Unreasonable, unreasonably persistent and vexatious complaints procedure and guidance - 6. Review process

Any restrictions are for a specified period and must be reviewed. The Assurance Team will co-ordinate the review so Legal Services can consider next steps. The expectation is that all services will collate the information they have using their customer record or service record systems as set out in 4.5 above. The review will include consideration of any pertinent information available from the customer record management (CRM) system maintained by Customer Engagement and any changes to the circumstances of the customer the Council is aware of. There are three possible outcomes from the review:

1. The restrictions are removed.
2. The restrictions are amended and will be reviewed at a future point.
3. The period for the original restrictions is extended.

Following the review, Legal Services will write to the complainant to confirm that the review has been completed to explain the outcome(s) of the review and the reasons for the outcome where applicable, for example if restrictions are extended or amended. This letter will include a reminder to the complainant that if they are dissatisfied with the decision, they can contact the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. The service that initiated the invoking of the procedure must ensure that the action being taken is appropriately shared with all internal relevant / interested parties.

In cases where it has been necessary to utilise Court proceedings the date within the Court judgement will be used as the basis for the review.

If, following the removal of any restrictions, a complainant exhibits behaviour deemed to be unreasonable or vexatious again, they will be subject to the procedure as set out in section 4 above.

Accurate records of decisions and actions taken will be maintained by the Assurance Team. The information held will be limited to the name of complainant, the reason for imposing restrictions, what the restrictions are, the dates the restrictions are in place from and to and will include any relevant complaint reference numbers.

The Subject Access rights of customers to information that the Council holds about them are not affected by any decisions to restrict contact, and services should note that information relating to the implementation of these procedures may be disclosable in this way.