Performance Measurement (Hansard, 19 June 1995)

§ Mr. Hague

DSS headquarters aims to answer all correspondence within 20 working days of receipt. For the period 1 January 1995 to 31 May 1995, a total of 12,317 replies to letters from members of the public were sent, of which 83 per cent. were answered within this target. The public inquiry line handles telephone calls from members of the public. It aims to provide good quality answers to customers' inquiries rather than process a set quantity of telephone calls. Quality performance is continually monitored by electronically tracking the number of calls dealt with and by a supervisor routinely listening in to a number of calls. Staff also receive continuous training on information available in addition to regular specific assessment of their individual performance.

The responsibility for day-to-day operations, including the handling of letters, telephone calls and complaints from members of the public, rests with the chief executive 88W of each agency. Each of them will write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Paul Winstanley to Ms Margaret Hodge, dated 19 June 1995: I have been asked by the Department's Parliamentary Branch to provide you with further information about the Resettlement Agency's handling of telephone calls and letters from members of the public. Before answering the specific questions that you raise I should explain that in terms of this Agency members of the public are the residents of our resettlement units. On arrival at resettlement units residents are advised that if they are not satisfied with the service or feel that they have been treated unfairly they should tell a member of the management team who will investigate and report back to them the same day. If they are still unhappy, the are invited to contact the Chief Executive who undertakes to acknowledge any letter and reply within ten working days. Telephone complaints to the Chief Executive care answered either on the same day or the next. All residents receive a pamphlet on arrival that explains the procedures. The message is reinforced by Standards of Service posters and posters that deal exclusively with the complaints procedure. These are situated prominently in all units. The achievement is monitored through records kept at Headquarters on behalf of the Chief Executive. In 1994/95 100% of letters and telephone calls were answered within the prescribed time limits. The last independent Customer Care Survey (1944) found that 84% of residents were satisfied with the complaints procedure. Where a customer is not satisfied with the outcome of a complaint dealt with by the Chief Executive they may ask their Member of Parliament to submit the complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration for investigation and review. The Resettlement Agency complaint procedure was last reviewed in June 1994. If I can be of any further assistance do not hesitate to contact me.

Letter from Faith Boardman to Ms Margaret Hodge, dated 19 June 1995: As Chief Executive of the Contributions Agency, I have responsibility for answering questions about operational matters relating to the Agency and the National Insurance scheme. I have been asked to reply to your questions concerning performance indicators, targets for answering letters and telephone calls, and the Agency's policy and procedures for dealing with complaints. In view of the nature of the questions I have combined the responses. The Contributions Agency Charter standard for written enquiries is to despatch either a full reply, or an informative response to 95% of customer enquiries within 10 working days of receipt. Performance in answering written enquiries is measured using information from the Agency's management information systems which is subsequently independently validated using sampling techniques. In 1994/95 the target was met in 90.8% of cases. In the case of telephone enquiries, we aim to answer these immediately where we can. Where this is not possible we will advise why and inform the customer when a full reply can be expected. Our target is to provide an overall level of customer service considered to be satisfactory by at least 90% of our customers. We measure this by an annual customer satisfaction survey and this showed that in 1994 a satisfaction rate of 83% was achieved. With regard to your second question, in April 1995 the Contributions Agency updated its policy and procedures for dealing with complaints from members of the public. Our system is publicised in a new complaints leaflet for customers entitled "Unhappy with Our Service?" The leaflet is displayed in all Social Security and Contributions Agency offices and I enclose a copy for your information. Customers can use any method (letter, telephone, fax) to make a complaint and it can be made to anyone in Contributions Agency 89W who will immediately pass it on to the person dealing with that area of work. All expressions of dissatisfaction are recorded and dealt with immediately where practical. An interim response is issued to the customer if the query cannot be resolved quickly. If it relates solely to another Government Department it is acknowledged and passed to the appropriate area. Managers are encouraged to review cases locally to identify trends/problems and to record any changes or improvements made. Agency staff in Contributions Agency aim to deal with customer complaints within 5 working days. They will provide information on the next stage in the complaints procedure if the complainant is not satisfied. Those customers who are still dissatisfied may complain directly to me and I will normally reply within 10 working days. From 1 June 1995, customers who have had their cases investigated by myself but feel that it has not been satisfactorily resolved can have it investigated by an Independent Adjudicator. Where the customer is still not satisfied with the outcome, they may ask their Member of Parliament to submit the complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration for investigation and review. There is a separate route of complaint to the Office for the Determination of Contribution Questions (ODCQ) in the case of disagreements with a Secretary of State decision or a ruling on a contribution question. I hope that you will find this information useful. If I can be of any further assistance please let me know.

