Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods introduced this report as set out. The report provided the Committee with an update on the Front Office, Back Office (FOBO) Transformation Programme.

The Cabinet Member highlighted the following:

·         The Cabinet Member had been visiting other councils to see if any lessons could be learned for Haringey’s FOBO.

·         There had been a reduction in the number of face to face customer service interactions, with an increase in online customer service interactions.

·         September Cabinet approved a new parking system which would be live from April 2020.

·         There had been no compulsory redundancies issued to any FOBO staff.

Andy Briggs, Assistant Director of Corporate and Customer Services, highlighted the additional points:

·         The FOBO Transformation Programme had achieved savings of £2.9mil.

·         The service had a productive working relationship with the trade unions in addressing staff changes as a result of the programme.

·         The service had improved its communication with customer services.

In response to questions from the Committee, the following information was noted:

a.    For those residents not comfortable using electronic services, there were drop in sessions available to assist those residents in completing services which required online systems. The website had also been made more user friendly.

b.    Stage 2 would include a complete review of the operating model in Haringey’s libraries, which would include the encouragement of a self-service model. There had been successful trial runs of the self-service systems for the elderly and those who did not speak English as their first language.

c.    The Council had been recording customer satisfaction levels at its face to face centres, which showed high levels (80%+) of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction was being recorded on the Council’s website, with a scoring system at the bottom of each webpage, and also at the end of Council calls, with a text following up the call asking for a rating of the level of customer service received.

d.    The move towards a greater online customer service presence was cautioned with potentially barring those unable or without the means to access online services. The Cabinet Member noted there would still be the provision to deal with customers fact to face. Furthermore, the emphasis on online customer service would free up the face to face customer service provisions to deal with those genuinely in need of face to face assistance.

e.    The Change in letters being sent out from Revenues and Benefits and Housing Rent letters had led to a reduction in calls to the Council. This freed up customers services and allowed resources to be deployed elsewhere.

f.     The FOBO programme had initially been allocated a budget of £8.4mil, however, the service was currently predicting a spend of £5.4mil, an underspend of £3mil. Officers largely attributed this saving as a result of the contractor the service chose to provide its customer platform.

g.    Regarding G-Cloud, Officers noted this had a much wider range of pre-vetted suppliers available on it.

h.    Regarding the number of landlords who had taken up the invites to the ‘Landlord Portal’, Officers confirmed they would provide that information (Action: Andy Briggs)

i.      Regarding the methodology used for the projection of customer contacts, it was noted the figures in part 2 on page 71 were computer generated. The projections were accurate up to August 2019 with best estimates being used there after. Officers noted there had been a great deal of benefit analysis to match the savings target. Officers would provide what those projections showed in percentage step down in traditional contact but there was no concern if the ‘Online – My Account’ or ‘Online – Contact Us’ numbers were to increase. Officers wanted to see a decrease in traditional forms of customer contact to enable resources used for those genuinely in need of direct customer assistance.

j.      All the savings the service had predicted were on track to be delivered, with Officers confident the £2.484mil savings would be met. The Cabinet Member noted efforts were being made to check whether systems used in other departments could be implemented in the service, which would save on costs.

k.    There was to be a complete review of the court officer roles.

l.      Officers stressed the Council’s customer services should be providing the resources and support to help those in need, such as those unable to read or write. The Cabinet Member and Officers requested Committee Members provide, via the Chair, contact details for individuals who had experienced difficulty with any of the Council’s customer services. The Chair requested any learning points that the Officers formulate from looking into such cases be shared with the Committee.

The Chair requested Officers bring an update report on the FOBO Transformation Programme - Stage 2 in March 2020. Officers could provide the Committee with budget and customer projections updates in January 2020.