Wiltshire Registration Service. Service Delivery and Performance Management Plan

Transcription

1 Wiltshire Registration Service Service Delivery and Performance Management Plan

2 CONTENTS PAGE Page 1. Introduction and Background 2. Current Service Provision 3. Customer Service 4. Performance Monitoring and Service Standards 5. Staff Development and Training 6. Operational Targets 7. Business Continuity Management & Pandemic Planning Appendices a) Organisation structure b) Performance Indicators & Results c) Services Activity and Information d) Business Continuity Plan 2

3 1. Introduction and Background 1.1. Registration Services are delivered by Wiltshire Council in partnership with the General Register Office, part of the Immigration & Passport Service. Wiltshire Council is legally obliged to provide facilities for the delivery of birth and death registrations, civil marriages and partnerships, citizenship ceremonies and the custody of historic records Wiltshire Council s vision as outlined in the 4 year Business Plan is underpinned by four key goals: Provide high quality, low cost customer focused services; To prioritise local issues; To be open and honest in all our decision making; To work together with our partners to support Wiltshire s communities. These key goals are underpinned by 3 core values: To place the customer first; To strengthen its communities; To adopt a can-do approach in everything we do; 1.3. Wiltshire is a rural county and a popular place to live. In 2011, the population was estimated to be approximately 461,480, with 21.5% over the age of 60 (women) and 65 (men) and 22% under the age of 17. The population is set to increase by over 68,000 people by 2030, with a large proportion of this rise accounted for by the 85+ age group. Wiltshire has one of the largest military populations in the country with over 30,000 personnel and their dependants. Major military developments include the Salisbury Plain Super Garrison and the closure and potential re-use of RAF Lyneham. Whilst this brings significant employment, population volatility provides its own challenges for local businesses and public services. The impact of the military on our county is reflected in the unique and nationally recognised Military Civilian Integration programme The Registration Service sits within Business Services in Wiltshire Council and operates as a single district with its administration centre and Register Office located in Trowbridge This plan will set out how the Service will operate over the next 12 months including how it will achieve its key targets, how it will 3

4 monitor service standards and performance and objectives to improve services to its customers The Service will continue with a programme of changes to include the best possible and consistent practice across the service with the most efficient use of resources and information technology, in line with Wiltshire Council s Business Plan. 2. Current Service Provision 2.1. The Register Office and administration centre for the Service is located in Trowbridge. There are three main Registration Offices, located in Chippenham, Devizes and Salisbury The Register Office and main Registration Offices open as follows: Wiltshire Register Office Trowbridge Chippenham Open 34 hours per week Open 31.5 hours per week Monday Friday (opens during lunchtime) Monday Friday Devizes Open 21.5 hours per week Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday Salisbury Open 34 hours per week Monday Friday (opens during lunchtime) with additional appointments available out of opening hours 2.3. Services are also available from 10 satellite offices. Attendance at these offices is by appointment only. Calne Corsham Marlborough Malmesbury Melksham Mere Tidworth Warminster Westbury Royal Wootton Bassett Thursday p.m. Tuesday p.m. Thursday a.m. Tuesday a.m. Wednesday a.m. Thursday a.m. Wednesday Tuesday & Thursday Tuesday p.m. Thursday a.m. 4

5 2.4. Chippenham, Devizes and Salisbury operate ceremony rooms as approved venues, in accordance with GRO guidance Customers make appointments to visit the office of their choice at their convenience during opening times, to register events and give notice of marriage/civil partnership. Couples and families can visit main offices to discuss and arrange marriage, civil partnership, naming and renewal of vows ceremonies and to attend citizenship ceremonies The centralised repository is located at the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham. A dedicated team produces copy certificates and carries out related maintenance tasks on the closed registers 2.7. An out-of-hours emergency service is available for burial within 24 hours or Registrar General s licence. In these situations, customers are advised to contact their funeral director, or the hospital or hospice, which all hold registration staff mobile numbers. This information is also displayed at the entrance to each of the four main local offices There is one Superintendent Registrar appointed for the county who is one of the Operations Managers. The county is divided into seven sub-districts for register purposes, with one Registrar of Births and Deaths appointed to be responsible for all seven subdistricts. A copy of the staff structure for 12/13 can be found at Appendix The service has a progressive Registration Management Team, comprising: Proper Officer; Senior Operations Manager; Operations Managers (2) and Business Support Manager. These roles continue to play a vital part in contributing to the strategic direction of the service The role of Senior Operations Manager was created in October 2011 for a fixed term contract of 1 year to support the Proper Officer in leading the review of the Service. This role was ringfenced to the Operations Managers. It was awarded to the Operations Manager in Salisbury, who holds it in conjunction with her substantive post which was reduced to part-time for this period. The balance of her Operations Manager duties are covered by back-fill arrangements There are three Operations Managers supported by four Senior Registration Officers (SROs) who are based at the Wiltshire Register Office and each of the three main Registration Offices. SROs are multi-skilled Registration Officers and, in 5

