Agenda item

The Customer Service, Complaints & Standards Manager presented the report to the Committee which detailed the Council’s performance in relation to its Customer Service Standards and management of complaints.

Attached at Appendix 1 was the Customer Service Standards monitoring for Quarter 3 2024/25 (1^st October 2024 to 31^st December 2024).

For Revenues, the target was answering 70% of incoming calls within 20 seconds – 92% was achieved in Quarter 3 2024/25.

For Benefits, the target was answering 80% of incoming calls within 20 seconds – 96% was achieved in the same period.

For Contact Centres, the target was answering 80% of incoming calls within 20 seconds – 80% was achieved (16,456 calls were answered) in the same period.

Acknowledging emails within 1 working day (Target 1) and replying to emails within 8 working days (Target 2) had both achieved 100% in the same period, with only 23 emails (out of 7,349) replied to over 8 working days.

The target of answering 90% incoming Live Chats within 20 seconds was achieved in the same period (580 answered out of 624).

Attached at Appendix 2 was the Telephony Performance for Quarter 3 2024/25.

93% of incoming calls were being answered corporately within 20 seconds cumulatively – above standard.  Most departments had achieved and exceeded the corporate target of 90% except for the following: Environmental; Governance & Civic; and Health & Safety.

For abandoned calls, the target was 10% unanswered – 8% of incoming calls direct to service areas had not been answered in this period.

The Committee was informed the tool for collecting the above data was now not 100% reliable.  This was due to an increasing number of officers using mobile phones for work.  As a result, this did not permit the collection of accurate data without the purchase of individual licenses for each of these devices.

Whilst this had cost implications to the Council, senior officers sought the above data to understand their departments’ performances.  The I.T team had been contacted to carry out a financial appraisal of these licences.

Attached at Appendix 3 were details of the Compliments, Comments and Complaints (Stage 1 and 2) as well as MP Enquiries received for the same period.

84 Compliments (with an additional 20 from Go!Active Customers), 5 Comments (15 from Go!Active Customers), 58 Stage 1 Complaints, 13 Stage 2 Complaints, 3 MP Enquiries and 0 Ombudsman Complaints were received in the same period.

The Committee was informed regular meetings with the MP’s office were being held to ensure a consistent approach to constituents with enquiries.

Go!Active had removed the ‘Complaint’ option on their Customer Feedback Forms.  All Complaints would now be logged through the Complaints system, which could be monitored by the Complaints Team.

Service improvements included general system updates and the introduction of a Behavioural Policy (approved in the Committee’s last meeting).  An updated phone message for the latter would also be implemented.

The report detailed the other improvements made as a result from Compliments, Comments and Complaints received in Quarter 3 2024/25.

To a question on the cost of the licences to collect accurate telephony performance data, the Customer Service, Complaints & Standards Manager informed the individual price of these licences was £140.  The Customer Standards and Complaints Officer added licences were used for desk and soft phones, but not mobile phones.

The Customer Service, Complaints & Standards Manager stated presenting the current, not 100% accurate data was not desirable.

The Strategic Director of Services noted collecting the current data took considerable time and effort – it the data could not be reliable it might not be worth reporting.

The Customer Service, Complaints & Standards Manager recalled collecting this data had not been easy during the COVID-19 Pandemic (and when officers first started working from home), but while the team was happy to continue collecting this data, it was not reliable.

Members noted there had been no Complaints received from customers regarding the Council’s telephony performance.  Additionally, with the Local Government Reorganisation following the publication of the UK Government’s English Devolution White Paper in December 2024, they saw no need for the purchase of these licences nor the continued publication of this performance data.

The Strategic Director of Services stated the option to review the data could be retained for senior officer use, and the Committee’s, if desired.

Moved by Councillor Louise Fox and seconded by Councillor Sandra Peake

RESOLVED that the Customer Services Scrutiny Committee note the overall             performance on Customer Service Standards and Compliments, Comments and     Complaints.

The Customer Service, Complaints & Standards Manager and Customer Standards and Complaints Officer left the meeting at 10:14 hours.