Agenda item

The Committee will receive a report on Customer First, the proposed new Customer Experience framework for Buckinghamshire Council.

 

Contributors:

John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources, Property and Assets

Tim Butcher, Deputy Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources, Property and Assets

Sarah Murphy-Brookman, Corporate Director for Resources

Lloyd Jeffries, Service Director for Business Operations

 

Papers:

Customer First Framework and Customer Service Centre report

Minutes:

The Committee received a report which detailed the proposed Customer First Vision and Promises and Behaviours as a whole Council approach to the delivery of the corporate plan and Customer Experience ambition. Further, Members received information onthe current Customer Service Centre (CSC) Performance, the operating context that impacts current performance levels and the improvements in progress.

 

Cllr J Chilver, Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources, Property and Assets and Cllr T Butcher, Deputy Cabinet Member for Finance, Resources, Property and Assets introduced the report highlighting the following points:

 

  • The Customer First approach had been approved by Cabinet and the principles of the vision could be seen on the Council’s website. Customer champions were in place across service areas and the Customer First Board had been set up and had started to meet. The Customer First principles had been embedded in to the Better Buckinghamshire service reviews to ensure the customer was kept at the forefront and built in to service delivery. Key deliverables within the action plan were noted on pages 14-15 of the agenda pack.
  • Recognising the importance of customers, the Customer Service Centre review had been accelerated and a number of key findings identified, as can be viewed on page 20 of the reports pack.
  • The Council ordinarily receives a large number of calls each day, however for the period April to August 2021, call volumes had seen a 10% increase which had impacted call wait times.
  • Having legacy council systems in place presented a challenge, and meant that CSC tools could not consistently be integrated. A suite of performance metrics identified where issues were and where unusual spikes in call volume / customer activity occurred. Progress on reviewing and consolidating the website content from the five legacy systems in to one was being made.
  • The Council had recruited a product owner to review and improve all customer message and signposting for the FixMyStreet digital access channel, which was provided by a third party.

 

During the ensuing discussion, questions and comments raised by the Committee included:

 

  • The Committee identified that improvements to the Council website’s search function were important in helping customers find what they were looking for efficiently and in turn preventing telephone calls. It was explained that the five legacy council systems being in place was having an impact on searches and this would be improved as work was underway to condense and simplify the website to avoid duplication whilst continuing to meet Government accessibility standards. An example was given of the planning service having recently removed 700 pages of content which was no longer necessary. It would not be financially viable to move to a higher specification ‘google’ type search function. The Deputy Cabinet Member invited members to send over areas that they were aware of that had been particularly difficult to access through the search function.
  • In response to a question on anticipated changes to call volume in the next six to nine months, the Cabinet Member advised that there was confidence that demands could be met. Call volume was expected to reduce with the implementation of new IT systems which were budgeted for, this included the new revenue and benefits system. The improved self-service offer online should enable the customer to handle more routine queries whilst it would likely be more complex issues coming through on telephone.
  • In relation to confidence in first call resolutions, it was said that calls were only signed off as having been resolved where the customer received the response they were looking for on the call. It was explained that some service areas had more in depth queries, such as adult social care that needed more research which impacted first call resolutions in those areas.
  • In response to a query on the FixMyStreet access channel, the Committee was advised that any area previously ‘split’ by legacy council boundaries were now displaying as one area, making it easier for residents to report an issue. Non highways related issues that came through the FixMyStreet channel were being re-routed to the correct service.
  • In terms of external benchmarking the committee was advised that the Council was part of a local authority benchmarking group, most of whom had experienced the same issues as Buckinghamshire in recent months. There were industry standard performance indicators for local authorities and the Council’s performance was positive when compared to others. Technology was not particularly unique between authorities but local authorities do learn from another and Buckinghamshire has a strong network with whom information is shared. Where there were valid reasons to do so and savings could be made, the Council does work with partners to deliver improvements such as the joint IT procurement with the NHS.
  • The Committee recognised that webchats would likely lead to a swifter response than telephone calls and questioned how to encourage residents to use these. Members were advised that advisors can answer multiple webchats at any one time and there was an ambition to improve the offering moving from two separate systems currently in place to a single one. Auto-chat was also enabled to populate some responses to residents and ways to increase uptake were being explored.
  • A question was asked about how the ability to deliver a quality service in the CSC was impacted by other service areas, in terms of staffing and information being shared. Members were advised that this could be an issue and there was a range of data available to understand areas of concern. Telephony could be moved in to service areas where there were identified high volume areas and the team were able to see end to end reporting. Continuous work was ongoing to ensure call advisors had the most up to date information at hand, however some calls could be more complicated and areas including revenues and benefits may take longer to resolve issues on the first call.
  • A member asked how community boards could fit in to customer service delivery plans and queried whether residents were being directed to boards. Members were informed that the CSC had good relationships with board co-ordinators and where it was necessary could direct customers to their boards. Wider marketing of the community boards was the responsibility of other portfolios.
  • The ‘others’ category of calls was identified as being a significant number and a question was asked whether work had been done to categorise these calls further. Volume of ‘other’ calls was checked regularly and looked in to by the CSC, these could be, for example, calls coming through when the CSC had not been informed of a mailing going out from a service. A weekly update was provided to the corporate management team on performance with a narrative on what had created peaks and ‘other’ calls were picked up through this. Where reviews had been needed these were set up quickly through task and finish groups to put a resolution in place for customers. The Customer First Board and Customer Champions would now also assist in this aspect of performance improvement.
  • Council Access Point visits were said to be recorded in face to face footfall, this included all access points such as libraries in addition to the main Council offices. These access points include self-serve devices to encourage digital inclusion and translation services. The Customer First Board planned to monitor site usage and engage with local members and community boards in how to make best use of these facilities. It was noted that if a resident were to visit a library and subsequently phone in whilst there to access a service, the contact would likely be double counted.
  • In terms of accessibility, the committee was advised that a number of resident panels and an accessibility panel were engaged with in an attempt to ensure the mix of communities in Bucks had their needs met.
  • Members were invited to watch recordings of fortnightly digital ‘show and tell’ sessions to further understand improvements being made. These can be viewed at Digital Buckinghamshire Council - YouTube (please note that videos are currently being re-indexed)

 

Future actions

  • A member requested to view how the Council’s CSC performance compared to other authorities at a future meeting, although it was noted that not all local authorities report on their performance the same way Buckinghamshire does. Members would also like to view a breakdown of the numbers of first call resolutions and progress chasing calls.
  • The Committee would also welcome a progress update with feedback on the impact of customer champions in helping services to support the CSC as best they could.
  • The Committee encouraged staff training to continue to recognise the vulnerabilities of many of the customers the council deals with on a day to day basis and build this in to how customers are dealt with.
  • The Committee was also keen to view a timeline of when the updated single council website would be in place, a project being led by the Council’s communications team.

 

Supporting documents: