Co-designed Service Standards

Implementation plan

The plan below reflects the feedback received from residents and staff.

In addition to the plan being published, residents identified that the following will also act as ways to know if we are improving:

  • Resident satisfaction survey feedback
  • Complaints, comments and compliments
  • Staff survey feedback

Contents

  1. Residents have inconsistent experiences when contacting the Council.
  2. Responding to residents when it involves more than one team/service.
  3. Website.
  4. Lack of information or access to the roles, responsibilities and contact information for different services.
  5. Poor access to and recording of interactions with residents.
  6. Accessibility and inclusion.
  7. Training.
  8. Contractors/third parties providing services on behalf of the Council.
  9. Raising complaints.
  10. Council Officers aren't visible in the areas where residents live, work and learn.
  11. Listening to and working with residents.

    Issue 1: Residents have inconsistent experiences when contacting the Council

    Feedback

    Some residents reflect that staff are helpful and friendly, but are unable to resolve issues quickly and properly. Other resident feedback indicates that staff do not always treat residents with respect, kindness or empathy.

    Description 

    We need to understand how different services design, develop, deliver and improve their approach to working with residents; including the statutory and non-statutory processes that they follow; to better understand where there are opportunities for improvement.

    Actions Who Target completion date Date completed

    Design a framework to assess service's maturity against the standards.
    • Programme Team
    • Services
    		 End of October 2023  
    Trial the agreed approach in three services, identify good practices, as well as actions to support improvement which are recorded in an action plan.
    • Services
    		 End of March 2024  

    Issue 2: Responding to residents when it involves more than one team/service

    Feedback

    • Residents feel that there is no accountability for resolving the issue and that they have to work out how to get things resolved or who to approach.
    • Staff feel that they don’t know who to ask when it’s not something they usually deal with and staff don’t reply to emails promptly causing delays and poor resident experience.
    • Residents and staff feel that different teams and services need to work better together; so that the resident journey is easier and quicker.

    Description

    • We need to understand if this impacts a lot of residents; which services often need to come together to resolve the enquiry or concern; what the experience is and identify if there are opportunities for improvement.
    • We need to identify if there are specific services that need to work better together because of specific resident journeys/or internal processes.
    Actions Who Target completion date Date completed

    Identify services where we can find examples of cross cutting service involvement.
    • Programme Team to explore with services

    End of June 2023

    		  
    Identify examples to see what is happening for the resident on the journey through to outcome.
    • Programme Team
    • Service representatives
    		 End of October 2023  
    Identify if there are opportunities to improve the resident experience from the example gathered.
    • Programme Team
    • Service representatives
    		 End of December 2023  
    Pilot end to end service reviews to understand what opportunities this presents to improve resident experience
    • Programme Team
    • Services
    		 End of March 2024  

    Issue 3: Website

    Feedback

    • Residents and services find it difficult to understand what services we provide and how to access them.
    • Residents feel that online forms are difficult to navigate and need to be easier to complete.

    Description

    • We need to review feedback to look at the specific issues with the Council website.
    • We need to agree minimum requirements for any new forms, or updates to existing web forms.
    Actions Who Target completion date Date completed
    Analyse the findings from the Web review, assess the conclusions and recommendations and implement agreed changes.
    • Web Team
    • Head of Customer Experience
    • Customer Experience Officer Group
    		 End of March 2024  
    We need to agree what information, standards and guiding principles need to be shared with developers when they build forms, so that we are aligned with the Government Digital Standards.
    • Digital, Data and Technology
    • Web Team
    • Programme Team
    		 End of December 2023  

    Issue 4: Lack of information or access to the roles, responsibilities and contact information for different services

    Feedback

    • Residents feel we do not proactively share information about different Council Services or how to contact them; especially if they are not accessing information online.
    • Staff say that it is difficult to know who and how to signpost residents because there isn't enough information on what services do or how to contact them.

    Description

    • We need to understand the experience of residents who do not have digital devices or access.
    Actions Who Target completion date Date completed
    Explore what options are available to improve our knowledge of different Council services, staff roles and responsibilities and contact information.
    • Digital, Data and Technology
    • Services
    • Programme Team
    • Internal Comms
    		 End of October 2023  

    Issue 5: Poor access to and recording of interactions with residents.

    Feedback

    • Residents feel that the Council needs to improve systems so that operators can input and retrieve information more easily from both staff and residents.
    • Residents would like to see a profile where they can decide what information to share and what can be shared with others.

    Description

    • We need to be clear about how we record interactions between staff and between staff and residents.

    • We need to understand what data residents would like and expect to see in their online account.

    Actions Who Target completion date Date completed

    Implement a CRM solution which: 

    • Enables staff to record interactions and actions that can be seen by other staff who interact with residents.
    • Has a two-way integration with Line of Business systems, so that the CRM record is up to date, and where there are rules based permissions for staff to access sensitive data.
    • Digital, Data and Technology
    • Services
    • Programme Team
    		 End of December 2023  
    Carry out a workshop to understand residents' feedback on the Council’s online account.
    • Digital, Data and Technology
    • Programme Team
    • Residents
    		 End of October 2023  

    Issue 6: Accessibility and inclusion

    Feedback

    • Residents say information needs to be available in other languages.
    • Residents feel that the Council needs to do more to communicate and provide information for those that struggle to access Council Services for example if they have a learning difficulty, disability or need support with digital access.

