Handling Customer Feedback
“Our ambition is to make DWP the best and most efficient service
delivery organisation in the public sector”
“be relentless about driving service up and costs down and relentless
on focusing on and improving performance.” – from the recent As One
conference.
“…go the extra mile to deliver a level of service that we would be
pleased to receive ourselves…meeting customer needs in a single
transaction and not handing them off to another part of the
organisation.” – from November’s monthly message
Noel Shanahan
Background
•
As part of our ambition, we have reviewed the way we handle customer
feedback. Feedback - issues, complaints, compliments and suggestions - is
essential to improving the service we provide and the way we provide it.
•
It is vital to keep the customer at the heart of everything we do. Part of that
agenda concerns how we learn more from our mistakes, put them right at the
earliest opportunity and prevent them happening again.
•
The definition of an issue is:
‘An expression of dissatisfaction about the
service provided at the first point of contact.’
•
The definition of a complaint is:
'Any expression of dissatisfaction about the
service provided which is not resolved by operational staff as normal
business"
•
The definition of a compliment is:
“An expression of praise/appreciation of
specific elements of service received”
•
This presentation tells you about what the enhancements to customer feedback
are and what they mean for you.
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What are the enhancements?
•
We are giving you more time to resolve issues at source. This is part of our
agenda to help reduce avoidable contact.
•
All managers will have a greater role in issue resolution.
•
Following feedback from colleagues, we have improved products to enable you
to capture and report feedback more efficiently.
•
You need to be credited for your work in resolving customer issues and be able to
evidence in your appraisals.
•
There will be a robust feedback management process to enable you to learn
what happened as a result of the feedback collected.
•
Formal complaints will be dealt with by Complaint Resolution Teams (CRT) in an
account managed way. Their approach will be to independently investigate and
resolve the complaint.
•
We are improving guidance and tools to provide more support to staff.
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What does the enhanced service look like?
Complaint
Review:
end-to-end case management to
Complaints & Enquiry
ensure they are making
Review Team
independent evidence-based
objective decisions
Complaint
Resolution:
Complaint
Resolution Team
resolve issues before they escalate
to a formal complaint either
Issue Resolution:
themselves or by involving a
manager
First Point of Contact
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What does it mean for me in a Jobcentre?
• To prevent escalation to a formal complaint you must resolve issues at
source
• You have responsibility and ownership to do everything you can to
resolve issues raised at source, this will reduce avoidable contact
(escalation to formal complaint)
• All staff and Managers are expected to have an active role in issue
resolution
• If you’re taking time out to deal with a customer’s issue, you should
complete the template to ensure your valuable work is captured and you
receive the recognition for resolving the issue. The template details will
also provide valuable insight which we can use to improve our services.
• If you are unable to deal with an issue, ask a manager to help you.
Adopt a pragmatic approach, if you can resolve it for the customer, do
so in the interests of providing a quality one-stop service.
• If the issue is clearly complex and not likely to be resolved relatively
quickly, complete the template and refer it to the CRT.
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What does it mean for me in a Benefit Centre?
• To prevent escalation to a formal complaint you must resolve issues at
source
• You have responsibility and ownership to do everything you can to resolve
issues raised at source, this will reduce avoidable contact (escalation to
formal complaint)
• All staff and Managers are expected to have an active role in issue
resolution
• If you’re taking time out to deal with a customer’s issue, you should
complete the template to ensure your valuable work is captured and you
receive the recognition for resolving the issue. The template details will
also provide valuable insight which we can use to improve our services.
• If you are unable to deal with it, involve a manager to help you. Adopt a
pragmatic approach, if you can resolve it for the customer, do so in the
interests of providing a quality one-stop service.
• If the complaint is clearly complex and not likely to be resolved relatively
quickly, complete the template and refer it to the District CRT.
• Longer term, it is anticipated that Benefit Centre SPOCs will no longer
receive contribution requests for replies but may be asked for expert factual
information to inform an investigation.
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Examples
Resolve & Record on Customer Feedback Template as Issue for example:
•
A customer calls or comes in and says they haven’t been paid even though they signed on a
week ago. You check, discover evidence wasn’t put through, fix it (either direct or by calling
someone getting them to update the system) and apologise.
Record on template and REFER to Complaint Resolution Team for
example:
•
A customer complains about John Smith from the Benefit Centre. The customer alleges they
were misdirected to claim the wrong benefit by him. Take the customer’s details and
information about the allegation and refer to the CRT. Explain to the customer that a case
manager will in touch to discuss the complaint and explain how it will be investigated.
Record on template, for example:
•
A customer says how impressed they were with A. Smith on the JSA Changes Team in how
they were dealt with. This is a compliment and should be recorded.
Staff behaviour complaints, for example:
•
ALL allegations of staff behaviour (except those where an apology on behalf of your
colleague suffices) should be recorded on the template and referred to the CRT. Staff should
not get involved in staff complaints as there are clear HR guidelines for handling these and it
is important the integrity and independence of the investigation is not compromised.
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What can happen when we don’t get it right?
• Complaints we don’t successfully tackle within DWP can be escalated
to the Independent Case Examiner (ICE).
• If ICE uphold the customer’s complaint, it costs DWP a lot more to put it
right. Special Payments can amount to more than treble what it would
have cost had we resolved it.
• If after ICE it goes to the Ombudsman, it costs even more.
• Sometimes, these cases are made public, especially in Parliament and
in the media.
• It pays to put the effort in and resolve a complaint for the customer
before it goes outside DWP.
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So what are the next steps?
• Be clear about what an issue is, a complaint is, a compliment is and
when to record it.
• Have the template on your desktop ready to use with the correct
receiving email address of who receives completed templates preset.
• Agree with your managers how you will seek to resolve issues wherever
possible without referring it to the CRT.
• Familiarise yourself with the resources available on the Operational
Excellence Directorate website.
• Establish more robust links with your CRT.
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Document Outline