6 addition, act as Team Leaders with day-to-day supervisory responsibility for the office team Registration Officers are multi-skilled covering the full range of statutory and non-statutory tasks. Support Officers are public facing and provide administrative support. Registration Officers (Ceremonies) conduct and register ceremonies. This enables the service to respond flexibly to demands. 3. Customer Service 3.1. The main focus of the Service continues to be giving the best customer service possible. The Service will be working more closely than ever with these teams to improve all aspects of customer care. A working party has been set up as part of the review looking at the customer experience from the time the telephone is answered to the end of the call. This is work in progress and the findings will be used to improve our service where necessary At present customers use a golden telephone number to access the service and calls are answered between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. Any enquiries that cannot be answered or transferred to a registration office, because the number is busy or the office closed, are entered on to the CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system for action by registration staff as soon as possible. This means that customers should only have to make one call to the service. The Wiltshire Council Business Plan says: We must provide the services Wiltshire needs, to the standard that the residents want, and give value for money. Our customers must be the starting point for our services so that we know that what we are providing is what they want and need. Those services are provided in a way that customers can easily understand and access. In order to do this, Wiltshire Council must; place its customers first strengthen its communities adopt a can-do approach in everything it does. We want to reflect a strong service mentality, which focuses on the whole experience for our customers and how we can make it a good one. We are developing a culture where we go the extra mile to help our customers and make Wiltshire Council one of the best in the country A systems thinking exercise is being carried out within the service to enable the above to happen. The exercise will focus entirely on the customer with the system looked at end to end from a customer s 6

7 perspective. The ideal system has no batching or holding work, it does it once and done. ICT requirements are identified and specified to meet the new system rather than the system meeting the ICT. It is hoped that service improvements will link to the council s aims of enabling customers to access principal services through scheduled appointments in their local community, to make better use of the web and to ensure that telephone call connection rates exceed 95% The service is already working closely with Customer Services in offering the Tell Us Once service for deaths. We will continue to investigate ways to make this a more seamless operation in all our offices Other aims include: to investigate the possibility of providing a nationality checking service outstation at one of the army barracks. As mentioned in the introduction Wiltshire has a very large military population and many of the county s new citizens are serving personnel. As this service is already provided in Salisbury and Chippenham close to the main military bases, this provision would have to be both cost effective and beneficial to all parties Review the use of ICT to enable better management of bookings, making appointments and providing new services such as online certificate ordering. To further this aim, a new e-diary management system has been purchased and is due to be implemented in June Establishing closer links with the local immigration team. 4. Performance Monitoring and Service Standards 4.1. A copy of the performance results and indicators for the period April 2009 March 2012 can be found in Appendix A of this report The Council actively seeks to provide a customer focused and cost effective service which meets statutory requirements and the standards within the Good Practice Guide (GPG). The Registration Service will: continually strive to improve services as a result of selfassessment compared to the national criteria (Good Practice Guide). continue to provide a value-for-money, prompt and efficient service. listen, value and use customer feedback to identify good service and practice, monitor performance, make 7

