Agenda item

The Director of Finance submits a report outlining the Revenues & Customer Support Service Channel Shift (and Customer Access) transformation programme.  The Commission is recommended to review and comment upon achievements from November 2014 – to date and review and comment upon the outline programme of works and resources.

The Director of Finance submitted a report that outlined the Channel Shift transformation programme. This highlighted the importance of the programme and the achievements made since November 2014.

The Head of Revenues and Customer Support presented the report and explained that Channel Shift for Leicester would:

·         Move as much customer contact away from expensive face to face and telephony channels as possible;

·         In doing so, improve service standards and the user experience; and

·         Protect a core delivery service for those people who really needed it.

As a result of this there was an expectation that Channel Shift would make financial savings.  The main provision for customer service would be on Granby Street, but there would also be work to build on the digital home offer so that people could transact business on-line. 

Members heard that there was a new Customer Record Management (CRM) System, which would provide a more robust procedure for data collection as the old system was out of date.

Various initiatives were being introduced to facilitate Channel Shift. These included ‘My Leicester’ which, it was hoped, would be operational and on-line by September 2016. With this, people would be able to log in and transact with the council on nearly 40 different types of transactions.

In the Customer Service Centre there were a number of PCs which people could use to pay bills or transact on-line. Customers would be met and invited to use the PCs; staff would be there to show them what to do. Where customers were able to transact their payments or enquiries on line, staff would be freed up to help customers who needed face to face contact. Part of the focus of the new system was to ensure that officers were available to help the vulnerable as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Members raised comments and queries, which included the following:

·         As the front desk at New Parks Housing Office would now be closed, what provision would there be for people who could not get into town?

·         Would the libraries be able to cope with an increased demand if more people used the PCs there to transact on line? 

·         Would Channel Shift result in staff redundancies?

Members heard that due to budget pressures, savings were necessary but the Council were conscious of the need to protect the most vulnerable.  There would be six hubs (or locations), including the Pork Pie Library, where there would be a digital offer to support the Channel Shift programme.  There would be a need for extra PCs and some PCs would be set aside purely for people to transact on line.  Training was already offered in libraries for people to use I.T. and this would continue. A Member suggested that if community groups could be offered this training, they in turn could train others.

In respect of staffing, it was difficult to know the exact impact on staffing numbers, however there was a requirement to make savings as the Customer Service budget needed to be cut by £200k. The Director of Delivery, Communications and Political Governance said that she was currently looking at what this would mean for individuals.

·         What help would be available for people with language difficulties?

Members heard that staff already dealt with a number of people with language difficulties and the Council would continue as part of its Customer Service offer, to provide help to those people.

·         Concerns were expressed that if people were dealing with their transactions from home, they would miss out on personal and social interaction.

Members heard that the average face to face transaction time only took about eight minutes but the Transforming Neighbourhood Services (TNS) programme would be instrumental in providing real opportunities for social engagement.

·         It had been mentioned that there were six hubs where there would be a digital offer to support Channel Shift, but there appeared to be nothing in the East side of the City.

Members heard that the East side of the City was still to be considered under the Transforming Neighbourhood Services programme. The initial consultation in that area would seek people’s views on the community facilities they liked to use, and in response to a request from Councillor Hunter, assurances were given that the relevant Ward Councillors would be included in the consultation.

·         Is there recent customer satisfaction data available?

Members heard that customer satisfaction surveys were carried out on a monthly basis and up to date information could be provided for Members. Recently there had been ‘Mystery Shoppers’ at the Pork Pie Library and Granby Street, and positive feedback was received from both locations. This feedback could also be shared with the Commission.

·         A concern was raised that analysis showed that between April 2015 and March 2016, 12% of the phone calls made to the Granby Street Customer Services had been abandoned.

The Head of Revenues and Customer Support explained that when people telephoned Customer Services, an automated message gave other options for contacting the Council, such as by transacting on-line. Some people may have preferred to use a different method. The Council were aware that there had been occasions when people had to wait a long time for their call to be answered and were working to reduce this. Phone calls were charged at a local rate and last month the average call time was six minutes.

·         What was known about the end user experience and how could this be measured?

Members heard that the customer experience was and would continue to be measured and as part of this, feedback from Mystery Shoppers and data collection would be important. In addition the new CRM system had a customer satisfaction module which would capture satisfaction levels at the conclusion of the user’s transaction.

It was noted that the report stated there were barriers in implementing the Channel Shift programme, though Members heard that these barriers could be overcome.  Appendix B of the report detailed the structure across the authority to support the programme. Members were informed that careful thought had been given about the investment needed to support the programme because much of Channel Shift depended on the Council’s I.T. investment and services.

The Chair drew the discussion to a conclusion and stated that the most important outcome was for the customer to benefit from the changes. The challenges in implementing the programme were noted however.

AGREED:

that the Commission:

1)     notes the report and the progress set out within it;

2)    expresses concerns at the staff reductions that may result from the Channel Shift programme; and

3)    requests that a review be brought back to the commission in six months’ time to include progress and any learning points that have arisen so far.