Person responsible for managing the assessment

Customer Care Manager for Havant Borough Council

Name and brief description of the service / policy to be assessed

Customer Service Centre

To deliver a wide range of services and information to customers contacting Havant Borough Council via the various channels available and ensuring a high level of customer service is provided at all times.

Objectives of the service/policy to be assessed

To provide a front-line service that is accessible for all and ensuring that customer enquiries are managed from the point of contact through to resolution.

To manage the Council’s corporate customer complaints procedure.

Baseline/monitoring data

Information from the 2001 census:

Of the residents in the Borough, 48.02% are male, 52.98% female.

1700 residents (1.5%) are non-white

3570 residents (3.1%) are not British

29.55% are aged under 25. 18.92% are aged 65 or over.

4,530 residents are in receipt of Disability Living Allowance and 2,470 are in receipt of Attendance Allowance.

Population: 115,300 (mid 2005)

Service/policy outcome evaluation

The following list details how the Council is meeting the equality standards:

1.      Provision of a language and Braille translation service

2.      Documentation and leaflets available in large print for the partially sighted

3.      Hearing loops in reception areas for those with hearing disabilities and portable loops available for interview rooms

4.      Assistance provided to customers with learning difficulties, such as completing forms on their behalf

5.      Lower counter at main reception desk for customers in wheel chairs

6.      Interview rooms available for customers who wish to discuss sensitive and confidential matters

7.      24-hour access to emergency contacts and a voicemail service for non-emergency out of hours calls

8.      A 24 hour website providing information, links to various services and enabling customers to report problems on-line.

9.      Articles in the Council’s quarterly magazine, ‘Serving You’, on how to contact the Council

10.  Advice provided to customers with disabilities, such as how to apply for assisted refuse collections

11.  Call and Go bus service for disabled customers who have difficulties using the normal bus service

12.  At each monthly team brief a discussion takes place with front-line members of staff to identify any changes to customer needs

13.  Regular one to one coaching and customer care training courses are provided to all Customer Service Centre staff

14.  Training session on managing enquiries from customers with learning difficulties delivered to all staff within the Customer Service Centre

15.  Regular meetings with all the services that the Council provide a front-line service for to identify improvements to the delivery of these services

16.  Annual customer exit survey undertaken in Quarter 3 each year

List of main stakeholders/beneficiaries

1.      All Council services with the exception of Revenues and Benefits

2.      All customers using the services of Havant Borough Council.  These include residents, businesses, tourists and visitors

How representative is the ‘stakeholder’ list above?

Regular meetings take place with all Council Services that the Customer Service Centre provide a front-line service for.

Monthly customer satisfaction surveys take place on the telephone and at main reception

Who benefits from the service/policy?

There is no evidence that any groups benefit more or are under represented.

In what area are there concerns that the policy could have a differential impact

Race

Disability - no

Gender - no

Age – no

Religious beliefs - no

Sexual Orientation - no

Please explain for each of the target equality groups, but in particular race, disability and gender:

Areas of concern that the service/policy could have a differential impact  

All staff receive regular customer service training to ensure that all customer enquiries, regardless of how they are received, are dealt with and managed in the same way.  One concern however is identifying customers who have a disability which is not always evident when initially speaking to the customer. 

A hate crime policy is in the process of being produced and it is planned to be in place by April 2008 together with the monitoring of these complaints.

Currently there are no members of staff within the Customer Service Centre who are trained in signing, however this is currently being addressed and staff training is planned to take place by March 2008.

Differential impact

It is not thought that there is any negative impact in the areas of disability, gender, age, religious beliefs and sexual orientation.  With regard to race, more information needs to be collected and consultation undertaken.  Customer Satisfaction surveys have not identified any negative impact but it is not considered that these in themselves are sufficient to state that there is no negative impact.

Reasons for any differential impact

At this moment there is not enough evidence to determine any differential impact.

Are there any barriers to opportunities or access for some groups?

Take-up: ethnic origin not currently monitored

Further consultation with minority groups required

Complaints data

No complaints have been received in this service area in respect of equality issues

Are there disadvantages caused by discrimination?

None identified

Are there opportunities to better promote service/policy inclusion?

This is being discussed generally within the Council.

Have you undertaken any consultation?

1.      Monthly customer satisfaction surveys – both on the telephone and in person in the reception area

2.      Annual Exit survey

3.      Regular meetings with Council Services

Consultation outcomes

1.      Planning application submitted to reduce the number of parking spaces for disabled persons from 6 to 3 based on experienced demand.  This will enable the number of general parking spaces to be increased from 10 to 14.

2.      Better promotion to customers of the availability of interview rooms

3.      More tables made available in reception area for customer use

Assessment conclusion

The general conclusion is that there is no evidence of any existing working practices or procedures within the Customer Service Centre having any negative impact on different groups within the community.  However, the following actions have been identified to improve customer access and the delivery of customer service:

1.      To assess and meet changing customer demand for information and services to be available outside the Civic Offices such as having service points within libraries in the borough and at Beachlands.  Target date – 31/3/08

2.      To provide equalities training to all members of staff and this to be included as part of the induction programme for new starters.  Target date – 31/03/08

3.      To review the customer satisfaction surveys to gain a better understanding of whether or not the Council is meeting customer needs in being able to access Council services and equalities issues.  Target date – 31/10/08

4.      To produce a hate crime policy.  Target date – 30/4/08

5.      To review and implement any recommended changes to the monitoring of hate crime complaints to ensure complaints of this nature are recorded accurately.  Target date – 30/4/07

Monitoring timetable

Performance against the above actions and targets will be monitored by the Council’s Head of Customer and Support Services and by the Customer Care Manager.

Please ensure that you have provided as much evidence as possible to support the responses you have given.

Additional Comments

None

Signed:  Customer Care Manager                                                 (Completing Officer)

Signed:  Head of Customer and Support Services                     (Head of Service)

Date: 24 September 2007