Haringey AGAIN criticised over complaint handling
The Local Government Ombudsman has criticised Haringey once again for its poor performance in handling complaints. The council has failed to comply with some of the Ombudsman’s recommendations for the fourth year in a row.
In its annual review the watchdog condemned Haringey for ‘unacceptable’ delays in apologising, and said complaint handling was ‘below the standards we expect’. This comes a matter of weeks after Labour councillors voted against a Lib Dem motion to apologise to council tenants who had suffered from a litany of health and safety failures, including the council failing to complete high risk fire safety works.
Liberal Democrats had also raised the issue of complaints handling at the last meeting of Full Council, pointing out the council’s long delays in responding to enquiries from councillors and members of the public, and the fact that the service has, if anything, deteriorated over the past year.
Cllr Alessandra Rossetti (LD-Alexandra Park), Opposition Spokesperson for Council & Customer Services, said:
“This damning report from the local government watchdog is becoming an unwanted annual tradition in Haringey. Failing to comply with recommendations for the fourth year running is totally unacceptable, and is an abysmal state of affairs. Residents in our borough deserve so much better than this.”
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