How we will measure ourselves

This is our second update since we launched our Customer Experience Strategy in June 2021.  In creating a customer experience strategy our motivation was simple; we want to make sure our services deliver what you really want, when you want, and that you are able to access those services in a way that suits you best.

So, what has happened since then?

Service reviews

We have carried out reviews of an additional 16 service areas and put in place action plans to embed our Customer Standards further.

Online tenant portal

Our new on-line tenant portal has proved a great success with over 11,500 home page visits a month. By introducing this new service, it has meant that customers have been able to check their account balance or rent statement, update personal details, or request a refund – all at time to suit them.

  • 500 direct debit set up online
  • 1,340 refunds requested online
  • 3,417 contact details updated online
  • 11,500 monthly average homepage visits (balance views)

Customer satisfaction monitoring in our call centres

We have also been reviewing your satisfaction with our call centres and we have found that in general we exceed our target month on month as illustrated in the Lambeth call centre graph.

However, we also understand that there have been issues for some customers not being able to get through to call centres or having to wait for an unacceptable amount of time. 

In particular our housing contact centre for the period July – September 2021 saw 12% of calls unanswered.  We have therefore taken the decision to end our current housing contact centre arrangement and introduce a new service during 2022. This will enable us to answer more of your calls and solve more of your issues the first time you contact us.

In the meantime, we will be putting in place a resilience programme, particularly over the winter months, when we know issues with boilers, heating and water can be in higher demand making sure we are there for you when you most need help.

Website

Following the launch of our new website earlier this year we have progressed further improvements, and over the last couple of months have been making changes to the online forms you use to contact us.  We have added an address look up, reduced the number of pages in webforms for you to complete and are reducing the number of forms on our website. All of which means that it now easier and more accessible than ever for you to transact on line at a time of your choice.

Where’s the proof? Well, the webform graph illustrates the number of forms viewed and you can see since making the improvements there has been a significant and ongoing increase in use of webforms. In addition, before these improvements Lambeth were ranked 328 by Sitemorse UK local government index for accessibility. We are very proud to say that as a result of all the changes described we now sit in the top 10.

Customer service week

Customer service week takes place in October every year, with key customer service related themes. Lambeth fully embraces the week, organising events to match the key themes, and recognising service excellence from colleagues and teams.

Complaints

We are continuing to analyse the reason for complaints and how we can fix the route cause where there is commonality. Our service improvement team is working closely with teams to identify areas of improvement, change processes and make services easier to access.

What’s coming next?

  • Single password accessyou will have the ability to log in once and use a single password to access multiple services. This will start with Council Tax, Parking and Housing.
  • More data collectionso that we can use this to see where we are doing well and where we need to improve.
  • Report a street faultintroducing new technology that will allow you to report street faults such as potholes, online.
  • Freedom of information - we will be going live with our Freedom of Information project; this will mean information is more readily available for you to view online and the information will be easier to access.
  • Robotsinstalling robots to carry out low level tasks (such as updating a change of address) giving staff more time to assist you with complex requests and issues.
  • Pest control and Childminders implementing technology so that we can update you by SMS text message (if that is your preferred choice) and ensure you feel informed.
  • Call centresworking to continually improve our call centres to better your experience, reduce waiting times, and ensure first time resolution.

We will share updates on our progress over the coming months, and provide a full update ahead of the spring to show you how we are improving your services and experiences.