National Contact Management Strategy

National Contact Management Strategy 2012 NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 4

National Contact Management Strategy (NCMS) This document has been produced by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) with the support of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA). The original strategy was published in 2010. This updated version now reflects more accurately the current policing landscape. As part of its remit the NPIA is required to develop policing doctrine, including practice and or advice, in consultation with ACPO, the Home Office and the police service. The effective delivery of policing relies on a substantial body of knowledge. This includes law, national standards, guidance and training materials, evidence about what works and what is most cost effective, ideas to improve practice, and data so that impact of initiatives can be measured and forces can compare performance. The National Contact Management Strategy (NCMS), 2012, is designed to provide chief officers with the foundations on which to design and develop their local contact management strategy. The NCMS aims to support the approach of building stronger links between the service, the public and our partners; thereby ensuring policing is for the people. The NCMS is underpinned by the National Contact Management Core Principles and Practice (NCMPP), 2012, which is an update of the National Contact Management Principles and Guidance issued in 2010. The implementation of this practice/advice will require operational choices to be made at a local level in order to achieve the appropriate police response. The NCMS, NCMPP and other key contact management products have been reviewed using the labelling scheme for policing knowledge. These products will fall within the reference material category of the Authorised Professional Practice (APP). The labelling scheme ensures that contact management materials, including core practice advice, training products, research and data are organised and labelled in a way that supports the role of ACPO and provides forces with easy access to information via the Police Knowledge Area (POLKA) which can be accessed via the following link: www.polka.pnn.police.uk The labelling scheme will also show how one product relates to another, including its relationship to APP. Acknowledgements ACPO and the NPIA would like to express their thanks to all those involved in the drafting of this document and to those who gave their advice. ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) 2012 NPIA (National Policing Improvement Agency) 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, modified, amended, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the National Policing Improvement Agency and the Association of Chief Police Officers or their duly authorised representative. NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 2

CONTENTS PAGE FOREWORD...4 INTRODUCTION...5 THE BUSINESS CASE FOR CHANGE...8 NATIONAL CONTACT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIC STATEMENT... 11 PRINCIPLES AND CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS... 12 DELIVERING STRATEGIC AND LOCAL BENEFITS... 13 NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 3

FOREWORD The first and, in many cases, the most important contact the general public has with the police service is when individuals seek assistance. Contact management, in its many forms, is the critical gateway to the service. It is about the use of professional judgement; the identification of threat, risk and vulnerability; effective prioritisation and a response that secures public safety; increases customer satisfaction; and improves public trust and confidence in the service. I have heard it said that every contact leaves a lasting impression; the importance of this role in building true policing for the people should not be underestimated. Across the country every day the public make contact with the police through its many access channels. This contact can lead to either a positive or negative experience for the public. In this environment, the importance of getting contact management right must be clear to all: making every contact count is at the heart of an approach that focuses on providing accessible citizen focused services that meet the diverse needs of all our communities. The role our people play in communicating with the public we serve is pivotal to achieving an appropriate response and effective resolution, protecting the public and reducing risk and harm. At this time of serious and difficult budget cuts, radical reforms and increasing pressure on resources, good judgement displayed by highly skilled and empowered staff will help ensure that we continue to deliver strategic commitments, and drive down crime. My personal thanks are extended to all those who have been involved in developing this National Contact Management Strategy (NCMS). In these challenging times, I am confident that we have created a positive way forward to continue to improve contact management in the police service. Commander Ian Dyson, City of London Police ACPO Lead for Contact Management NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 4

