Agenda item

[Lamour Gayle, Head of Customer Engagement and Registrars, to present report]

The Chair invited Lamour Gayle, Head of Customer Engagement and Registrars, to give the presentation to the panel.

The Head of Customer Engagement outlined the areas that would be covered during the presentation. 

The Head of Customer Engagement highlighted the key improvements and achievements of the service to date in the way it is working to meet the needs of both internal and external customers.

The Head of Customer Engagement gave an overview of the performance of the Customer Services contacts during 2021 – 2022 and a detailed analysis of enquiries by telephone, email, and face-to face, services delivered, and the call abandoned rate. The service handled 592,922 customer contacts in 2021-2022.

The Head of Customer Engagement advised the panel that face-to- face customer enquiries re-started in March 2022 and the service dealt with 1125 customer enquiries and an average of 60 – 70 customers visiting the Civic Centre daily. Most of these customers queries received related to Wolverhampton Homes.

The Head of Customer Services commented on the findings from the data analysis and highlighted issues facing the service in improving performance and the need to have a joined up digital transformation approach to address them. The Head of Customer Services commented on reduction in abandoned calls rate from 21 per cent in 2019 to 10.2 percent 2022-2023 and further work was planned to reduce this further to better understand the issue.

The Head of Customer Services commented that in response to customer feedback a new Customer Services Strategy is being developed to address issues highlighted in the data analysis.

The Head of Customer Services commented on service specific reviews covering the following areas taxi licensing, council tax and housing benefit and blue badge scheme. The findings from the reviews will inform the development of the strategy. The Head of Customer Services outlined the timeline for the development of the customer services strategy, and the aims and principles aimed at achieving specific objectives and outcomes.

The Head of Customer Services commented on the plans for replacing the current telephone systems nd detailed the advantages of introducing such a system in improving the service to customers.The main objective of the strategy is to deliver a consistent positive customer experience. The Head of Customer Services advised the panel that companies have been invited to demonstrate different telephony solutions to the Council next week.

The panel were invited to comment on the presentation.

The panel thanked the presenter for the report and the progress made to improve the performance of the service.

The panel queried the arrangements for dealing with enquiries from the public who contact the Council on services which are the responsibility of Wolverhampton Homes and suggested if having a representative from Wolverhampton Homes at the Civic Centre rather having to refer them on to resolve the issue would give a better experience.

The Head of Customer Services commented that the service meet regularly with colleagues from Wolverhampton Homes since the building was re-opened to the public to discuss issues. The public footfall in the Civic Centre about Wolverhampton Homes enquiries is monitored and there have been discussions about the co-location of services and the idea of having a Wolverhampton Homes Customer Service Officer.

The Head of Customer Services added that the service currently does not offer a dedicated service to customers about Wolverhampton Homes and agreed to update the panel on progress at a future meeting.

The panel discussed the presentation of the call abandonment rate figures, the calculation of average call rate times, calculation of the number of customer service contacts and what further action was being proposed to reduce it further.

The panel queried the reference in the presentation which showed staffing levels at a lower level than the industry standard and the reliance of customer self-service. The panel welcomed the recognition of the issue in the presentation and that would be included in the strategy review. The panel expressed concern about the number of residents without digital access and how they would manage and the importance of making provision for people in this situation wanting help with Council services.

The Head of Customer Services reassured the panel that the issue of digital poverty across the City is being addressed and outlined a range of initiatives aimed at supporting residents.

The Chief Operating Officer advised the panel that a report on Digital Wolves will be presented to Cabinet next week which will focus on the issue of addressing digital exclusion and suggested the report be presented to the panel at a future meeting.

The panel thanked the presenter for the report.

Resolved:

1.    The panel agreed to note the report and the progress made.

2.    The panel agreed to add a report on Digital Wolves to the panel work programme.

3.    The panel comments on the presentation to be noted and information requested provided as appropriate.