8 improvements to service standards and increase customer satisfaction. continue to signpost services for the people of Wiltshire e.g. bereavement services. ensure that we are able to communicate with all people wishing to use the service in the community by providing information in languages other than English where requested. The Registration Management Team will continue to ensure the Service responds promptly to legislative and technical changes Operations Managers will ensure that registration standards of professional practice are achieved and financial procedures are adhered to. Spot checks will be undertaken to monitor and ensure that accurate and timely cashbook entries are completed in line with current financial procedures The Operations Managers will undertake a programme of monitoring for all Registration Officers to ensure their standard of work meets the statutory requirements. Any areas for improvement will be highlighted and monitored as required The Business Support Manager is responsible for monitoring the key performance indicators required by the Registrar General and Wiltshire Council The key performance indicators will be reviewed on a quarterly basis at the Registration Management Team Meetings (RMT). Each indicator will be checked and if the Service is found to be falling short of the requirements, actions will be agreed and implemented where it is within the remit of the service to do so. An additional monthly check will be undertaken to identify any errors in the collection of statistics or other issues requiring swift action. A selection of KPIs will be presented to a group of Cabinet and Portfolio holders on a monthly basis from July The information and table below indicates how the service will monitor and report on these. 8

9 ACTIVITY METHOD/SOURCE EVIDENCE KPI. 1. Events registered within statutory timeframe % of births registered within 42 days (and total number of births) Data extracted from RON by Operations Managers Key Data report from RON % of still-births registered within 42 days (and total number of still-births registered) Data extracted from RON by Operations Managers Key Data report from RON % of deaths registered within 5 days excluding inquests (and total number of deaths) % of deaths registered within 5 days excluding post mortems and inquests % of deaths registered within 7 days after post mortems excluding inquests Data extracted from RON by Operations Managers GRO Report received from GRO Account Manager GRO Report received from GRO Account Manager Key Data report from RON GRO report GRO report Statutory Standards % inquests registered within 24 hours of receipt of coroner s certificate or, where GRO approval required, on receipt of GRO approval to register (and total number of inquests which can be registered on receipt of coroner s certificate or, where GRO approval required, on receipt of GRO approval) Separate record made on number of inquests referred to GRO % incoming declarations registered within 24 hours of receipt (and total number of incoming declarations) % applicants offered an appointment within 10 days of GRO notification of correction/re-registration (and total number of GRO notifications) % prospective citizens offered a ceremony date within 90 days of Home Office invitation (and total number of citizens, adults, attending ceremonies) Record of receipt. Key Record of receipt. Key Record of receipt. Key Receipt of Certificates. Key 9

10 ACTIVITY METHOD/SOURCE EVIDENCE % notifications to Home Office, confirming citizen attended ceremony, within 2 days % citizenship certificates dated correctly and without amendment Record of attendance. Key By exception. Key KPI. 2a (i). Local Authorities with appointment system waiting times for appointments at point of request Waiting times for appointment for: a) Birth registration/declaration b) Death registration/declaration c) Marriage/Civil Partnership Notice d) Stillbirth registration/declaration % of customers offered an appointment to register/declaration birth within 5 working days. % of customers offered an appointment to register/declaration death within 2 working days % of customers offered an appointment to give notice within 5 working days or to allow ceremony to proceed at time and venue of choice % of customers offered appointments to register/declaration stillbirth within 2 working days Business Support Manager Mystery shopper telephone call to each main office each month and use e-diary to see when next appointment is available Recorded in e-diary for all appointments. Business Support Manager extracts data from e-diary each month As above Recorded in e-diary for all appointments. Business Support Manager extracts data from e-diary each month As above Log calls e-diary extraction. Key E-diary print outs. Key As above E-diary print outs. Key As above KPI. 2a (ii). Local Authorities with appointments systems on arrival waiting times % of customers seen early, on time or within 10 minutes of appointment time Recorded in e-diary for all appointments. Business Support Manager extracts data from e-diary each month E-diary print outs. Key 10

11 ACTIVITY METHOD/SOURCE EVIDENCE KPI. 3. Issue of Certificates from Deposited Registers % of applications dispatched within 7 days of receipt. All applications recorded Record of receipt and dispatch. Key performance and activity reports monthly summary KPI. 4. Customer Satisfaction % of satisfied customers, number of forms issued, returned and response rate KPI. 5. Total number of formal complaints received that are upheld % of official complaints upheld compared to all registrations and ceremonies (and total number of complaints) Wiltshire Council Standard Total number of Formal complaints received % of complaints acknowledged within 2 working days Total number of cards, letters and s of thanks Targeted and numbered survey forms. Collated by Business Support Manager All official complaints recorded with outcomes. As above Copy retained. Returned forms. Record of number issued and returned. Key reports quarterly summary Record of each complaint to show whether upheld or not. Key As above Copy retained. Key 4.7. As required by GRO, an annual assessment will be carried out against the Good Practice Guide (GPG). A return will be included in the Annual Performance Report prepared by the local authority. 5. Staff Development & Training 5.1 Staff development and training will continue to be given a high priority, despite budget constraints, to ensure the best registration practice and customer service is provided throughout the Registration Service in Wiltshire. 11

