Managing Vexatious Complainants and Requests Policy

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1.0 Introduction

1.1 The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council is committed to dealing with complaints and requests fairly and proportionately and to making services as accessible as possible.

1.2 All complaints and requests will be considered on their merits, however, in those case where our customers, staff or the Council as a whole suffer adversely from individuals making repeated, frivolous or persistent complaints and demands, or whereby there is a manifestly inappropriate or improper use of a formal procedure, the policy for Managing Vexatious Complainants will be applied.

1.3 Vexatious or unreasonably persistent complainants are complainants who, because of the frequency or nature of their contacts with the Council, hinder our ability to consider theirs or other people’s complaints, service requests, requests for information or to deliver Council services effectively.

1.4 Similarly, the difficulty in handling such complaints or service requests is that they are time consuming and resource intensive in terms of officer and member time and displace resources that would otherwise be spent on Council’s priorities.

1.5 This policy should be read in conjunction with:

• Bradford Council’s Complaint Policy
• Managing Unacceptable Customer Behaviour Policy
• Violence and Aggression at Work Policy
• Lone Working Policy
• Accident and Incident Reporting Procedures
• Local Governance Ombudsman (LGO) guidance on managing unreasonable behaviour

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2.0 Scope

2.1 This policy applies to staff dealing with complainants or service users by phone, email or face to face contact.

2.2 This policy is intended to protect staff, elected members and agents acting on behalf of the Council.

2.3 Before implementing the provisions in this policy, officers must consider whether the Council’s procedures have been followed correctly, whether full and reasonable responses have already been given and whether the complainant or the request is now becoming vexatious.

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3.0 Defining Vexatious Complainants

3.1 Raising legitimate queries or criticisms of the Council’s complaints procedure as it progresses should not in itself lead to someone being regarded as a vexatious or an unreasonably persistent complainant.

3.2 Similarly, the fact that a complainant is unhappy with the outcome of a complaint and seeks to challenge it once, or more than once, should not necessarily cause that person to be labelled vexatious or unreasonably persistent.

3.3 Vexatious complainants are likely to include some of the following:

• Refusing to specify the grounds of a complaint, despite offers of help.
• Refusing to cooperate with the complaints investigation process.
• Refusing to accept that certain issues are not within the scope of a complaints procedure, such as where an appeal process is in place.
• Insisting on the complaint being dealt with in ways which are incompatible with the adopted complaints procedure or with good practice.
• Frequent, lengthy, complicated and demanding contact with staff, which maybe historic or current.
• Making unjustified complaints about staff who are trying to deal with the issues, and seeking to have them replaced.
• Changing the basis of the complaint as the investigation proceeds.
• Denying or changing statements made at an earlier stage.
• Introducing trivial or irrelevant new information at a later stage.
• Raising many detailed but unimportant questions, and insisting they are all answered.
• Submitting falsified documents from themselves or others.
• Adopting a 'scatter gun' approach: pursuing parallel complaints on the same issue with various organisations or simultaneously with numerous officers or departments within the Council.
• Making excessive demands on the time and resources of staff with lengthy phone calls, emails to numerous council staff, or detailed letters every few days, and expecting immediate responses.
• Submitting repeat complaints with minor additions/variations the complainant insists make these 'new' complaints.
• Refusing to accept the decision; repeatedly arguing points with no new evidence.
• Covertly recording meetings and conversations.
• Putting, or threatening to put information on social media or websites which includes personal information of Council employees without their consent and/or making defamatory statements about employees online.
• Mis-using council telephone numbers, for example calling mobile numbers or those not intended for public use.
• The complainant engaging in discriminatory and/or offensive language/ views or behaviour.

This list is not exhaustive and merely indicates some of the behaviours likely to be considered as vexatious or unreasonably persistent.

3.4 If the complainant is persistent because their complaints have not been considered in full then the Council must address this. However, if the Council has already done so and has demonstrated this to the complainant, then the Corporate Complaints Manager or the relevant Service Manager in liaison with the Corporate Complaints Manager, should consider whether the complainant is now unreasonably persistent and therefore vexatious.

