Annual Report on Internal Complaint Handling 2024

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 administrative body is not obliged to deal with a complaint 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 Internal complaint handling

Most of the complaints coordinator's work in 2024 involved speaking to 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 municipal ombudsman. The complaints coordinator is not authorized to handle complaints, but is the point of contact for complaint handlers if they have questions about the handling of a complaint. Complaints are preferably handled informally.

All complaints are treated confidentially. This means that 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 people can get an idea of the behavior to which the complaints relate.

In 2024, eight complaints were received and processed. Five complaints were handled informally, while three complaints were settled through formal procedures.

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 responding to a callback request regarding scheduling an appointment.
   Method of resolution
   Handled informally.
2. The complaint
   Complaint about not responding to questions about an application for a disabled parking space.
   Method of resolution
   Handled informally.
3. The complaint
   Complaint about the time of day when work was carried out.
   Method of resolution
   Resolved informally.
4. The complaint
   Complaint about the manner of communication regarding road works.
   Method of resolution
   Informally resolved.
5. The complaint
   Complaint about the manner of responding to illegal parking.
   Method of resolution
   Handled informally.
6. The complaint
   Complaint about the manner of communication by an employee.
   Method of resolution
   Formally resolved: complaint unfounded
7. The complaint
   Complaint about the method of disposal and storage of goods.
   Method of resolution
   Formally resolved: complaint unfounded
8. The complaint
   Complaint about sending/collecting mail at the mailing address.
   Method of resolution
   Formally resolved: complaint unfounded
    

Complaints received over the past four reporting years

It can be concluded that the number of complaints submitted in recent years has remained roughly the same, averaging 4 to 5 complaints per year. In 2024, 8 complaints were received, which is a high number for West Maas en Waal.

No general conclusion can be drawn about the increase and the content of the complaints.

3 External complaint handling

Annual Report 2024

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 Awb and Article 81p of the Municipalities Act). The municipality of West Maas en Waal has a municipal ombudsman, Ms. M.J. van Dasselaar, and a deputy ombudsman, Ms. S. Stokman-Prins. As of January 1, 2025, Ms. S. Stokman-Prins has been honorably discharged and Ms. L. Hellwig has been appointed as deputy ombudsman with effect from January 1, 2025.

Complaints are first dealt with internally before anyone can submit a complaint to the ombudsman. The Municipal Ombudsman is required to report on his activities for the year 2024.

In 2024, the internal complaint handling process led to two complaints being submitted to the Municipal Ombudsman. The Municipal Ombudsman resolved one of these complaints in a simplified manner and did not take the other complaint into consideration.

Recommendations Municipal Ombudsman

The Municipal Ombudsman's annual report for 2023 contains a number of recommendations:

• The municipality must strive to establish good relations 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 regard. 

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

• Actively focus on keeping residents informed about the status of requests and/or applications that are experiencing delays.

Citizens are, of course, informed as much as possible about the state of affairs. In addition, formal applications are subject to statutory deadlines within which a decision must be made. If the deadline is not met, the applicant will be notified.

• Actively inform the complainant about the stage (informal or formal) of the internal complaint handling process and advise the resident about the options for requesting formal internal handling of the complaint after completion of the informal stage.

The aforementioned method is used.

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

Relevant information is regularly shared via internal communication channels.