Customer Service Plan 2009 - 2012

Introduction

The Customer Service is focused on working to achieve the Council’s vision and objectives for the District. We support the delivery of the Community Strategy, Council Plan, Theme Business Plans and Council priorities and provide a lead on community engagement, point of contact for our customers, economic development, tourism, revenues and benefits, corporate policy, partnerships and technology. 

The Service comprises about 110 members of staff working in five areas: Customer Services, Economic Development and Tourism, Policy and Performance, Partnerships, Revenues and Benefits, and Technology Services.   

What we aim to achieve

The Customer Service works to:

• improve the accessibility of our services, policies, documents and advice
• deliver high quality, customer focused services, in a professional, accessible, and flexible manner
• strengthen the linkage between policy and delivery
• be proactive rather than reactive
• achieve better integration of policies

We intend to consistently improve the way we manage and deliver these services and create well-trained, motivated and flexible teams that deliver the Council’s priorities and support the needs of residents, businesses and visitors to the District. Above all, we want to deliver quality support, advice and information to customers, Councillors and staff. 

Our management structure

Our services are delivered through the following service management team (SMT) structure:

Service Objectives

Key objectives for the Customer Service are as follows:

Improved access to services for customers with common, accredited, Customer Service standards in place across the Council

Promote Richmondshire as a key destination for tourism and business and businesses identify us as their “first point of contact”

Technology solutions which support and enable continuous improvement and more efficient business services across the Council

Support strong partnerships which, working togther, make for a better, more vibrant District.

For further information about the Customer Service and its business plans please contact Simon Fletcher, Assistant Director (Customer), or Kayleigh Thompson, PA to Assistant Directors.

The Customer service is also working to achieve the Community Strategy (Richmondshire 2021) outcomes.

We play a major role in achieving the following Corporate Plan outcomes and priorities:

An Improving Council - We want to be a Council that continually improves; that engages well with our community; and one that uses our resources in ways that have the greatest impact on improving the quality of life for residents, business and visitors.

Corporate Priorities 2008-12 - providing affordable, decent housing; helping businesses realise their potential; shared service delivery; reducing the Council's and District's carbon footprint.

Key Drivers

The key drivers for us over the next five to ten years are:

• to contribute to the delivery of the North Yorkshire Local Area Agreement, including performance monitoring
• to support the planned expansion of Catterick Garrison including the realisation of its benefits for the whole of the district
• to understand the implications of an expanded Catterick Garrison and how this will impact upon / create a need to change Council services (locally the Community Offices infrastructure, affordable housing, and economic wellbeing in particular)
• the need to continuously improve Council Services, overall satisfaction with the Council and our rating under CAA 
• a review (challenge) of the way in which we provide our services - with a view improving efficiency to support Governments CSR07 targets
• to implement agreed strategies (and action plans) for Strong Neighbourhood and Prosperous Communities
• to deliver an agreed ‘Framework for the Future’ (LDF), including an approved Catterick Garrison Area Action Plan
• to take a lead role in delivery of the Council’s agreed corporate improvement priorities of:
   1. providing affordable, decent housing
   2. helping businesses realise their potential
   3. shared service delivery
• to support the business units in providing quality, accessible services
  to continue to champion improved service delivery through technology
• to support the Yorkshire Dales and Harrogate Tourism Partnership in promoting and improving our Tourism product and visitor experience to generate the revenue that supports our economy
• to lead on the Local Strategic Partnership, and deliver a refreshed, fit for purpose Sustainable Community Strategy

Key Actions

Key actions in support of our Corporate and Themed Business Plans, delivered by the Service, can be found in the appropriate plans as follows:

• The Corporate Plan 2008 – 2012
• Prosperous Communities Themed Business Plan
• Green Living Themed Business Plan
• Strong Neighbourhoods Themed Business Plan
• Healthy Lives Themed Business Plan
• Safe Places Themed Business Plan
• An Improving Council Themed Business Plan

Actions to support our service objectives

Customer Services

Customer Services comprises three teams; Administration, Customer Service and Tourist Information Centres.  The Administration team provides administrative support to all of the services across the Council.  Primarily this team provides centralised functions including post handling, invoicing, word-processing, document production, data input, filing, photocopying, scanning.  We also provide specific administrative functions for individual teams. 

