Unreasonable, unreasonably persistent and vexatious complaints procedure and guidance - 4. Managing unreasonable, unreasonably persistent and vexatious behaviour

This procedure may be used if the Council considers an individual shows unreasonable behaviour. This may be a customer / service user or someone advocating for or representing them.

At the initial stages of identifying concerning behaviour from a customer, staff members should inform their manager. Maintaining details of contact provides an objective record of the volume and nature of the contact and this will inform any formal action that may be taken. The record should include the date, time and type of contact (e.g. telephone call / email) with a brief description of the behaviour that is a concern (abusive language, shouting, making threats etc.). The length of any telephone call should be recorded.

Before requesting any formal restrictions on contact the service can seek advice and support from the Assurance Team. This team maintains the record of customers where restrictions have been put in place and will liaise with other services to check if they are experiencing similar issues with the individual and begin to build a council wide understanding of concerns.

If the behaviour is only with a specific service, prior to requesting formal restrictions a service may: 

1. Write to the customer to explain their behaviour is becoming unreasonable. 
2.  Offer a meeting to discuss concerns and agree a better way forward.

For any formal action to be taken, information regarding the concerning behaviour must be collated so it can be assessed. The expectation is that all services will collate the information they have using their customer record or service record systems. If necessary, a folder for collating additional information, for example emails directly to officers or team accounts, correspondence received and logs of telephone calls etc. should be created and maintained. This is the responsibility of the service area that has concerns regarding the behaviour of an individual.

The decision to invoke this procedure is taken by Legal Services. To support services, the Assurance Team will work with them to: 

1. Ensure information / evidence from all services involved with the customer is collated. 
2. Draft a summary of activity and concerns to present to Legal Services. 
3. Check whether the customer is receiving support from social services or has any special needs or circumstances that should be considered, if the behaviours demonstrated have indicated that such an enquiry would be appropriate.

Legal Services will review the collated evidence and consider the reasons presented for this procedure to be invoked and assess whether there is sufficient information to act on. If Legal Services believe there is sufficient evidence, they will proceed and agree with the service and Assurance Team the type of action to be taken. The decision must be documented, supported by evidence and clearly communicated to the complainant in writing.

If Legal Services do not consider that there is sufficient evidence to invoke this procedure or believe there is alternative action the service should initially take, they will discuss this with the relevant service. This procedure can only be invoked with the agreement of Legal Services. Their advice is based on experience of the evidence that is necessary should a case progress to court action.

Placing restrictions on the contact customers have with the Council is not a decision that is taken lightly and does not impact on their statutory rights. The ongoing needs of an individual must be considered when deciding what action to take.

Any restrictions on contact with the Council will be appropriate and proportionate to the nature of the complainant’s behaviour at that time. Restrictions must be subject to regular and scheduled review and do not impede the complainant’s right to access services or their statutory rights. Examples of the types of restriction which may be used: 

1. Placing time limits on telephone conversations and duration of personal contacts. 
2. Restricting the number of telephone calls that will be taken (for example one call on one specified morning/afternoon of any week). 
3. Limiting the customer to a specific means of contact (telephone, letter, email etc.). 
4. Restricting contact to an individual named officer or generic in box. 
5. Requiring any personal contacts to take place in the presence of a second person. 
6. Refusing to register and process further complaints on the same matter, only acknowledging receipt of further letters or e-mails received after a particular point. 
7. Restricting access to some or all Council premises.