The Chief Officer, Legal and Regulatory Services, HR and Corporate Policy presented a report on the revised Unreasonable Behaviour or Vexatious Complainant Policy for approval. She explained that Cabinet approved an Unreasonable Behaviour and Vexatious Complaints Policy in January 2019. However unreasonable behaviour towards representatives of the Council was not limited to complaints and could arise more generally from service interaction with the public, which is what had been seen more recently. The policy attached to the report had been revised to recognise that whilst the Council would continue to respond openly and transparently to complaints, it had a clear set of values and would not tolerate unreasonable or abusive behaviour towards its staff, Elected Members or any third party.

The Chief Officer, Legal and Regulatory Services, HR and Corporate further explained the background to 3 particular complainants and their excessive contact with the Council. 

The Cabinet Member for Future Generations explained that the report was not about preventing anyone from the borough from raising concerns but about the very small number of complaints that started to impact on the well-being and health of officers and Members. As an authority, there was a duty to make sure that everyone in the workforce was kept safe. He had recently spent some time with the customer service colleagues on the front desk and had observed then doing an amazing job providing an amazing service. They provided information on over 800 services that the Council provided and they had the right to work and feel safe.

The Deputy Leader added that it was important to take measures to protect staff and members to ensure they were not subject to abuse.  

The Leader agreed that it was not acceptable to treat staff in the way that had been seen recently and that if the behaviour became unreasonable, then they would respond to that and if necessary contact South Wales Police.

RESOLVED:           Cabinet approved the revised Policy attached as Appendix 1 to the report.