Our Customer Services Team provides front line services direct to the public.  The Team is, in the main, the first point of contact someone has with the Council.  As such it plays an important role in portraying a positive image, and ensuring customers receive excellent, responsive services.  Typically these include dealing with customer enquiries and providing help and advice, answering telephone calls to the Council, through the Switchboard and Contact Centre, dealing with payments from customers, providing Reception services, running the community offices and working with partner organisations to deliver joined-up services.

Finally, through our Tourist Information Centres, we provide advice, guidance and important local knowledge to visitors to the District through the TIC’s in Richmond and Leyburn.

Our objective is:

 

Improved access to services for customers with common, accredited, Customer Service standards in place across the Council

For futher information about the Customer Services Team contact Carole Dew, Head of Customer Services.

Economic Development and Tourism

The Economic Development and Tourism team promotes and develops the economic wellbeing of the district, including tourism, one of the most important sectors of the District’s economy.  The team promotes and develops employment sites and premises, business grants, inward investment and external funding support.  They manage Council owned workspace units.  The team also develops and delivers externally funded economic and community initiatives and administers EU and Yorkshire Forward funding programmes.  The tourism team work in partnership with the Yorkshire Dales Tourism Partnership to develop, manage and market the Yorkshire Dales as a tourism destination.

Our objective is:

 

Promote Richmondshire as a key destination for tourism and business and businesses identify us as their “first point of contact”

To find out how we are meeting this objective, see the Economic Development and Tourism Action Plan.

For futher information about the Economic Development and Tourism Team contact Nicola Burton, Head of Economic Development and Tourism.

Policy and Performance

The Policy and Performance team takes a lead on corporate policy, including preparing the Local Development Framework, to ensure the spatial delivery of the Community Strategy and the environmental wellbeing of the District.  The planned expansion of Catterick Garrison is a key challenge for the team over the coming years.  We are also responsible for implementing a Housing Strategy for the district, for enabling affordable housing, delivering our priorities for private sector housing and for overseeing the implementation of the district’s Sustainable Development Strategy and Bio Diversity Action Plans.  Additionally, the team helps the Council monitor its performance against Best Value Performance Indicators and local PI’s.

Our objective is:

 

Policy, and our long term vision for the District, is centrally coordinated and managed in support of Council objectives

To find out how we are meeting this objective, see the Policy and Performance Action Plan.

For futher information about the Policy, Performance and Partnerships Team contact Ian Wolstenholme, Head of Partnerships, or David Elliott, Head of Policy and Performance.

Revenues and Benefits

The team undertakes two distinct roles for us. The revenue function is responsible for the collection of our local taxation requirements, whereas the benefits function is responsible for the distribution of all benefit related payments. The Benefit schemes are designed to help people on low incomes pay their rent and Council Tax - It's not just for pensioners - It's not just for the unemployed - It's not just for single parents

The Revenue section of the team undertakes the following areas of work:

• The levying, billing & collection of Council Tax on over 21,000 properties
• To ensure that all Council Tax bills are issued correctly showing the liable person(s) and the correct valuation band
• To breakdown the Council Tax amount, as required, between Richmondshire, North Yorkshire County Council, North Yorkshire Police Authority, North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service & Town/Parish Councils
• The identifying of allowable discounts and exemptions for Council Tax
• The inspection and validation of properties and claims for Council Tax
• The levying, billing & collection of Business Rates on over 2,000 properties
• To ensure that all Business Rate bills are issued correctly showing the ratepayer(s), the correct rateable value and rateable poundage.
• To collect the amounts due in respect of Business Rates and pay it over directly to Central Government, less the re-distributed amount due to Richmondshire.
• The identifying of the various mandatory & discretionary relief’s available to ratepayers.
• To facilitate the reports to Members in their role in the award of Discretionary Rate Reliefs

