Annual Report on Internal Complaint Handling 2023

1 Legal framework for the right to complain

Anyone can file a complaint about the way in which an administrative body or an employee has behaved towards them or another person in a particular matter. This is laid down in Article 9 of the General Administrative Law Act (Awb).

Complaints about incorrect treatment may include:

• improper treatment with regard to manners and decency;
• failure to respond to correspondence (in a timely manner);
• failure to provide information that has been requested;
• failure to fulfill commitments made.

The right to complain does not apply to:

• reports: reports regarding undesirable situations in public spaces (e.g., defective street lighting, loose sidewalk tiles, or uncollected garbage);
• objections and appeals: disagreement with (the content of) a decision;
• policy: decisions made by the college or council to perform public tasks in a certain way.

The complaints procedure cannot be used if:

• it concerns a complaint that has already been dealt with in accordance with the complaints procedure; or
• the complaint concerns an event that took place more than one year ago.

A complaint is submitted to the administrative body against which the complaint is directed.

Initially, attempts will be made to resolve the complaint through informal channels. Often, a meeting with the complaints coordinator or the employee or manager concerned will suffice.

Sometimes it is not possible to resolve a complaint through informal channels. In that case, the complaint will be dealt with internally in accordance with the West Maas en Waal municipality's Internal and External Complaints Handling Regulations. The complainant and the person against whom the complaint is directed are heard by the complaints handler. The complaints handler draws up a letter of settlement in which he communicates his findings and conclusion to the complainant.

If desired, a complainant who is dissatisfied with the outcome may submit the complaint to the Municipal Ombudsman; the external complaints handling procedure.

2 Complaints

The majority of the work performed by the complaints coordinator in 2023 involved speaking with complainants (by telephone), coordinating and coordinating the handling of complaints, mediating (and resolving) formal and informal complaints, consulting with other complaints coordinators, and communicating and corresponding with the ombudsman. The complaints coordinator is not authorized to handle complaints, but is the point of contact for complaint handlers who have questions about the handling of a complaint. Complaints are preferably handled informally.

All complaints are treated confidentially. As a result, no names may be mentioned in an annual report, nor may any other information be published that could be traced back to the complainants. However, a brief description of the complaints is provided so that you can get an idea of what the complaints relate to.
In 2023, four complaints were received and processed.

In addition, two complaints were received that were forwarded to another administrative body for handling because the West Maas en Waal Municipal Executive was not authorized to handle these complaints.

Internal complaint handling

1. The complaint
   Complaint about not answering questions about the possibilities of citizen participation.
   Method of resolution
   Handled informally.
2. The complaint
   Complaint about not responding to a callback request.
   Method of resolution
   Handled informally.
3. The complaint
   Complaint about municipal action in response to reported parking nuisance.
   Method of resolution
   Informally resolved.
4. The complaint
   Complaint about employee's manner of communication.
   Method of resolution
   Handled informally.

Complaints received over the past four reporting years

3 External complaint handling

Annual Report 2023

Annual review Municipal Ombudsman

If the person submitting a complaint disagrees with how the complaint has been handled, they have the option of submitting the complaint to an ombudsman. Every municipality is required to establish an ombudsman (Article 9:18 of the General Administrative Law Act and Article 81p of the Municipalities Act). The municipality of West Maas en Waal has a local ombudsman, Ms. M.J. van Dasselaar, and a deputy ombudsman, Ms. S. Stokman-Prins.
Complaints are first dealt with internally before anyone can submit a complaint to the ombudsman. The municipal ombudsman is obliged to report on its activities for the year 2023.

The annual report shows that four reports were made to the municipal ombudsman. She referred these individuals to the municipality for the internal complaints procedure. Of these reports, one was registered as a complaint and dealt with informally. The other reports were not registered as complaints and were dealt with satisfactorily outside the complaints procedure.

Furthermore, none of the internal complaints handled in 2023 led to a complaint being submitted to the Municipal Ombudsman.

Recommendations Municipal Ombudsman

The Municipal Ombudsman's 2023 annual report contains four recommendations:

• The government must strive to establish a good connection with residents, for example by facilitating citizen participation. It is recommended that employees be actively made aware of their executive government role and that they be supported and facilitated in this.

  A civic participation advisor works within the municipality of West Maas en Waal, and various projects and initiatives are being developed.

• In complex cases involving youth services, the Social Support Act (Wmo), and the Participation Act, communicate clearly and unambiguously and actively offer citizens a single point of contact who can answer their questions or have them answered.

  Residents of West Maas en Waal can contact Vraagwijzer for assistance with welfare and care issues. When they start a program, they are assigned a permanent consultant. Residents who are eligible for assistance under the Participation Act (implemented by GR Werkzaak) are assigned a permanent income coach and job coach.

• Regularly drawing the attention of employees and managers to the propriety requirements, the complaints procedure, and the role of the complaints coordinator.

  Information is regularly shared via internal communication channels.

• In communications, actively inform citizens about the internal complaints procedure and explain to them that the ombudsman will only handle complaints once they have been dealt with internally.

  The municipal website contains detailed information about how to submit a complaint and the procedure involved. This clearly shows that the internal procedure must first be followed before the ombudsman can become involved.