Watchdog launches probe into Islington’s complaints-handling – as councillor admits service is ‘not good enough’

Cllr Diarmaid Ward. Photograph: Islington Council

A watchdog is investigating how Islington Council handles complaints from residents in the second probe of its services announced this winter.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is looking at the length of time it takes for the Town Hall to deal with complaints.

The Housing Ombudsman is already looking into how the council handles problems with mould and damp.

Housing staff are now reviewing all their damp and mould casework over the last three years.

When quizzed by fellow councillors at a scrutiny committee about the latest investigation, the council’s deputy leader Diarmaid Ward admitted: “This is not good enough.”

He said he did not anticipate the local government ombudsman’s intervention.

However, he said workloads have increased since the pandemic and “officers are aware of the backlog”.

“I’ll be blunt, the fact we’ve got this far is a failing. If it’s not working, we’ve got to change it.”

He said there are four more staff dealing with residents’ problems to help improve the service.

Residents told the council they were fed up with the delays in response to problems and the time it took for them to get through on the phone.

Cllr Ward added: “When something festers, it does tend to fester for too long.”

The council is asking external experts to look at complaints-handling.

Cllr Ward said there needs to be a “deep dive” into the service.

Cllr Gulcin Ozdemir (Lab, Tufnell Park) said she sometimes finds it “difficult” to get casework dealt with and has to escalate it to senior officers.

She said she is concerned for residents who do not take issues to their councillors, given the problems she has experienced.

“We can’t have a system where you go to an officer or you go to a corporate director to sort out problems,” said Cllr Ward.