INTRODUCTION Context Contact management should be seen in the context of contact that exists between the public and the police service. Whilst much of that contact continues to be via the telephone, contact management is much broader than this. It involves other technologies/access channels such as SMS (short message service), on-line through the use of internet and social media, and direct forms of face-to-face contact, whether through police station front counters, partner agencies, various neighbourhood bases or other contact between front-line police staff and the public. Historically, the emphasis of contact management has been on improving the first contact experience, particularly in terms of our response to telephone contact via call centres. The world, however, has changed with 24/7 service expected as the norm. People are interconnected via a variety of devices and mobiles to provide communication wherever and whenever a customer chooses. More than 40 million adults in the UK now use the internet. With as many as 30 million people online every day. The National Office for Statistics reported in their Bulletin on Internet Access 2010 that 99% of 16-24 year olds and 96% of 24-35 year olds are now online and for the majority of the rest of the population, digital channels are the default for communications, finding and sharing information as well as paying bills and buying or selling goods. The NCMS acknowledges that with the increasing use of digital and social media it is crucial that the service continues to improve accessibility through on-line channels that meet public needs and expectations. Nationally, the Home Office, ACPO and the NPIA have been working together to drive forward a number of key developments; with individual police forces also introducing new and innovative ways of improving access to their services. The introduction of 101 as the single non-emergency telephone number for the police service in England and Wales has provided the public with easier access to their local police, enabling them to report crime and concerns that do no require an emergency response. 999 remains the number for the public to contact in an emergency. The www.police.uk website has been introduced by the Home Office to allow the public to see what crime if happening on their streets and provides a source of local information on crime and policing in each neighbourhood across England and Wales. This will be further enhanced to include information on the outcomes of crimes recorded by the police. NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 5

Some police forces are already starting to grasp the challenge of the new digital landscape by introducing enhanced online reporting tools and using social media to provide local information to residents in their communities. Delivering an accessible and accountable police service that is responsive to the needs of local communities is central to maintaining trust and confidence and strengthening the link between the public and the police service. The policing landscape is changing with the forthcoming introduction of police and crime commissioners aiming to strengthen accountability and ensure that the Service is focused on delivering a high quality police service for local communities in an ever changing world. Strategic Drivers The NCMS recognises that the relationship between expectation and outcomes is crucial both to understanding public satisfaction and providing insight as to how contact management services can best be designed and delivered. This approach aligns strongly with the ACPO/NPIA Citizen Focus Policing Hallmarks (2008), which require a service that maintains high levels of satisfaction and confidence through the consistent delivery of first class policing services that meet the needs of individuals and communities and provides a service that people value. The new approach from government outlined in their publication Policing in the 21 st century: reconnecting police and the people (2011), outlines that the key priority for the police is to cut crime keeping people safe from the harm caused by everything from anti social behaviour (ASB) to serious crime and terrorism. Our vision for reform is based on outcomes achieved through a strengthened bond between the police and local people. We want them to trust the police and know that they will be there for them when they need them. In addition to the introduction of police and crime commissioners, the police service will be supported by the creation of a new police-led ICT company and a police professional body, to drive developments and focus on professionalism. The government set out its vision for these bodies in a written ministerial statement in July 2011 which stated: The government intends to establish an information and communications technology (ICT) company. The company will be responsible for the procurement, implementation and management of complex contracts for information technology, related business change and outsourcing services, supplying both national and local services for police. The company will be owned by police authorities and subsequently police and crime commissioners, with the police service as its customer. NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 6

The company will provide: better value to forces for their ICT spend; greater innovation in police ICT, so that operational officers have better systems; freedom for Chief Constables to focus on fighting crime rather than managing ICT; services and products that support forces and other customers in their drive for inter-operability. Government and key stakeholders are discussing the key design elements of the new company with representatives of forces and authorities to ensure that it meets their needs first and foremost. It will operate in such a way that forces can more quickly, easily and efficiently collaborate and procure IT solutions which meet local requirements. The government suggests that the creation of a new police professional body brings a unique opportunity to further professionalise policing, creating a body that directly supports police officers at all ranks and civilian policing professionals. It will also create opportunities to open up the closed system of leadership within the police service, to harness greater diversity and experience at a senior level, and to equip the service with the skills it needs to deliver effective crime fighting in a changing, leaner and more accountable environment. Policing in England and Wales is underpinned by the ethos that it is undertaken with the consent and support of the public. Central to retaining public consent and support is maintaining the public s trust and confidence that when they call for assistance the police will respond effectively and in a timely manner. This expectation goes right to the heart of effective contact management. Our service has to be accessible and responsive; providing the right service, at the right time, to consistently high standards and in such a way that our diverse communities feel safe and have trust and confidence in what we do. With the forthcoming changes in policing bodies and governance, together with the austerity measures, it is more important than even to ensure that contact management nationally focuses on how we can continue to efficiently drive improvements and developments in service delivery. NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 7

