Housing and Council Tax Benefit Customer Survey Results and Feedback January to March 2010

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1 Housing and Council Tax Benefit Customer Survey Results and Feedback January to March 2010 Executive summary Background: The purpose of the research was to ask customers for their views on various aspects of the service provided by the Housing and Council Tax Benefit Team. The Housing and Council Tax Benefit Team carried out exit surveys with customers who came into reception and postal surveys with customers who received a visit from one of the team s Visiting Officers. 568 out of 1650 customers who visited benefits reception took part in exit and end of year surveys. 53 out of 100 customers who had received a home visit completed the Visiting Officer survey. Recommendations: Results should be discussed with staff, so that they are aware of the findings and have an opportunity to get involved. There are a number of positive comments and it is also important to feed this back to staff. 39% of visited customers were not classed as vulnerable, therefore all visits should be qualified to ensure the most vulnerable customers have access to our service. Customers said they visited us and telephoned to chase progress on existing claims, we will use further engagement methods to investigate reasons for this and address these issues. Assessment and customer service teams (including reception and contact centre) to work together to improve overall customer satisfaction. Things to consider: The results of these surveys should be considered alongside the other research carried out by the Housing and Council Tax Benefit Team throughout the year (e.g. focus groups). 1

2 Key findings: Survey Date completed Respondents Details of feedback or Action Visiting Officer Satisfaction January out of 100 (53%) 33.7% (18) of visits are about Pension Credit or Disability Benefit, rather than Housing Benefit see Fig. 1. Include in target on identifying more benefits for vulnerable customers. 94.1% (50) found the visits helpful see Fig. 2. Feed back to staff. 100% (53) rated the service provided by the Visiting Officer as very good, good or ok, with 92.2% (49) rating it as very good see Fig. 3. Feed back to staff. 39% (21) of visits were for customers between the ages of 26 and 65 who did not consider themselves disabled see Fig. 4. Customer Service Team to qualify visits to determine whether they are an effective use of resources and value for money. 2

3 How did our customers find out about our service? 1 st 5 th February out of 200 (14.5%) 51.6% (15) claimants got information about our services from their landlord or housing office see Fig. 5 None of these customers said that they got information about us from the Citizens Advice Bureau or our posters and leaflets see Fig. 5 Customer Service Team to look into information landlords are able to give i.e. providing leaflets, claim forms, etc. Customer Service Team to address other ways of getting information to all groups of customers. Progress Chasing 8 th 12 th February out of 250 (20.4%) 35% (18) were here to chase up the progress on their claim. Progress chasing to be looked at as ongoing customer engagement project. Of those 18 customers: 5.6% (1) chasing appeal/reconsideration 5.6 (1) chasing Discretionary Housing Payment 27.8% (5) chasing change of circumstances 38.9% (7) chasing change of address 22.2% (4) chasing new application. 3

4 42.8% (8) had telephoned to chase up before coming in Telephone team to be involved with customer engagement on progress chasing. End of Year Customer Satisfaction March out of 1200 (40.7%) 69.1% (337) rated reception staff as very good, good or ok see Fig % (301) rated telephone staff as very good, good or ok see Fig. 8. Customer Service Team to work with the Contact Centre on improving customer satisfaction overall. Although customers were asked to rate reception and telephone staff, their answers may be influenced by other factors such as time taken to process their claim, whether or not they have received their benefit, etc. We will use more specific questions in future surveys so that we can ask customers whether or not they are satisfied with the outcome and separate questions to find out how they feel about the service provided by staff. 77.3% (377) rated our letters as very good, good or ok see Fig % (329) rated the Hillingdon Benefits service as a whole as very good, good or ok see Fig. 9. Satisfaction with our letters has increased by 12% over 12 months. Feed back to staff. 4

5 20.7% (101) felt the application took longer than expected to be assessed see Fig % (251) felt the benefits service at Hillingdon has improved in the last 12 months see Fig. 11. Managing customer expectations with assessment times to be looked at by customer services. Turnaround times to be addressed by assessment team. Customers feel we are improving and this must be fed back to staff. 5

6 Results tables: Fig. 1 What was your visit about? Which of these was your visit about? Appendix % 4.3% 21.7% 35.9% 20.7% 5.4% No reply Housing Benefit claim form Overpayment Collecting documents Pension Credit Disability Benefit Fig. 2 Was this visit helpful to you? Was the visit helpful to you? 2.0% 3.9% 94.1% No reply Yes No 6

7 Fig. 3 How do you rate the service given by your Visiting Officer? How would you rate the service given by your Visiting Off % 3.9% 92.2% No reply Very good Good Ok Poor Very poor Fig. 4 What is your age and Do you consider yourself disabled? What is your age? by Do you consider yourself disabled? No reply Yes No 3.3% 5.6% 5.6% 33.3% 16.7% 10.0% 27.8% 66.7% 70.0% 61.1% No reply Under Over 65 7

8 Fig. 5 How did you find out about our service? How did you find out about our service? 3.2% 12.9% 25.8% 19.4% 12.9% 25.8% No reply Landlord Housing Office Jobcentre Other dept in civic centre Poster/ leaflet campaign Newspaper Through friends/ family Citizens Advice Bureau Fig. 6 How do you rate Benefits Reception staff? How do you rate Benefits Reception staff? 9.8% 4.6% 16.5% 11.7% 22.0% 35.4% No reply Very Good Good Ok Poor Very Poor 8

9 Fig. 7 How do you rate the letters we send out? How do you rate the letters we send out? 5.1% 2.7% 14.9% 15.5% 41.7% 20.1% No reply Very good Good Ok Poor Very poor Fig. 8 How do you rate Benefits Telephone staff? How do you rate the Benefits Telephone staff? 6.7% 5.1% 26.4% 12.3% 25.0% 24.4% No reply Very good Good Ok Poor Very poor 9

10 Fig. 9 How do you rate the Hillingdon Benefits service as a whole? How do you rate the Benefits service at Hillingdon Counci % 6.3% 19.5% 14.8% 24.2% 28.5% No reply Very good Good Ok Poor Very poor Fig. 10 How do you rate the time it takes for your claim to be assessed? How do you rate the time it takes for your claim to be as % 23.7% 34.4% 21.2% No reply Quicker than expected About right Longer than expect 10

11 Fig. 11 How do you feel Hillingdon Benefits department has improved in the last 12 months? How do you feel Hillingdon's Benefits department has chan % 14.0% 26.5% 25.1% 26.3% No reply Improved a lot Improved a little Not changed Got worse A Appendix: Clients comments are listed below. 11