To receive a presentation on Customer Services and What our Customers are telling us.
Minutes:
R Pavey, Service Director (Customer Services) gave a presentation on the Customer Service, Stronger Community Quarter 1 update. He advised the Select Committee that the report provided an update on the Quarter 1 Customer Services performance.
Key messages
During Quarter 1 there had been a 34% reduction in the Contact Centre staffing levels due to , sickness, staff leavers and a delay in recruiting new staff due to Covid-19. Staff were brought in from other service areas and the team achieved 49.44% first point resolution of customer calls.
Complaints received were reduced by 20 from the previous quarter, which may partly ne due to the fact that all Managers have now received training on diffusing situations to prevent them turning into an official complaint.
Our current performance
The website received 230,179 hits, there were 119 complaints received due to temporary broken links, missing information on composting, a requirement for a third bin, missing addresses on the waste calendar and accessibility issues with the self service portal for Council Tax and Business Rates, these issues have now been resolved.
First point resolution
The team had achieved 49.44% first point resolution of customer calls compared to the same quarter for 2019/20 of 37.31%. There had been a gradual increase over the last three months:
April 45.98%
May 48.33%
June 54.33%
As more areas transition into the contact centre the team were upskilled to resolve more queries at first point of contact.
Compliments and Complaints
Many compliments had been received on waste for maintaining services during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In Q1 there had been 41 complaints received in Q4 of 2019/20 61 complaints had been received. Recently managers had received training on defusing situations so that an official complaint would not be raised. 88% of complaints were resolved in Q1 compared to 92% in Q4 of 2019/20.
Complaint trends
Planning received the most complaints by residents unhappy with applications from neighbours.
Waste received complaints regarding contaminated recycling, waste not collected and 2 insurance claims where Biffa had hit parked cars.
Revenues received complaints from customers unhappy that they were not getting business grants quickly enough or not qualifying for a business grant.
What customers were telling us
Covid-19 was the major topic of customer feedback. In recent weeks the focus had moved from lockdown to the reopening of local high streets, including the hospitality industry. In common with other Local Authorities, Epping Forest District Council have recovery plans that meet with mixed online reactions.
While many local residents understand and support the local and national response to Covid-19, a critical group believe that many of the steps advocated to reduce and halt the spread of the disease were unnecessary.
These comments were common across social media channels nationally and internationally. It was important not to take such comments as being necessarily a reflection of wider public mood or opinion.
For example and by contrast, following the launch of the Safer Spaces Commonplace consultation up to 6 July, the website received 2,021 visitors with 658 contributions and agreements.
Third-party Facebook comments and feedback suggested higher levels of support for Covid-19 recovery measures proposed by the Council.
58% of respondents supported measures to reduce traffic speeds and volumes to help aid social distancing, with 43% noting they would support measures that sought to reallocate road and parking space for walking and cycling more permanently.
Interviews with councillors on BBC Essex produced further feedback indicating our steps to cut parking charges as part of wider high street recovery measures were much more popular than social media would suggest.
The negatives were:
· Customer frustrations at the length of time some of the service areas take to respond;
· Recycling Centres not open; and
· Waste calendar doesn’t always download on the website.
The positives however were encouraging:
· Housing staff in repairs were extremely helpful and proactive;
· Efficient service when ordering bins;
· Helpful advice around business grants and where to find information;
· Excellent response to the Covid-19 situation providing food parcels and prescriptions to those who needed it most;
· Sensible approach by the Council to waste services and continuing special collection services;
· Informative website and easy to pay rent and council tax; and
· Easier to report, pay, book, apply for services as was proved by customers that were using the online services much more.
What’s next
People
· Recruitment of new L1 Team Manager (Member & Service Delivery); and
· Training for new Contact Centre staff to bring team to full capacity – the team have been severely hit with resourcing issues, new starters were undergoing training with the team and would be fully trained by the end of August, additional vacancies were being recruited for.
Customer Strategy
· Behavioural training for all front line staff on key skills; active listening, being credible and reliable, taking ownership, defusing and resolving difficult situations, external training provider to be secured; and
· This training will help improve customer service skills for all employees dealing with both internal and external customers and be delivered using Zoom and Teams technology.
R Pavey advised that this was a brief overview of the work that was ongoing throughout the Customer Services area progressing to enhance the customer experience.
Councillor S Kane stated that in the early stages significant changes had been made due to Covid-19. Our customers were being asked to change the ways they were contacting us and ways they pay their rent and council tax.
The Chairman added that the Council’s officers had adapted well to the new way of working.
Councillor S Kane stated that we were in the early stages at the way the Cutomer Services were approaching our customers and we have made a very promising start considering the way Covid-19 impacted on everyone and I was looking forward to see the progress improve as we go along.
The Chairman added that the new way Officers have adapted in supporting our residents during this Pandemic had been very encouraging to the new ways of working.
Councillor D Wixley asked what was the current staffing situation in the Customer Services department like now as at the last meeting it had been reported that the team was not fully staffed.
R Pavey stated that some members of the Customer Services Team have moved to other positions within the Council and there have been people reaching retirement age but the current situation was far more resilient now than it had been with new members of staff being trained and the willingness of other services across the Council in supporting the Customer Services Team had really helped and was appreciated.
The Chairman asked if a written report could come to the next meeting so that Members may scrutinise it before hand and have any questions they wished to ask at the meeting.
R Pavey confirmed that a written report would come to the next meeting and asked members to advise him if there was any other information that they would like provided in the report.
Councillor S Murray reported that he kept a record of phone calls he received from residents this normally equated to 6 calls a week and approximately 330 calls a year. In the last 6 months, since Covid-19 he had received over 500 calls which equated to 16 calls a week, they were not all for the District Council some were for the County Council.
R Pavey stated that if there was anything the Customer Services team could pick up from Councillor Murray then please pass it on.
Councillor J McIvor asked if it was possible for the Select Committee to know any of the areas that were consistently disappointing residents for example departments or singular issues, also for any departments that were exceeding expectations.
R Pavey stated that there was two strands to that Performance would be the remit of the Stronger Councils but we could provide an update on the customer experience. Customer Services provide the complaints data through this meeting, planning tend to be high up as people don’t like the decisions made. Presently as an organisation we do not monitor compliments but I will go back to the Customer Services team and see what data we can put together.
The Chairman stated that it would be nice to recognise the officers that do over and above to facilitate a customer.
Councillor J H Whitehouse requested that a copy of the slide presentation be circulated to the Select Committee.
R Pavey confirmed that a copy of the slides would be sent out to the Select Committee as soon as possible.
The Chairman requested that a written report come to the next meeting of the Select Committee.