THE BUSINESS CASE FOR CHANGE The strategy has evolved as a result of recommendations from a number of thematic reports by Her Majesty s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and following a fundamental review of The National Call Handling Standards (2005) (NCHS) carried out by the NPIA National Contact Management Programme team in 2008. The origins of this NCMS framework are traced back to HMIC thematic reports 'First Contact' (2005) and 'Beyond the Call' (2007). Recommendation 18 (Beyond the Call) states: The National Policing Improvement Agency should develop a National Contact Management Strategy, building on the National Call Handling Standards, First Contact, Beyond the Call and HMIC baseline assessments and covering all aspects of police contact management It is clear that in 2007 HMIC saw a continuing need for a national strategy covering all aspects of contact management, which would provide a vision for the service and appropriate guidance and direction to forces. This would lead to improved quality of service delivery for customers and improved efficiency and productivity in the use of police resources. Leading on from HMIC's work a fundamental review of contact management was carried out by the NPIA in 2008. The process, involved: a detailed questionnaire completed by 45 forces to provide an assessment of the fitness for purpose of the National Call Handling Standards (NCHS); a national evaluation of the wider contact management environment involving 275 practitioners across all forces taking part in 28 workshops; an ACPO contact management conference and an independently delivered national police contact management benchmarking exercise. The key messages in terms of the on-going development of the NCMS were: i. Overwhelming support for the end-to-end approach to contact management. ii. It is fundamental to delivering excellent customer service. iii. The approach should be a process of evolution, not revolution. iv. The strategy should provide detail around the what in terms of required change, but not the how, recognising that a one size fits all approach doesn t work and can inhibit successful local delivery. v. Where the NCMS involves measurement and/or benchmarking there should be nationally agreed and defined terms. NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 8

vi. The NCMS should identify and promote effective practice, i.e. practice that enhances service delivery. In December 2008, ACPO Council approved the commission of work to develop a national contact management strategy. The NCMS delivered against this brief and supports the service by delivering HMIC's recommendation by creating and publishing a national strategy in 2009. The strategy itself did not provide in depth tactical or operational guidance. The detailed tactical and operational practice was contained within the National Contact Management Principles and Guidance document 2009. The introduction of the ACPO national contact management 101 programme in 2010, gave an opportunity to review and refresh both the NCMS and National Contact Management Principles and Guidance (NCMPG). The team have built on the extensive work already under taken and have further consulted with forces during 2011, and have also taken into account changes in government at this austere time in order to update and refresh both documents. This work has resulted in the NCMPG being replaced with the National Contact Management Principles and Practice (NCMPP). The NCMS recognises that the delivery of improvements at a local level is the responsibility of forces. However, such local direction/guidance should be appropriately aligned to existing national standards/practice. The NCMS focus is clear: to establish a national vision for contact management, to align with the NCMCPP, thus providing a framework to support forces in identifying opportunities and solutions for effective local delivery. The Strategy This strategy recognises that contact management is a common and critical thread that runs throughout policing. It is one of the most important policing activities and it is vital to the effective delivery of core operational services, which ultimately shape customer satisfaction and influence public confidence in the service. As the demands placed upon policing become more complex and resources more stretched, it is even more critical that contact management interactions deliver the best use of resources and provide value for money services, whilst consistently meeting the needs and expectations of the public. To continue to do this in these challenging times requires radical changes in how we deliver service. Police effectiveness in a changing world requires a different approach. The investment in our staff is more important now than it has ever been. By ensuring our people are trained to a high standard and using them to deal with complex issues and incidents, whilst exploiting technology for the more transactional interactions with the public, we can support the service to transform. Focusing on NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 9