    Description

    • We need to understand how to improve residents’ awareness of different accessibility support tools.

    • We need to understand how services can and will work differently to support residents when their needs have been identified.

    Actions Who Target completion date Date completed
    Explore the options for the Council website to be translated into the most commonly spoken languages.
    • Web Team
    • Digital, Data and Technology
    		 To be confirmed pending review of web review actions.  
    • Explore how this information can be gathered and recorded.
    • Ensure the CRM is developed to properly record resident needs.
    • Ensure CRM is configured to flag residents needs easily so that the organisation can work more proactively to support them.
    • Digital, Data and Technology
    • Services
    • Digital inclusion
    		 End of 2024/25  

    Issue 7: Training

    Feedback

    • Residents feel that the Council needs to do more to communicate and provide information for those that struggle to access Council Services for example if they have a learning difficulty, disability or need support with digital access.
    • Staff have said different roles require different support, skills and training.

    • Residents feel that the Council needs to provide more helpful, proactive and prompt communication.

    Description

    • We need to understand how services can and will work differently to support residents when their needs have been identified.
    • We need to understand what skills, support and training need to be available for various roles across the Council.
    • We need to develop good practice principles that set out how we should be communicating with residents. 
    Actions Who Target completion date Date completed
    • Explore how this information can be gathered and recorded.
    • Ensure the CRM is developed to properly record resident needs.
    • Ensure CRM is configured to flag residents needs easily so that the organisation can work more proactively to support them.
    • Digital, Data and Technology
    • Services
    • Digital inclusion
    		 End of 2024/25  
    Work with HR to review the training offer and ensure it meets the needs of staff as well as People Leaders that are responsible for service delivery. 
    • Learning and Development
    • Learning and Adoption Manager
    • Services
    • Customer Experience Officer Group
    		 To be confirmed - ongoing conversations with HR.  
    Ensure "Our Contact Commitments" are fully adopted and embedded within service areas.
    • Programme Board
    • Senior Leaders
    		 End of December 2023  

    Issue 8: Contractors/third parties providing services on behalf of the Council 

    Feedback

    • Residents say we need to hire better contractors as the standard of workmanship is not good.

    Description

    • We need to ensure that contractors are aware of the Service Standards and that contracts require them to share customer satisfaction data.
    Actions Who Target completion date Date completed
    Share Service Standards with all Contractors in the Contract Register and ensure that contract monitoring and management requires contractors to demonstrate how they are working to these standards.
    • Contract Managers
    • Procurement Team
    		 End of December 2023  

    Issue 9: Raising complaints

    Feedback

    • Residents say that they have inconsistent experiences when trying to access the complaints process.

    • Some residents say that there is a fear of reprisal and that the Council needs to address residents’ sensitivity around using the complaints process.

    Description

    • We need to improve awareness and access to the complaints process.

    • We need to identify which services residents are apprehensive about raising complaints against.

    Actions Who Target completion date Date completed
    Carry out a communications campaign to raise general, external awareness of the complaints process, including how residents can contact the complaints team directly.
    • Complaints Team
    • Comms Team
    		 End of October 2023  
    • Complaints Team to explore resident engagement feedback in more detail.
    • Complaints Team to work with the identified Services and support them to address and overcome residents’ concerns about using the complaints process.
    • Complaints Team
    • Services
    		 End of April 2024  

    Issue 10: Council Officers aren't visible in the areas where residents live, work and learn    

    Feedback

    • The community trusts other established organisations and so Council presence at these events will generate better relationships and higher attendance.

    Description

    • We need to understand what services and information residents would like to see and have access to; and where and when these needs to be delivered to best support residents.
    Actions Who Target completion date Date completed
    Carry out a face-to-face access pilot in community spaces to understand demand and impact; and report findings to Programme Board.
    • Services
    • Programme Team
    		 End of October 2023  

    Issue 11: Listening to and working with residents

    Feedback

    • Residents do not consistently feel as though the Council includes or consults them on the things that affect their lives.

    Description

    • Decision makers to act in line with the Charter for Public Participation, engage with residents early in the decision-making process and ensure that key decision reports include details of engagement and consultation carried out. PCF Team to continue to ask Citizen Panel questions about how involved residents feel in decision making.
    Actions Who Target completion date Date completed
    Develop "You Said, We Did" guidance that supports staff to understand how to work with the community.
    • Governance Team
    • Putting Communities first
    		 End of October 2023  
    Continue with our feedback survey rollout across the organisation, so that residents can give feedback about staff and services at various touchpoints. More feedback across a whole resident journey will enable us to make improvements which we can report back to residents about.
    • Programme Team
    • Services
    		 End of December 2023  
    Managers and senior leaders should speak to residents who have used the service on a quarterly basis. This will allow leaders to better understand resident experience and make improvements that positive impact residents.
    • Leaders
    		 End of December 2023  

     

    Last updated: 27 September 2023