TIO Annual Report 2004/05

Complaint outcomes

Level 2, 3 or 4 complaints are assigned an outcome when they are closed, based ultimately on the TIO’s view of whether the complaint was resolved partially or substantially in the complainant’s favour, or in the member’s favour. Neutral outcomes are also recorded but these are mainly where a level 2 or 3 complaint has not been resolved and requires escalation or where a complaint has several “issues” but only one was formally investigated. Complaints with neutral outcomes increased from 16.4% to 25.9%, indicating higher numbers of escalations and more complex complaints with multiple issues.

Complaints resolved partially in favour of the complainant (18.3%) or partially in favour of the member (3.8%) reflected similar outcomes to those for last year (17.3% and 3.4% respectively).

Complaints resolved substantially in favour of the complainant dropped from 44.7% last year to 39.5% this year. Likewise the percentage of complaints resolved substantially in favour of the member, fell from 18.1% last year to 12.6% this year.

Reviews

Complainants who are dissatisfied with the outcome of their complaint may request an independent review by the TIO’s Review Officer. The Review Officer reports directly to the Deputy Ombudsman and independently reviews the outcome of enquiries and level 1, 2, 3 complaints and, in some instances, level 4 complaints which have been escalated purely for cost recovery reasons.

In 2004/05, 338 reviews were requested, a 3.7% increase on last year’s total. During the same period, the TIO completed 300 case reviews. In 70% of cases, the Review Officer concluded that a complete and thorough investigation had been conducted by the Investigation or Enquiry Officer, and agreed that a fair and reasonable outcome had been achieved.

In 17.6% of cases, additional information or evidence was sought before the conclusion was drawn that a fair and reasonable outcome had been achieved in the first instance. 11% of cases reviewed were returned to the relevant Investigation or Enquiry Officer for further investigation. In 1.4% of cases, the TIO’s initial finding was overturned following additional investigation of the complaint.

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