Agenda item

Report of the Director – Finance and Corporate Services

The Communications and Customer Services Manager presented the Council’s Customer Access Strategy to the Group.

The Group was informed that the previous Customer Access Strategy had expired in 2017 and that covid-19 had brought about significant changes in resident behaviours and the Council therefore wanted to ensure that it delivered contemporary, efficient and easy to use channels for residents to access services where and when they needed them.

The Group was informed that the Strategy sought to respond to customer’s current and future needs and to identify and explore innovative digital options to meet the increased engagement with web and email services, whilst balancing with the continued need for traditional face to face and over the phone services. The Group weas informed that the Council was looking at its customer services sites and working with partners to ensure that they were accessible and were places that residents felt that they could visit.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that the key themes of the Strategy were to build on and explore innovation, embed further self-service, review and building on partnerships and to listening and respond to residents

In relation to the Action Plan, The Communications and Customer Services Manager ran through the key elements which were to identify and explore new contact channels, develop and embed self-services and online options, aided by free wi-fi at customer service sites, showcase digital solutions in person to customers, review existing contact point locations, use Customer Service Advisors to further shape services, signpost customers to develop their digital skills, have clear Customer Service Standards across channels and sites, review service level agreements with partners, routinely monitor customer feedback and satisfaction, evaluate systems for more responsive service and review postal communication. 

Members of the Group said that they were pleased to see that face to face and telephone services were still being offered. The Group referred to some hold messages being irritating, in particular when being constantly directed to the website.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager explained that often the answer to a customer’s query could be found on the website and so the Council would continue to signpost to it. He explained that the Council was also exploring chat bot options as an effective way of providing quick answers. He confirmed that the key aim was to provide features that helped people find information quicker, whilst noting that it would be important to find balance between options.

Councillor R Mallender understood but thought that there were times when people just wanted to speak to a human being or required help in understanding nuanced information, and so it was therefore important to continue to offer the option. The Communications and Customer Services Manager assured the Group that the Council was committed to providing the option of having someone to speak to, to meet the needs of the Borough’s demographic but that there was also need to review how it would evolve over the next three years.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that it was also important to consider inhibitors to digital interaction and how best to enable residents to upskill where possible.

Members of the Group suggested that providing information about a caller’s position in the telephone queue would be helpful so that people would have an idea of how long they may be waiting. The Group also asked whether the Council had call time targets. The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that Council constantly reviewed customer service call numbers and hold times and believed that no-one would be waiting to speak to a Customer Service Advisor for more than a few minutes in general but would explore offering queue numbers. .

Councillor Murray asked about the opening hours of Fountain Court and noted that they were less than when it had been based at the Police Station. The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that having reviewed the increased shift to web and email engagement, the Council was not looking to increase opening hours, which would also have budget implications due to increased staffing costs. Whilst there was some anecdotal feedback about expecting the contact point to be open longer, there wasn’t sufficient demand to support it. Whilst the contact point had seen a slight increase in visitors recently to 400 a month this was still significantly fewer than previously.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that the Council had also looked at what neighbouring local authorities were offering and confirmed that Rushcliffe had to most contact points in the County. He said, however, that if there was evidence of greater need then opening times would be reviewed.

Councillor Jones said that the location of Fountain Court was not as prominent as when it was located in the Police Station and thought that offering a public toilet may help make it more attractive. The Communications and Customer Services Manager explained that the lease of the premises would not allow the Council to offer toilet facilities and that there were public toilet facilities located nearby. He said that the Council was looking at how to make the premises more attractive, such as having vinyl windows displays to make it stand out more.

In relation to chat bots, the Chairman asked whether they would direct a customer to a person or to leave a message should they not be able to offer an answer or perhaps redirect to the County Council. The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that the Council was looking at what could be offered currently but that this would be line with expectations and with the aim of providing a timeframe for when an answer could be provided.

In relation to accessibility of Customer Contact points, the Chairman asked whether the Council had considered having staff go out on road trips to different localities that didn’t have contact points, such as Ruddington and Keyworth. The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that roadshows would be an over and above service and would need to be assessed to see if there was desire. They may not align with the move to upskill and improve digital capacity but could perhaps be used to promote the digital skills education. He noted that there used to be a contact point in Keyworth which closed due to lack of activity.

Councillor R Walker referred to statistics about face to face and telephone contacts and asked if there was information that drilled down further that could be shared with the Group, for example as to what the contacts were about. Councillor R Walker said that whilst often people thought that they wanted to speak to a human there was a difference with needing to speak to one. He said that providing personal quality contact came with a cost and suggested that the Council should provide personal contact where people needed to speak to someone and not where they only wanted to due to the huge cost differentials involved.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager said that customer service staff speaking with customers about alternative places where they could find the information would be a key focus in helping to educate residents and identify barriers and solutions. He noted that the pandemic had shown that people were able to access information and service differently and that it was more about preference.  He said that revenues and benefits brought most calls and were the longest calls and whilst the Council was committed to increasing its digital offer this needed to be balanced with improving digital skills and confidence

Councillor Purdue-Horan referred to physical access and thought that care was needed as a recent survey found that 22% of the population did not have access to a computer, whilst the ONS had this at 10% and the Council did not want to leave this section of society behind. He referred to increased footfall in Fountain Court over the summer this year and wondered whether it needed to be open more often with more advertising. He thought that most visits involved paperwork and the society was currently in a period of transition.

The Communications and Customer Services Manager confirmed that the Strategy reflected that there some of the Rushcliffe demographic were not digitally engage and so there was need to continue to provide contact points and that this would be monitored as to how it evolves over the next three years. In relation to Fountain Court visitor numbers, he explained that this was half pre pandemic figures and the Council need to respond and juggle its resources accordingly so as to provide efficient and cost effective services.

Councillor Jones thought that people still needed to access facilities to help understand documents and to print and scan paperwork. The Communications and Customer Services Manager agreed and confirmed that was part of why the Council continued to offer those services.

Councillor R Mallender asked about SLAs with partner organisations and whether the Council could ask them to make their digital information more aligned and comprehensible. The Communications and Customer Services Manager confirmed that the Council was working with partners to review services, for example the Council had changed its contact point opening hours at Cotgrave to enable the library to extend its opening hours. The Council would continue to work closely with partner agencies. In relation to forms and correspondence, the Communications and Customer Services Manager explained that the Council continued to look to improve and ensure that that information was clear and easy to use. 

The Chairman referred to 82% of people having a smartphone and noted that some websites were not user friendly on mobile phones and asked if there was the option of having an app for information and alerts, and whether it would be possible to sync bin collection dates with personal calenders. The Communications and Customer Services Manager confirmed that the Council’s new website would explore making information as accessible as possible. Over 50% of website hits are through a smartphone and it was already configured some years ago for it to be accessible from all digital platforms and the Council has not received any negative feedback about accessibility.

It was RESOLVED that the Communities Scrutiny Group reviewed the action plan contained within the Customer Access Strategy 2022-2025 and made any further suggestions to officers they felt appropriate.