from 1,775 to 1,900. The average response time went up from 20 working days to 27.
In a report to go before the council’s scrutiny panel next week, officers suggested it was due to “capacity restrictions” in the mayor’s office, complex cases and the availability of the mayor and cabinet to sign off responses. They wrote: “The priority is on resolving issues before response and ensuring a comprehensive and personal reply, and whilst this has meant the quality of responses are consistently high, this has had an impact on response times.”
Most complaints were about housing repairs and cleaning.
It is hoped a review of the mayor’s office will improve response times.
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