Issue - meetings

The Assistant Director of Housing Management & Enforcement, the Customer Services Manager and the Customer Standards & Complaints Officer provided Members with an overview of the Council’s performance for Q3/Q4 2021/22 and overall performance for 2021/22, in relation to the Council’s customer standards and complaints.

The report presented followed the usual format but it was noted that following the change in delivery for customer standards and complaints it was hoped to provide reports in a slightly revised format and also increase the frequency to quarterly.

Officers focussed on the headline detail in the cover report.

2.1       Customer Service Standards – Telephones

The Council’s target was 93% of calls to be answered within 20 seconds.  Cumulative performance for 2021/22 was 91%.  This was as a result of underperformance in specific service areas across the year – notably Revenues & Benefits, Housing/Community Safety, and Planning.

This section would be amended going forward to also show abortive calls to give a fuller picture of performance against telephone standards.

It was noted that some departments had different targets to reflect the volume of calls dealt with and nature of the enquiries.  Contact Centres had a target of 75% answered within 20 seconds.  This was currently off target due to staffing issues.  It was also noted that the data for Revenues & Benefits was now being split out to show both sections separately, to accurately reflect that they operated to different targets.

2.2       Compliments, Comments and Complaints

Officers went through the summary of performance on pages 15-17.

2.2       Compliments

It was proposed that going forward the data be presented in a summary format showing volume per department, rather than the full written report.  Customer Services would then monitor those receiving a large volume of compliments/ regular compliments and acknowledge accordingly.

2.2       Comments

It was proposed to present in a summary format going forward showing volume by department.

2.2       Complaints (Frontline resolution stage 1)

It was proposed going forward to present this in summary format by area, outlining number of complaints against each service category - this would allow easier analysis of trends in data which was welcomed by Members.

Following presentation of the report a brief discussion took place:

Q: What are we doing about face-to-face local contact outside of the Contact Centres, as discussed at a recent meeting?

A: Within the staff at South Normanton CC, a staff member had been identified to take on the role of a Community Customer Advisor to attend sessions at foodbanks and community venues in the south of the District.

Q: Do we have an understanding of the volume of people struggling to access services due to IT issues – is it shown in complaints data?

A: This would show up in the current data gathered and be addressed accordingly.  It was hoped to get officers attending local groups across the District, not just in the south, and officers were currently gathering data on local groups/venues.  It was also noted that some customers requiring extra help were identified by other means such  ...  view the full minutes text for item 25