Subject:

Customer Insight Annual Report 2020/2021

Date of Meeting:

1/7/2021

Report of:

Executive Lead Officer for Strategy, Governance & Law (Monitoring Officer)

Contact Officer:

Name:

Rima Desai

Victoria Paling

Tel: 01273 291268

Tel: 01273 291805

 

Email:

rima.desai@brighton-hove.gov.uk

victoria.paling@brighton-hove.gov.uk

Ward(s) affected:

All

 

FOR GENERAL RELEASE

 

 

1.         PURPOSE OF REPORT AND POLICY CONTEXT

 

1.1         Following on from approval of the Customer Experience Strategy at Policy & Resources Committee on 4th December 2019, this report has been written to help monitor performance against our Customer Promise, track progress towards our Customer Experience Vision and to provide information relating to customer interactions with the council.

 

1.2         This report is compiled with support from the Customer Experience Steering Group, delivers key management information on customer contact and provides insights to customer experience of council services.

 

1.3          Our customers include everyone who lives, works, visits or does business in Brighton & Hove. Customers include those who need to interact with the council as well as those the council must interact with, such as where we have a duty of care.

 

1.4         This report has been created to share

·           the latest customer satisfaction and contact information

·           improvement actions supporting future service development

·           learning across the council and promote the One Council Approach

 

2.         RECOMMENDATIONS:    

 

2.1      That the Committee notes the Customer Insight Annual Report for 2020/21 as set out in Appendix 1 and provides support and challenge to officers to further improve customer experience and customer satisfaction with the council.

 

3.            BACKGROUND / SUMMARY INFORMATION

 

BACKGROUND

 

3.1         The Customer Experience Steering Group (CESG) works together to improve the customer experience, which in turn intends to improve customer satisfaction. This group consists of all key services across the council.

3.2         The CESG has established a Customer Promise and a Customer Vision and an action plan to achieve the vision. This report brings together some of the information used to monitor progress against the key elements of this work.

 

SUMMARY

 

3.3         The comparison below is in the context of Covid-19 pandemic, the impact of which resulted in service disruption.  As a result the services have been delivered differently in 2020/21.

 

3.4         The average customer satisfaction with transactional council services in 2020/21 is 54%. The result for 2019/20 was 64%.

 

3.5         Those services who have higher transaction and contact volumes show lower levels of customer satisfaction than teams who have lower contact or transaction volumes.

 

3.6         Overall customer contact with the council in 2020/21 reduced by 24% compared to 2019/20

·           Email was the most used method of contacting the council in 2020/21, representing 41% of overall contact compared to 32% in 19/20.

·           The proportion of contact made through online form submissions has increased by 13% since 2019/20, now at 38%

·           The proportion of contact made by telephone decreased by 4%, from 21% in 2019/20 to 17% in 2020/21.

 

3.7         Customer Feedback

·           The number of compliments received has decreased by 7% compared to 2019/20

·           The number of Stage 1 complaints has decreased by 28% compared to 2019/20, the number of Stage 1 complaints responded to within 10 working days has decreased by 5% to 64% against the target of 80%.

 

3.8         74% (1878) of respondents to the satisfaction survey provided   equalities monitoring information.

·           Respondents who identified as BME were on average more satisfied (59%) with the level of customer service than those who identified as white (52%). Respondents who identified as LGBQ were on average less satisfied with the level of customer service (49%) than those who identified as heterosexual (55%)

·           Respondents who identified as having their day to day activity limited due to health or a disability were on average more satisfied with the level of customer service (56%) than those who did not identify as having their day to day activities limited by health or a disability (52%)

·           Respondents aged 50+ on average reported higher levels of satisfaction than those aged 18 – 49.

·           Respondents who identified as female were, on average, more satisfied than those who identified as male or other.

 

3.9         The report recommends three priority areas of focus to within a wider customer experience review: delivering fair & inclusive services, improving customer accessibility and service responsiveness, and aligning our customer offer with digital ambitions. More details of these priorities are within the report.

 

4.            ANALYSIS & CONSIDERATION OF ANY ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS

 

4.1      Not applicable

 

5.            COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & CONSULTATION

 

5.1      Engagement with customers and staff has informed data within this report.  Results from this engagement, and from Customer Satisfaction surveys are outlined within.

 

6.         CONCLUSION

 

6.1      This report enables the council to:

·           Monitor progress of improvements to the Customer Experience

·           Highlight areas for focus and share good practice

·           Monitor and maximise investment in customer access improvements, such as digital service provision.

 

7.         FINANCIAL & OTHER IMPLICATIONS:

 

Financial Implications:

 

7.1      Individual financial implications for services to further improve their performance will need to be considered as part of the budget setting process going forward.

 

Finance Officer Consulted:            Peter Francis

 

Legal Implications:

 

7.2      The proposals contained in the report are within the Council’s powers to implement and will help the Council in discharging its function regarding the promotion of the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of the area. In addition to improving the customer experience, they will contribute to the achievement of the Council’s duties under the Best Value Act 1999.

 

Lawyer Consulted:                          Abraham Ghebre-Ghiorghis

 

Equalities Implications:

 

7.3      The importance of understanding equalities implications is a core part of the awareness raising sessions designed for the Customer Experience Ambassadors across the council and forms part of the mandatory Customer Experience induction sessions.

 

7.4      We will be working with community groups to understand barriers to customer access.

 

 

 

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

 

Appendices:

 

1.    Customer Insight Report 2020/21