Letter from K. C. Caldwell to Ms Margaret Hodge, dated 19 June 1995: The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about:

performance indicators and targets for measuring performance in answering letters and telephone calls from members of the public and
what policy and procedures exist for dealing with complaints from members of the public; when this policy was last updated; what time limit there is for dealing with complaints and what follow-up procedure exists where complainants are not satisfied with the given response.

The Information Technology Services Agency provides computer systems and support to all DSS Agencies, DSS Headquarters, Employment Services and the Northern Ireland Social Security Agency, to enable them to provide services to their direct customers. Contracts, in the form of Service Agreements, are in place to cover the supply of these services to our internal customers and to enable them, in turn, to meet their performance targets. If a member of the public had an enquiry or complaint this would be addressed to the branch of the Department that handles their business. For example, the Benefits Agency, Contributions Agency, Employment Service, would have lead responsibility and, if the topic involved information technology, we would be asked to provide comment and support. We would do this within timescales and targets that are set by the branch taking the lead for the Department. This Agency participates in Open Government and has one point of contact for this, ITSA Public Relations. I hope you find this reply helpful.

Letter from Ann Chant to Ms Margaret Hodge, dated 19 June 1995: I am replying to your recent Parliamentary Questions to the Secretary of State for Social Security about the Child Support Agency's procedures and performance in dealing with correspondence and telephone calls. The Agency's Charter includes standards to be achieved in responding to letters and telephone calls from clients. Performance on telephone calls is measured by the British Telecom call handling service, and we aim to respond to 80 per cent. of telephone calls to the National Enquiry Line (NEL) or Child Support Agency Centres (CSAC) within 20 seconds. NEL is a 90W dedicated service which provides advice and information on more straightforward enquiries. More detailed and case specific enquiries are generally referred to the CSACs. During the year ending 31 March 1995, over 90 per cent. of telephone calls to NEL and 66 per cent. to CSACs were answered within 20 seconds. We aim to reply to clients' written enquiries within 10 days and performance is monitored centrally within the Agency. During the year ending 31 March 1995 the Agency replied to 34 per cent. of written enquiries within 10 days. We aim to acknowledge clients' complaints within 2 days and to send a full response within 10 days. Complaints procedures were reviewed in January 1994. Customer Services Managers record correspondence received from clients or their representatives indicating dissatisfaction with the Agency's service or procedures. If the complainant is not satisfied with the response, they may write to the CSAC Manager, or, in field offices to the Divisional Manager. If, following their response, the complainant is still not satisfied, our Charter invites them to write to me at the Child Support Agency, Room 2420, Millbank Tower, 21–24 Millbank, London SW1 4QU. Clients may, of course, also request their Member of Parliament to submit their complaint to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration for investigation and review. I hope this is helpful.

