Agenda item

O&S.59/18     

The Panel considered a report that detailed the draft Action Plan that sought to improve customer satisfaction across all Council services.

During his introduction, the lead Executive Member reaffirmed his wish that, once approved, the Customer Satisfaction Action Plan would become a standing agenda item at future meetings of the Executive.  Also, the lead Member advised that the ambition would be to over achieve on the proposed targets and he highlighted the opportunity for the Panel to undertake detailed reviews into individual and collective elements of the Action Plan.

In the ensuing discussion, reference was made to:-

(a)   the proposed Customer Service Standards.  Some Members expressed their concerns over the draft Service Standards.  In particular, these Members felt that the telephone answer target of five minutes was an unacceptable target and should be revised to state ‘as quickly as possible’.

In light of the concerns, some Members were not willing to support the Standards as drafted and an amendment was therefore PROPOSED and SECONDED whereby Part 2 of the recommendation (i.e. that the proposed Customer Service Standards be supported) should be deleted.

Members proceeded to debate the amendment and a number expressed the view that, since these Standards were not permanently fixed (coupled with them being under constant review by the Executive), then they provided a target to work towards and therefore should be supported at this time.

When put to the vote, the amendment was declared LOST;

(b)   the Housing Benefits pilot project.  At the invitation of the Chairman, the Group Manager – Support Services and Customer First provided an update on the success of the pilot project whereby trained Contact Centre staff had been moved to work within the Benefits Community Of Practice.  It was noted that the key successes had included an improvement in customer waiting times and an overall reduction in telephone calls received by the Council.  In welcoming the success of the pilot, an additional recommendation was PROPOSED and SECONDED as follows:-

‘That the direction of travel in relation to the Housing Benefits / Contact Centre be endorsed.’

When put to the vote, this additional recommendation was declared CARRIED;

(c)    performance improvements.  The Panel stated its recognition of the corporate emphasis that was being given to making Council-wide improvements in customer service;

(d)   the knock-on effects of improved customer service.  In emphasising that the issue of customer service should not be looked at in isolation, a Member highlighted that the Council would begin to ascertain the real benefits if it properly costed (and compared) the average cost of dealing with an email against the average cost of dealing with a telephone call;

(e)   automated acknowledgements.  Some Members were of the view that consideration should be given to extending the Council’s automated acknowledgement processes to include customer telephone calls and emails that were sent direct to the Council.

It was then:

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