Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services Access to Services Strategy Pre-Scrutiny Briefing 11 th December 2007 Southend-on-Sea Borough Council ‘Creating a better Southend’ Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Place the customer at the heart of service deliveryPlace the customer at the heart of service delivery Focussing services to meet the needs of all sections of the communityFocussing services to meet the needs of all sections of the community Know what people want and organise to deliver itKnow what people want and organise to deliver it Improve outcomes for allImprove outcomes for all What’s it about?

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services Ease of contact with Council at accessible locationsEase of contact with Council at accessible locations Reach all parts of the communityReach all parts of the community Use e-government to supportUse e-government to support Pursue partnership workingPursue partnership working Continued.

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services “Access to Services is about focussing services to meet the needs of all sections of the community and to improve outcomes for all. An accessible and user focussed organisation places the customer at the heart of service delivery. It knows what local people want and has organised itself to deliver this.” Our vision is:

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services Face to face Telephony Reception Internet Post Others: texting, Digital TV…….. What access channels do we have?

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services Feedback Consultation Involvement in planning services How do we involve the customer?

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services Do people know what we provide? Do they know how to access our services? Are there some people’s needs that we’re not delivering? How do we know what people think of us? What is the user experience?

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services Have we got standards in place? Do customers know what they can expect of us? We have launched the Customer Charter Standards

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services Standards 83% of calls to the main telephone number were answered within 20 seconds 87% of letters received were answered within 10 days 88% of s received were answered within 10 days 70% of complaints were answered within 10 days 86.2% of customers seen by the Contact Centre within 10 mins

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services Moving ‘back office’ functions to ‘front office’ Expanding use of the CRM system Making the website more transactional Extending the availability of different payment methods Here are some of the initiatives:

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services Right info to the right people at the right time ‘Signpost’ customers to the right service provider or information One telephone number Joined-up services with partners throughout Southend Self-service What else?

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council Safe – Clean - Healthy - Prosperous - Excellent Access to Services What would improve your constituents’ experience of contact with the Council? Are there ‘channels’ we’re not using? Are there key areas where you believe there are problems with accessing information and services? What would your priorities be for enhancing access and/or putting problem areas right? What’s important to you?