Letter from Ian Magee to Ms Margaret Hodge, dated 19 June 1995: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about what performance indicators and targets there are for measuring the performance of his Department in answering letters and telephone calls and what policy and procedures exist for dealing with complaints by members of the public. I will explain the performance and target indicators and the policy and procedures that exist for the Benefits Agency (BA). As stated in the BA Customer Charter, we aim to reply to correspondence within 10 working days. The BA carries out an annual National Customer Survey which includes a question about the length of time customers have had to wait for a reply to their letters. The 1994 National Customer Survey showed, on average, that customers waited 12 days compared to 13 days in 1993. The BA is continuing to look at ways of improving the service provided in order to fully meet our Charter commitment. All BA offices have their own standard for how quickly they answer telephone calls. As BA customers increasingly prefer to conduct their business by telephone, traffic volumes have risen. The capacity of many office switchboards has not been adequate to keep pace with the increase and a programme is under way to replace or upgrade all switchboards to provide easier and faster access. The programme is scheduled for completion during the year beginning April 1997 when National guidelines will be set. Telephone performance is currently monitored by Area Directors' staff who telephone every office in their area 20 times a quarter. The aim is to measure response times and quality of greeting; in addition one of these calls asks a question and measures staff knowledge. Results show that the average response time is 8 rings for an office to answer the telephone and three rings for an extension within the office to respond. The complaints system is also explained in the BA's Customer Charter as well as the Tell Us About It leaflets. I enclose a copy of both leaflets for your information and they have also been placed in the Library. They are available in eleven languages including Urdu, Punjabi, Turkish, Chinese and Welsh. The BA's complaints policy was revised in 1991 with the appointment of Customer Service Managers. If a customer is dissatisfied with the level of service they receive from the BA they can complain to the appropriate Customer Service Manager. The Customer Service Manager's name and telephone number is displayed in the public caller area of each BA office. The customer will receive a response within 7 days. If the customer remains dissatisfied, they can write to the District Office Manager whose name will be provided by the office on request. 91W You may also be interested to know that the BA is currently reviewing its complaints procedures and we expect to have completed this by July 1995. I hope you find this reply helpful.

Letter from Peter Mathison to Ms Margaret Hodge, dated 19 June 1995: The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about our performance targets for answering telephone calls and letters, and our complaints procedure. Over the past two years we have made many improvements in the service we can give to war pensioners. The launch of the War Pensions Agency in April 1994 included the publication of our first Charter Standard Statement, which defines service targets and standards including a complaints procedure if we fail to deliver the service we promise. Our published targets are:

Telephone calls to War pensions Helpline answered within 30 seconds. If we cannot answer the question straight away, we will call back at a time convenient to the pensioner.
letters from the public acknowledged within 5 working days followed by a full response by letter or telephone within 10 working days.

The War Pensions Agency telephone Helpline provides the main point of contact for the whole of the Agency and is the number quoted on all correspondence and publicity material. It includes a new automatic call distribution system which amongst other things provides statistics for monitoring and target purposes. Six months after Helpline was set up, we started a rolling programme of customer perception surveys. In December 1994, these showed that 93% of those asked said the service they received was either very good or good. In 1994/5 calls were answered with an average wait time of only 6.9 seconds and 95% of calls were answered within 30 seconds. As part of our continued drive to improve standards of service, the use of customer satisfaction surveys are reflected in our business plans. We are currently awaiting results of the 1995 survey, including the area of correspondence, which will be carefully examined and improvement initiatives coordinated by the Total Quality Management team. In 1994/95, 1,781 replies were sent by our operational sections in respect of letters addressed to Ministers or myself within 95 per cent. being sent within the 10 day target. The complaints system we now have in place, including a database of information, will enable us to monitor our targets for acknowledgement and replies in other areas of correspondence. Turning to our complaints system, pensioners with concerns can telephone the War Pensions Helpline on 01253 858858, the Helpline staff will be only too pleased to answer the query. Our Charter Standard Statement states that if things go wrong, any written complaint will be acknowledged within 5 working days, and a full reply sent within 10 working days. If we think it will take longer than this, we will write or telephone the person concerned to explain why and let them know when to expect a full reply to their complaint. If a person is dissatisfied with the way the complaint has been dealt with, they can contact our Customer Service Manager. If, however, they are still not satisfied they can get in touch with me. Details of how to do this are contained within the Charter Standard Statement. In addition to this, a person can also ask their MP to refer their case to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration for investigation and review. In addition to the formal complaints procedure, pensioners can discuss any concerns with the many ex-service organisations and we fully investigate any matters referred to us as a result. People can also, if they wish, discuss their cases with their local War Pensions Committee (WPC). These are independent of the Agency and are made up of members who are disabled ex-service persons, some of whom work for voluntary associations. Again, any recommendations mady by the WPCs are fully considered. Information on how to contact ex-service organisations or the WPCs is contained in leaflets 92W available from the Agency and our national network of War Pensioner's Welfare Service offices. I hope you have found this information useful.