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4.0 Dealing with Vexatious Complainants

4.1 Before this policy is invoked the complainant should receive the same standard of response as any other service user, and the Council must show that it has not discriminated against the complainant.

4.2 Where a complaint is closed and the complainant persists in further communications, the Corporate Complaints Manager or the relevant Service Manager may decide to terminate contact with that complainant. (see 5.2)

4.3 New complaints and enquiries from customers whose behaviour has previously been deemed vexatious will be assessed. Restrictions imposed in respect of an earlier complaint or enquiry will not automatically apply to a new matter but will be assessed by the designated contact officer on a case-by-case basis.

4.4 Appropriate records of any communications with a potentially vexatious complainant should be kept and staff should seek advice from the Corporate Complaints team about when to apply this policy.

4.5 Once it is clear that an individual meets the criteria of vexatious or unreasonably persistent behaviour, it may be appropriate to inform them, in writing, that their conduct is unacceptable and that, if it continues, they may be classified as "vexatious, habitual or unreasonable". The letter should state clearly which elements of their behaviour are causing problems.

4.6 The Council may consider, where appropriate, referring the complainant to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) before the complaints procedure has been exhausted. This can be applied in extreme circumstances when the Council does not agree with the complainant that the complaints are substantively valid and the two parties disagree on the way forward.

4.7 Incidents of threats or harassment to staff from a complainant should be refer to the relevant Service Manager who will liaise with police directly or via the legal services of the Council (the policy for Managing Unacceptable Customer Behaviour should also be referred to).

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5.0 Considering Restrictions

5.1 The decision to restrict access to the complaints procedure should be taken by the Corporate Complaints Manager, or a relevant Service Manager following consultation with the Corporate Complaints Manager, and should follow a prior written warning to the complainant (see 6.1).

5.2 Any restrictions imposed should be appropriate and proportionate. The options that the Corporate Complaints Manager in liaison with the relevant Service Manager can consider are:

• Restricting contact to an individual named officer or generic inbox.
• Placing correspondence on file without acknowledgement or reply.
• Restricting access to certain buildings or premises controlled by the organisation.
• Restricting contact to written contact only (considering any agreed reasonable adjustments).
• Restricting the length and frequency of telephone calls.
• Restricting access to discretionary services.
• Refusing to investigate a complaint until the complainant provides further information which is valid.
• Requiring any future personal contact to take place in the presence of an appropriate witness and in a suitable location.
• Placing limits on the number and duration of contacts with staff in a given period
• Refusing to register and process further complaints about the same matter.

5.3 Any new complaints from people who come under this policy should be treated on their individual merits to ensure that any restrictions are still appropriate and necessary

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6.0 Implementing the Vexatious Policy

6.1 Prior to deeming a complainant vexatious a written warning must be applied stating that if their behaviour continues the Council may decide to designate their behaviour as vexatious and explaining the reasons why. It is important that the customer is given an opportunity to modify their behaviour before any further restrictions are applied.

6.2 Continuation of vexatious or unreasonable behaviour will result in notifying the complainant that this policy has been applied and must include an explanation of the reasons why the policy has been applied and any action being taken. The written notification must also give the time period this will be imposed for before a review is considered.

6.3 A copy of the policy itself, or an electronic link to the policy document should be included when notifying the complainant that the policy has been applied.

6.4 The customer should be notified of the complaints process and advised of their right to approach the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO).

6.5 The policy can be imposed for up to 12 months prior to review. If, after that period, the complainant contacts the Council about the same issue, then they would be advised that it may be permanently enforced in relation to that issue with no review date.

6.6 The complainant should still be able to contact the Council to raise any new issues they may have and access any services they may be entitled to.

6.7 Where restrictions are being considered by more than one Service a co-ordinated approach should be taken, led by the Corporate Complaints manager.

6.8 A summary of the vexatious procedure to be applied is enclosed (Appendix 1)

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Unreasonable Actions by Representatives

7.1 Having a representative can be helpful for many people to help provide support in relation to complaints. A representative could be a friend or family member or a professional such as an advocate or solicitor.

7.2 It is important that any representative has and can produce written consent or other lawful basis for acting on another individual’s behalf.

7.3 Where a representative behaviour becomes unreasonable under the terms of this policy, the Council will consider taking the following actions.

