To review resident access to services and consider how the council ensures its services are accessible for those who find it difficult to access digital provision.

The committee considered a presentation Customer Service, presented by Councillor Kabir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and Housebuilding and Lead for Customer Services and Raj Chand, Director of Customer Services. A copy of the presentation can be found in the agenda pack.

The committee made the following comments and questions:

·       With the new Town Hall being used as a main residents’ hub, how has this been communicated to residents and what can members of the committee do to better promote this? Councillor Kabir Ahmed stated that while there will be a large resident’s hub within the new town hall, there will also be five more across the borough still for residents to access. The residents’ hubs will have increased services than the previous one stop shops and will be in place of the current ideas’ stores. Raj Chand recommended that members talk to residents, especially vulnerable residents about the new residents’ hubs and the services that they run.

·       How will staffing work in the new residents’ hubs? Councillor Kabir Ahmed stated that there will be investment in staff and based on the expected services at the hubs, the staffing will be moulded based on this. There will also be space for partner organisations, who will also be there to support residents.

·       Only 26 per cent of enquiries are dealt with first time, can you explain why this is low? Raj Chand agreed that it was low, but there will be improvement on this and as the pathways are more formalised, allowing for more partners to be involved, more issues can be dealt with, first time.

·       For those who are tyring to access services digitally but are finding they are now getting a positive outcome, what can the council do to improve on this? Raj Chand acknowledged some of the issues that can be found accessing services online. There are around 40,000 forms that residents can potentially access, and some of these are not as prompt in ensuring a response is generated.

·       Will the potential of Tower Hamlets Homes coming inhouse, has this been factored into customer service demand? Councillor Kabir Ahmed explained the current process of bringing this service inhouse but stated that many of the customer service systems are shared, many residents will not see the difference to how their customer service works.

·       It is important to see improvements in customer services and especially after years of cost saving exercises across the council. But this is also in a climate where many lessons this committee has previously tried to make the council learn, have been ignored.

·       It would be helpful to be able to see the abandoned phone call data, on a monthly basis. Further to this, it would be helpful to see what other matrix the council measures against. Raj Chand detailed how the council works on the feedback it gets, including quality assurance that currently happens and is planned going forward. Raj Chand agreed to provide abandoned call data and other data collection to the committee.

·       What are the extra resources that will be put into the new resident hubs to ensure residents are supported to access council services? How will this be funded? Councillor Kabir Ahmed stated that in the residents’ hubs there will be staff there to support residents in person. The council is currently identifying how much resource each residents’ hub will need, and it will be done on a location by location basis.

·       How does the council contact those who are not able to have their enquiry answered? Raj Chand explained the process of getting back to residents, highlighting how the call back time has fallen and how quick responses are provided on social media.

·       The council social media has been very positive and helped members with enquiries.

·       Does the council keep a log of a resident’s issues, so when issues are followed up, the council can see all their history to avoid the resident repeating their concerns? Raj Chand agreed that it would be helpful to have this function, however the council runs many services and often use different IT system, that do not work together. Some integration is possible, and it is an area the council is working on to improve as systems improve.

The chair thanked Raj Chand and Councillor Kabir Ahmed for attending and presenting. The chair summed up the main themes of the discussion.

1.    There are concerns with the support residents are getting from customer service

2.    The Council currently and through the new strategy are trying to improve the positive experience of residents

3.    The local picture is important when looking at how resources should be used

4.    The shortcomings of the hunt system and how a new system is needed

5.    There is zero tolerance in compromising the standard of service for residents.

6.    The publicity and promotion of the new residents’ hubs.

RESOLVED

The presentation be noted