Agenda item

(Customer Services Director) To consider the attached report on Customer Service initiatives and performance, including compliments, complaints and call handling.

The Service Manager for Customer Services, S Lewis, presented the Annual Report for the Customer Services Programme.

S Lewis provided the Committee with an update on the following topics within the Programme:

·        the Customer Service Strategy;

·        customer satisfaction;

·        the corporate Contact Centre;

·        the Digital Inclusion Programme;

·        Members;

·        partnership working;

·        digital payments; and

·        communications & public relations.

S Lewis outlined the conclusions from the Annual Report, these being that Customer Services had been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, but the priority had always been to support residents. The launch of the Customer Service Strategy had been delayed slightly by the pandemic, but it did provide a clear plan for the rest of the year. However, the Strategy was just the start of the process to put the Council’s customers at the heart of everything we did, and it would evolve in the future to meet the changing needs of the Council’s customers. The required staffing resources was in place to deliver the Strategy, the Council just needed to finish their training.

Cllr S Rackham highlighted that, in respect of digital inclusion, many older residents did not like to, or want to, use computers, so how did the Council plan to overcome this and change the minds of these residents? Cllr M Sartin also highlighted that the ability of some people to use technology also declined as they got older. S Lewis responded that every customer had different needs. The Digital Inclusion Programme had made an excellent start in building networks, but their Manager would soon be going on secondment in another section of the Council. It was accepted that some customers would not want to use technology, and Officers were considering how it could be possible to open a cash office to accommodate these customers. The Council would not be able to channel shift every one of its customers to digital contact.

Cllr J H Whitehouse enquired about the further improvements identified for the Council’s website to increase its accessibility. S Lewis stated that the Corporate Communications Team were progressing this work at the moment, and agreed to follow up on this question and report back to the Members, but added that any changes to the Council’s website would be shaped by user groups. Cllr S Heap commented that the current arrangements be retained as an option for residents. In response to a question from Cllr D Wixley regarding the Out-of-Hours service, S Lewis informed the Committee that the option to bring the service back in-house was discussed by Officers but the costs were far higher. The number of calls received by the Service currently were very low, and the current contractor – Mears – were happy to continue to provide the service. S Lewis also highlighted that the mechanism was not in place to record the overall customer satisfaction in the first quarter of 2019/20, hence there was no figure in the table.

Cllr D Plummer expressed some concerns about the continual use of the term ‘customers’ rather than ‘residents’ or ‘taxpayers’. The use of the term ‘customer’ gave the impression that residents could go to another provider for our public services but in reality, they could not. Cllr Plummer stated that the Council was not a business, and therefore our residents were service users or taxpayers – not customers! The District was comprised of residents, businesses and communities. Cllr S Heap agreed with Cllr Plummer, and felt that the use of the term ‘residents’ would represent better use of terminology as our residents did not have an option on using the services that the Council provided.

S Lewis stated that her definition of a customer was someone that she helped and provided a service to. Cllr S Kane, the Portfolio Holder for Customer and Corporate Services, expressed some sympathy for the views of Cllrs Plummer and Heap, but felt that ‘customer’ was a useful umbrella term to cover all of the users of the services which the Council provided. In relation to Digital Inclusion, Cllr Kane reassured the Committee that the Council would not close its doors and become a digital only service. It was accepted that many people did not want to channel shift to digital contact and the Council would always maintain offices and telephone numbers for contact.

            Resolved:

            (1)        That the progress with the Customer Service Programme in 2019/20,             and its future direction in 2020/21, be noted; and

(2)        That further information be provided to the members of the Committee regarding the further improvements for the Council’s website to increase its accessibility.