1. Deal with the individual directly taking account of any reasonable adjustments required or requested under the Equality Act 2010.
2. Support the individual to find another representative (for example, advocacy service).
3. Ask the individual to nominate another representative.

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Vexatious Information Requests

8.1 The Freedom of Information Act provides individuals a greater right of access to information related to the Council. However, individuals should not misuse or abuse the Freedom of Information Act by submitting requests which are intended to be annoying, disruptive or have a disproportionate impact on staff resources.

8.2 Under section 14(1) of the Freedom of Information Act, the Council has the right to refuse any requests which have the potential to cause a disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption, irritation or distress.

8.3 The application of section 14(1) will be applied to the request only and not the individual.

8.4 Where an individual has submitted a previously deemed vexatious request, new requests will continue to be considered on their own merit.

8.5 Notification of application of FOI S14(1) will be made to the individual submitting the request for information by the Corporate Information Governance Manager, giving details as to why their request is considered vexatious.

8.6 If the individual remains dissatisfied with the refusal to provide information under the Freedom of Information Act, such complaints will be referred to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

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Appendix 1 Summary of Vexatious Complainant Procedure

1. Complainant displays behaviours as shown in 3.3 of the vexatious policy
2. Staff member warns the individual that they are demonstrating unreasonable behaviour. Staff are able to take immediate action in response to unreasonable actions such as terminating phone calls, asking someone to leave the premises or pausing communications. Any such action should be recorded and discussed with their manager.
3. The service should maintain a record or log of contact including:
   • Name
   • Dates of contact
   • Summary of content of individual contacts
   • Responses given
   • Officer details
4. A formal written warning is sent to the customer stating that if their behaviour continues the Council may decide to designate their behaviour as vexatious and explaining the reasons why.
   The Corporate Complaints manager along with Service managers should consider any evidence staff have gathered and reach their own conclusion on whether a formal warning is necessary or whether other actions may resolve the cause of any unreasonable actions. This may include exploring whether the individual requires any reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010.
   A formal warning should include:
   1. Details of why the warning has been issued
   2. What restrictions on contact the Council may be considered if the warning is unheeded
   3. A check on whether the individual requires any reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010
   4. A link to the vexatious policy or copy included if sent by post
   5. Details of the complaints process if the person is unhappy with their warning
5. The decision to restrict access should be a last resort. However, if the behaviour continues the Corporate Complaints Manager along with the relevant Service Manager can decide to apply any of the restrictions in section 5 of the above policy.
   The customer should be informed in writing of:
   • What action/s the Council is taking
   • Why the Council is taking that action (contact considered unreasonable)
   • The time period within which future actions will be monitored.
   • When / how / by whom any restrictions on contact or other actions will be reviewed.
   • The consequences of failing to address their actions.
   • Confirmation the organisation has considered the individual’s rights under human rights and equality act legislation
   • A copy of the Managing Vexatious Complainants policy will be enclosed with the letter, or a link provided to the online version.
   • Details of the complaints policy and procedure where the process has not been exhausted.
   • Details of the right to escalate to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman
6. A restriction can be applied for a maximum of 12 months. If, after that period, the complainant contacts the Council about the same issue, then they would be advised the restrictions may be permanently enforced in relation to that issue with no review date.
   Please note - the complainant should still be able to contact the Council to raise any new issues they may have and access any services they may be entitled to.
7. Once the restriction period has expired, the Corporate Complaints Manager or relevant Service Manager will write to confirm if the sanction has been removed or extended and the reasons for the decision. If restrictions are lifted the individual will be given a warning about their future conduct.
8. A log of unreasonable complainants and clients displaying the types of behaviour described in this policy, who have received a warning, sanction or a restriction will be kept by the Corporate Complaints Team and shared with relevant staff.
   The record will include:
   • Name and address of customer
   • Actions leading to vexatious warning or status
   • Department applying the restriction
   • What the restrictions are
   • When the restriction came into force and ends
   • Notes of any related correspondence (warning letter, letter informing of restriction, review letter).
9. Where a customer remains dissatisfied at the Council’s decision to impose a restriction they will be advised of their right to approach the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO).