Agenda item

Presentation by Head of People, Projects and Performance.     

(Copy of presentation attached)

The Head of People, Projects and Performance, Sue Griffiths referred to the previous presentations given on Customer feedback and what people saw as good customer service and how this can be applied.  She worked closed with Hayley Kent Simpson who was the Service Manager for Customer Services to see how people interacted with the council and what experience they had, whether good or bad. 

Mrs Griffiths was the customer champion and dedicated at least one day a week to looking at improving the current service working closely with the Customer Services, Service Manager.  She worked closely with other services also feeding into Management Team on a monthly basis. Results were already being seen but customer service was not consistent across the Council, there was no detailed guidance or culture of how to deal with customer feedback.  Although complaints were always logged this was not the case with compliments and the performance management software used was not fully understood by all those who used it.  Also complaints which were cross services were not owned by a particular person.

In order to address these issues feedback was now looked at in detail on a weekly basis.  Issues were fed to the relevant managers both complaints and compliments.  Meetings were held with teams to understand what they did currently and how they could improve.  Research had been undertaken with other authorities to see what their best practice was.     Training had been commissioned for all staff to show what good customer service was.  A letter template had been made with careful wording to acknowledge how the customer feels which could be accessed on the intranet and a focus group set up.

The processes now in place ensured that complaints were handled more swiftly, letters were produced which were less likely to escalate the complaint. Services were clearer about what was a complaint; not just that someone does not like a decision that has been made following the proper process for example at a Development Control Committee.  The Performance data software was better populated so that lessons could be learnt. Compliments were captured and customers thanked for them.

The information was used to inform changes needed, training would be continued to be given as required and an annual review would take place.  Mrs Griffiths would continue in her role as customer champion so that more complex complaints could be dealt with corporately and the complaints and compliments would be used to give feedback to staff as part of the new behavioural framework that was being put in place.

A discussion followed with Members commenting about only reporting something one time without having to repeat it. Unfortunately the software systems currently in place could not “speak” to each other although this was being looked into. The telephony system was also being looked at as there were limitations to this system also.  A Member asked about having customer survey cards and Mrs Griffith replied that these had been used in the past. Further discussion followed about having a “history” for people so that as soon as they gave their name all the information would appear on the screen. Again Mrs Griffiths replied that the current technology was not integrated to allow for this to happen but it was being looked into.  The Service Manager Customer Services did inform the Group that there was a national initiative whereby births and deaths were notified within agencies therefore the information only had to be given once and it was shared between several government bodies.  Reference was then made to changes to Parish Clerks, unfortunately, even if a change is given within the authority not all lists are updated.  Carol Drury replied that a definitive list was held by Legal and Democratic Services and it should be this list that was used and changes notified accordingly.

>Action Note

Remind all Services to use the Parish Council list held by Legal and Democratic Services and that all changes should be notified to Legal and Democratic Services.

The Chairman thanked Sue Griffiths and Haley Kent Simpson for attending the meeting and looked forward to an update in the future.