12 5.2 The Registration Service Training and Development Officer will give priority to providing high quality training and support for newly appointed officers. 5.3 Training and development will be provided to meet the needs of established personnel and respond to changes in legislation and new initiatives. This training will be organised in the most cost efficient manner using the Training Officer or members of the management team as appropriate. 5.4 The Training and Development Plan sets out the aims and objectives for Registration Service training and the route to obtain training. It also pulls together all the relevant documents relating to the training and development programme. 5.5 Work will continue to develop, review and revise the training and development programme, the model format for induction, the content of standard courses for newly appointed officers and the range of other training and development opportunities to meet the needs of staff. 5.6 The Service is able to provide places to neighbouring authorities at a charge which will cover the cost of the training. 5.7 The Service will continue to be well represented on the South West Training Group for Registration. 6. Operational Targets for the Year 6.1. The Registration Service will continue with its ongoing work towards a standard approach in the delivery and performance of services for: Register Office, main office and approved venue marriage and civil partnership ceremonies. work processes. overall competency and performance in the undertaking and delivery of statutory duties Complete the Service review which aims to shape and improve the Service and to provide what the customers want and value, within the severe financial constraints facing the Council Complete the areas for development identified in the GRO Service Review Report which include - ensure all registration officers, training courses and county wide standards incorporate the areas for technical development identified in the report - review appointments timings and lunch time opening in two main offices 12

13 - developing further the established links with the Coroner and Coroner s Service to improve registration of death performance - on line certificate application [6.14] and publish customer survey outcomes [6.15] 6.4. The impending re-location this year of Devizes Registration Office from the current Council site on the outskirts of the town to a prime town centre site will provide an opportunity to look at the current provision of services, including opening times, shared resources and closer partnership working with both Customer Services and Town Council colleagues Working in partnership with the Strategic Property Services in the provision of a new Register Office, the plans of which have already been sent to GRO. This project will take approximately months with work starting in the summer The continual review and updating of the framework for the recording of income for all statutory and discretionary services, and statistics to facilitate collection of data on service delivery, as required by the Good Practice Guide. Operations Managers continue to monitor the accuracy of cashbook entries and procedural adherence Monitor the income and expenditure closely in order to manage the Service within a reduced budget and increase income targets during the coming year; continue to be proactive in seeking income generating opportunities The Service continues to explore the possibility of moving more outstations into community based premises including Library accommodation and the proposed campus initiative, under the workplace transformation umbrella. This would enable us to take advantage of improved customer access, improved IT connectivity and reduced lone working for Registration staff Continue to work closely with Customer Services on the implementation of the Tell Us Once service for deaths Continue the review with Customer Services to ensure that the support provided best meets the needs of the customers and the Service Working in conjunction with the local Army bases, investigate the provision of a nationality checking service outstation at one of the army barracks as Wiltshire has a very large military population and many of the county s new citizens are serving personnel Continue to review the use of ICT to improve efficiency and help to streamline processes and procedures Encourage and empower the marketing group to look at different methods of engaging both the public and stakeholders in using the services provided e.g. information stands at local events, including the Olympic 13

14 torch gala to be held in Salisbury; using local free press to advertise all ceremonies by way of articles; newsletters to stakeholders; expanded partnership working Continue to research new services and improve current services to customers, e.g. On-line certificate application; a limited provision of online appointment bookings; regenerate the website Review and improve current customer satisfaction surveys and methods of collection; use the information collated from customer satisfaction surveys, customer demand, market research, complaints and comments to improve, develop and market the Service. Publish customer satisfaction survey results and key performance information Continue to establish closer links with the local immigration team Monitor and review the impact of changes to the fee structure for the decommissioned ceremony rooms on Fridays Encourage registration staff to promote and market the revised discretionary ceremonies which provide more choice to the public. 7. Business/Service Continuity Plans 7.1. The Council has an overarching business continuity plan and Pandemic Plan. Under this sits the business continuity plan for the Registration Service and a copy is available at Appendix D. 14