Agenda item

Purpose: To present information provided to the Task and Finish group  appointed by OSMC to review the customer journey, including context and background information relating to the Council’s out of hours provision.

Carolyn Richardson presented a report (Agenda Item 8) concerning customer journey for the Council’s out of hours emergency service.

It was explained that the report provided an overview of the services and included officers’ recommendations – the Task Group had requested additional before making their own recommendations to OSMC.

Officers had welcomed the opportunity to reflect on the current arrangements and the reasons why things were done in certain ways. The report set out the history of the service and the process through which the customer engaged with the service.

It was explained that calls were handled by a contractor rather than the in-house call centre. Calls to the service had dropped slightly during the pandemic, but there were typically around 800 calls per year to the service. Very little negative feedback had been received and any issues were easily dealt with in conjunction with the contractor. Officers also highlighted refinements to processes on an ongoing basis.

It was stressed that the service provided an emergency response for a limited number of services and it did not replicate normal daytime Council services. The service dealt with situations that could cause serious issues if they were not addressed quickly, and allowed for escalation in the event of a major incident.

The service was led by an out of hours manual, to which all services contributed.  It was noted that issues had arisen in the past when services did had not provided updates, but generally it worked well.

Officers had already identified a number of potential improvements, and the Task Group had started to identify a further set of recommendations, which would be developed further in due course.

Councillor Adrian Abbs noted that the report’s appendix referred to 593 calls per year rather than 800 calls.

Councillor Tony Linden noted that the Council had been in existence since 1974, but had changed name when it took on additional functions upon the demise of Berkshire County Council. In relation to page 80 of the report, he noted that Thames Valley Fire Control did an excellent job in terms of call handling. He noted that there had been a lot of false fire alarms triggered on commercial properties, so responses had been scaled back. Overall, he considered that the Out of Hours Service did an excellent job.

Councillor Jeff Brooks welcomed the inclusion of the schematic on page 68 which showed what the service did and did not cover. He noted that the report indicated that the out of hours service was ‘adequate’. He had previously called the service when customers had been trapped in the Kennet Centre car park, but there had been nobody available from the Car Parks Team. He asked if processes had been improved following that event. He also asked if secret shopper exercises were carried out by external users to test the service.

Carolyn Richardson indicated felt that the service did a good job. She stated that the service was not there to make decisions, but to follow the manual. If the manual was wrong then this was due to the services not providing the necessary information. She confirmed that analysis was undertaken each year to look at the number of calls made for each service, and if there were large numbers for a particular location / service then they sought to understand the reasons for this and take mitigating action. In terms of mystery shopper exercises, she stressed that this needed careful planning to ensure that services were not called out unnecessarily.

Councillor Brooks asked about frequency of testing, and noted that there would be a degree of risk if there were errors in the manual. It was confirmed that testing did take place, but in a controlled way to avoid triggering unnecessarily alerts and responses. 

Councillor Brooks stressed the need for a feedback loop from real customers to check they got the response they needed in a timely manner.

Nigel Lynn indicated that there had been a recent check of the communications processes around a critical event. Officers had been briefed that a test was planned, but they were not advised of the time or date.

The Chairman indicated that he had previously made a complaint following a bad experience, but on two subsequent occasions, he had had a good experience. All three had been related to Highways and he felt that this should have its own category in the choices given when customers contacted the out of hours call centre. Carolyn Richardson explained that the options were to ensure that calls were directed to the correct place. The Chairman suggested that given its importance, Highways might need to have a duty officer available.

Councillor Brooks asked if calls were recorded for training purposes. Carolyn Richardson confirmed that they were.

Councillor Claire Rowles asked how customers with disabilities were accommodated. Carolyn Richardson noted that customers currently made contact via telephone, but other options were being investigated.

The Chairman invited Councillor James Cole to summarise the initial observations of the Task Group. In relation to the out of hours service, Councillor Cole made the following observations:

·         The report had been comprehensive, but the Task Group had asked for additional information.

·         They had asked whether the service could be run in house, but this was not possible with the existing budget.

·         The current provider was not locally based, so did not have knowledge of the area – unfortunately, neither Sovereign Housing nor the Fire Service submitted a bid when the out of hours service was last tendered.

·         The number of Emergency Duty Officers had reduced over time.

·         Mutual aid was difficult due to lack of access to West Berkshire Council’s systems - this should be addressed.

·         Some services did not provide out of hours services – for example there was nobody from the Communications Team on call when the former Newbury Football Club building caught fire.

·         The Task Group felt that a single number for in and out of hours services would make it easier for people to get in touch.

·         Other communications channels should be explored (e.g. WhatsApp).

·         The Task Group was keen to do some secret shopper exercises.

·         It was felt that the contract should be managed by the Council’s call centre manager.

·         The out of hours service should be more widely promoted so people knew where to go / what to do.

Councillor Cole indicated that the Chief Executive would be attending a future meeting and the Task Group would be looking at the views of residents and Members.

It was noted that the Task Group had held a session focused on the Council’s call centre and website. Observations included:

·         The need for a single telephone number for all enquiries.

·         Proposed improvements to the online reporting system were welcomed, particularly the ability to upload photos.

·         The MyAccount facility appeared promising.

Councillor Cole indicated that the Task Group wanted to talk to more people. Several Members indicated that they wished to contribute.  He explained that the timescale for concluding the review would need to be extended, with the report anticipated to come to the November OSMC meeting.

Councillor Tom Marino also indicated that he would like to contribute to the review.