doing less with more impact, together with reducing bureaucracy, results in freeing up more time for police officers and police staff so they can deliver a better service. The National Contact Management Strategy (NCMS) creates: A citizen focused vision for contact management that seeks to maximise the quality of contact between the public and the police and achieve a positive impact in terms of improved satisfaction with service delivery and enhanced public confidence in policing. An enabling framework for service delivery improvement, built around a series of principles and critical success factors that promote key activities and behaviours leading to improved efficiency, productivity and performance of contact management structures, systems and processes. These are supported by a suite of diagnostic measures that focus on understanding service and demand in order to achieve continuous improvements. It is important to stress that the NCMS and the aligned NCMCPP view contact management as an end-to-end process, where business systems and processes work across the organisation to deliver added value and performance improvement. It recognises that true efficiency comes from looking at the business as a whole and recognising the real opportunities to work in collaboration with internal and external partners in order to deliver sustainable service improvements. NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 10

NATIONAL CONTACT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIC STATEMENT Mission: To provide a streamlined accessible and efficient service, that meets local needs and local priorities. Improving efficiency and effectiveness by making better use of resources; ensuring our people are empowered to use their professional judgement to deliver high quality contact experiences: recognising and rewarding excellence, in order that the police service remains an employer of choice and continues to deliver a high quality of service. Vision: Protecting the public by making every contact count: delivering a value for money service that reassures our communities and increases public confidence in policing. Principles: The National Contact Management Strategy (2012) is built around an enabling framework of seven strategic principles that have been used in various industry business models to support delivery of the contact management vision at a local level. Those principles are discussed in detail in the following section. Further detail about the principles and underpinning critical success factors can be found within the National Contact Management Principles and Practice (2012), which is available via the Police On-Line Knowledge Area (POLKA) at www.polka.police.uk Principle 1: Customer Principle 2: Leadership Principle 3: People: Principle 4: Value for Money: Principle 5: Demand Principle 6: Resources Principle 7: Partners NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 11

PRINCIPLES AND CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS The NCMS identifies seven strategic principles for successful delivery of contact management these are: Principle 1: Customer Designing and delivering contact management on the basis of citizen and business needs to increase customer satisfaction and public confidence. Principle 2: Leadership Delivering effective leadership at all levels to promote and enhance citizen focused contact management. Principle 3: People: Investing in people and involving them in shaping service delivery. Principle 4: Value for Money: Providing value for money by ensuring the optimum balance is achieved between the cost of service and delivering an excellent customer experience. Principle 5: Demand Understanding the demand profile and workflow across the organisation in order to optimise service delivery. Principle 6: Resources Satisfying demand for contact through the most efficient and effective use of resources, to deliver responsive local policing. Principle 7: Partners Optimising resilience through effective planning and collaboration with partners to enhance contact management capability. Each principle is linked to an underlying group of critical success factors (CSFs) that are contained within the NCMPP, which describe the key processes or activities that should be carried out and/or measured, in order to deliver against the intention stated in the principle. The NCMCPP also contains a suite of diagnostic indicators; together they can form the basis for forces to create an action plan to measure local service delivery. It is expected that forces will use both the NCMS and NCMCPP as part of a process to create, or review an existing, force level contact management strategy. The resulting gap analysis will enable a force to develop and deliver its approach to contact management against the NCMS vision, and realise the associated benefits. NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 12

DELIVERING STRATEGIC AND LOCAL BENEFITS Although forces are starting from different baselines the NCMS approach ensures that critical business enablers and drivers are focused in order to realise key benefits and outcomes some of which are outlined below. Improved trust and confidence in local service delivery. Increased customer satisfaction, providing better public protection. Reduced inefficiency/bureaucracy associated with service delivery. Improved accessibility to services for customers. Better prioritisation of, and response to, threat, risk and vulnerability. Creation of a more citizen focused service delivery culture. Improved accountability for service delivery. Better use of organisational resources. Deliver value for money by improving processes and working practice. Confident and motivated staff - equipped and empowered to deliver local services that meet local needs. Improved staff retention retaining knowledge skill and abilities. NCMS 2012 NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED 13