Agenda item

The Lead Member for Resources, Mr L. Breckon CC, has been invited to attend for this item.

The Commission considered a report of the Director of Corporate Resources the purpose which was to seek its views on the draft Customer Experience Strategy, together with plans for consultation and timelines.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 9’ is filed with these minutes.

Arising from discussion, the following points were made:

       i.           The Customer Service Centre (CSC) operated a sophisticated management tool which allowed it to collect data on all call response times and assess across each week how call volumes fluctuated.  The Service could then adapt staffing to accommodate this as far as possible.  A Member commented that residents sometimes suggested it was more difficult to get through to the CSC on Mondays and Fridays and the Director confirmed that these were the two busiest days when most calls were received which did affect response times.  Call numbers were also affected by other issues such as seasonality. 

      ii.           There were several email streams into the CSC and the aim was to respond to these within three to five working days.  The Service also dealt with social media enquiries for which similar response times applied.

    iii.           A Member commented that whilst call response times had been included within the report, email response times had not.  It was suggested that including such information might be helpful given that some calls might be received to follow up on emails not responded to within these timescales.  The Director undertook to provide more information on email response times to members after the meeting.

    iv.           It was noted that the Council had multiple access points across each service area and that different service areas operated different customer service systems, not all of which included an email option.  For example, residents mostly contacted Adult Social Care via telephone or through the use of online forms.  This and the current systems limited capability to track across the different contact channels limited the Services ability to monitor multiple contacts received from individual customers.   It was noted that the new Strategy aimed to introduce greater consistency across the different customer service systems which members welcomed.  

     v.           Members raised concerns that residents often commented that the Council’s website was confusing and difficult to navigate and suggested that this might hinder delivery of the Strategy.  The Commission agreed that if residents could not make good use of the website, they would be more likely to telephone the CSC which would be counterproductive to delivery of the Strategy.  Members were reassured that work was taking place with the Communications team to improve the website and that this formed form part of the Council’s overall plan to improve the customer experience. 

    vi.           A member questioned whether the County Council had undertaken research into the potential benefits of a joint web presence involving other partner organisations.  It was acknowledged that many residents did not appreciate the distinction, for example, between the County and district councils, or the NHS and Adult Social Care services.  The Director advised that there had been discussions with NHS partners but that its processes and data systems were incredibly complex which made a joint approach difficult.  Joint working with district councils faced similar issues and would also be challenging given the varied political landscape. 

  vii.           A Member challenged why the Council had not pursued the use of mobile applications in the same way as some other authorities, particularly for mattes such as reporting potholes that required fixing.  It was noted that the Council had looked at the use of ‘Apps’ but that the benefits had not been shown to warrant the high level of cost involved in developing this.  As technology improved, however, this would be kept under review. 

 viii.           The Lead Member for Resources emphasised that as the lowest funded County Council in the country, the development of bespoke mobile application was hindered by a lack of resources when compared to other authorities. 

    ix.           The use of text messaging had proved to be very successful in reducing demand on the CSC.  Proactively contacting people to keep them updated on matters often prevented them needing to telephone the Council in the first place.  The Director explained that the Council was using a SMS tool launched by the government but advised that this was still very much in its early stages.  It was suggested that increased use of WhatsApp should also be considered and encouraged.

     x.           A reduction in complaints was one area against which the success of the Strategy could be measured.  Members were advised that trends regarding the reasons for complaints would be considered so that those that related to the customer experience could be addressed.  However, often complaints related to, or were combined with, wider concerns regarding a service.  Separating the issues out was therefore not always straightforward.

    xi.           Members welcomed the use of SMS text messaging as part of the consultation which had generated a higher response rate compared to other consultation routes.  It was suggested that this might be an area used more frequently in other consultations undertaken by the Council.

  xii.           A Member suggested that despite this, the overall number of consultation responses was not very high when compared to the number of contacts received each day by the CSC.  It was questioned whether the responses could therefore be treated as truly representative of people’s experiences when contacting the Council and a Member argued that some degree of caution might be needed when relying on this data.  The Director advised that the consultation formed only part of the information captured to guide the development of the Strategy and much had been done to analyse and track customer journeys across a range of service areas.  This and informal engagement undertaken with customers had also provided good insight to support of the proposed approach.

 xiii.           Overall, the Commission welcomed the new Strategy but commented that despite the drive towards digital options, a personalised approach to its customers would always be important across all contact channels.  A member also commented on the need to ensure online channels were clear and concise and did not use complicated language or acronyms wherever possible to avoid confusion.

RESOLVED:

(a)  That the proposed Customer Service Experience Strategy be noted and welcomed and that the comments now made be shared with the Cabinet for consideration;

(b)  That the Director be requested to more information on email response times to members after the meeting.