The Benefits section of the team undertakes the following areas of work:

• To calculate and pay Housing and Council Tax Benefits on over 3,000 cases. (Housing Benefit (HB) and Council Tax Benefit (CTB) are income-related social security benefits calculated, and paid by the Council).
• To assess the amounts payable dependent on the claimants' financial and personal circumstances.
• To consider applications for Discretionary Housing Payments and provide a welfare visiting service.
• To investigate possible fraudulent claims for both Housing and Council Tax Benefit with a view to recovering overpaid amounts
• To prosecute claimants for benefit fraud, as appropriate. (Typical examples of benefit fraud are: People who work but do not declare this when they claim benefit: People who claim as a single person but actually live with a partner - People who claim from an address but do not live there - People who do not tell us the full amount of income, savings or capital when they claim benefit - People who for any reason do not have any right to claim Housing Benefit or Council Tax benefit).

To find out how we are meeting our objective, see the Revenues and Benefits Action Plan.

For more information about the Revenues and Benefits Team, contact Brian Bottle, Head of Revenues and Benefits.

Technology Services

The Technology Services Team provides support to all services and individual IT users across the Council.  Services include the management of our ICT infrastructure ensuring systems are available, security of ICT systems and the information held on them, management and delivery of the Council's IT Capital Programme, providing advice and resolving problems for users, particularly through the IT Service Desk, managing and delivering some aspects of ICT training, advice on ICT solutions, management of and support to ICT projects and management of the Council's telephone and email systems.   We lead on information management including supporting our Geographical Information System and upkeep of the Local Land and Property Gazetteer as well as providing advice and guidance for compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Data Protection Act 1998, and some advice on improving records management across the authority.

Our objective is:

 

Technology solutions which support and enable continuous improvement and more efficient business services across the Council

To find out how we are meeting this objective, see the Technology Services Action Plan.

For futher information about the Technology Services Team contact Graeme Thistlethwaite, Head of Technology Services.

Other actions

There are a number of other actions for the Service Management Team (SMT).

Key performance indicators for the service

Find out about the core performance measures, indicators and targets for the Customer Service. 

Risks

The key risks facing the service are as follows:

• lack of robust emergency and business continuity plans (including for our IT systems/structures)
• lack of capacity and staff resources to manage the increased range of services on offer in the community offices
• lack of capacity and staff resources to support service delivery internally (Admin)
• failure to work in partnership with third parties
• failure of the Yorkshire Dales and Harrogate Tourism Partnership to meet its target of 5% annual increase in tourism revenue by 2010
  expenditure exceeds income generation for the Council’s portfolio of commercial Business/Industrial Units, including innovate!

Find out full details of the risks facing the service.

Communications

We understand that communication is a key part of being customer-focused services – engaging with customers, stakeholders and partners as we make decisions about our policies and plans and how we deliver services, as well as involving them in monitoring our services and receiving quality feedback which can be used for future planning.

Good communications will be maintained and improved through the following actions:

Internal customers

1. annual consultation exercises to agree priorities, gauge satisfaction with our services and measure our performance
2. attendance at Service Management Team meetings, where appropriate, in order to receive direct feedback on our services
3. information to service users of changes / improvements we are implementing, before they occur, where appropriate
4. provision of up to date information on our services and the standards that customers can expect through our Services Charters

External customers

1. appropriate annual consultation with customers to agree priorities, gauge satisfaction with our services and measure our performance – including what we do with the results
2. provision of up to date information on our services and the standards that customers can expect through our Services Charters
3. listening to our customers and valuing their views and comments
4. production & distribution of newsletters (Curlew), website used for consultation/information provision
5. organising themed events to inform and assist customers in services provided by the Council (Business events/Roadshows etc)

Stakeholders/Partners

1. regular meetings with our key stakeholders to review the service and plan for the future
2. training sessions on external services delivered in conjunction with our stakeholders to ensure seamless service delivery
3. Working Groups and Board meetings with businesses, funders and partners to discuss priorities and agree actions/progress

 

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