Introduction
A survey of the Benefits Service was carried out in order to provide valuable feedback on our customers views of the quality of the service provided and to supply the required data for the Government’s Performance Indicator BV80-'Satisfaction with the Benefits Service'.
The Survey was conducted on behalf of the Council by the company Marketing Means with Phase 1 carried out in February 2003 and Phase 2 in January 2004.
The Survey sought to find levels of satisfaction/dissatisfaction in a number of key service areas namely:-
1. Contact with the office
2. Service in the office
3. Telephone Service
4. Staff in the office
5. Claim Forms
6. Speed of Service
7. Overall Satisfaction
The information gained from the survey has been used to help determine the nature and priority of planned improvements to the benefit service. The highest dissatisfaction levels were recorded relating to speed of service and since the survey was conducted a marked improvement in this area has been achieved.
It is planned to carry out a further survey next year 2005/2006 to ascertain whether the improvement measures that have been undertaken have increased customer satisfaction levels.
The survey information is published as part of the Council’s Best Value Performance Plan 2004/05. In addition a summary of the results is shown below and the report itself may be accessed by clicking here.
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Benefit Survey Summary
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:-)
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:-|
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:-(
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1. The facilities to get in touch with the benefits office;
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73.9%
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14.4%
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11.6%
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2. The service in the actual office;
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67.4%
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19.7%
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12.9%
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3. The telephone service;
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63.3%
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14.2%
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22.5%
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4. The staff in the Benefits office;
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76.8%
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12.3%
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10.9%
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5. The clarity and understandability of the forms, leaflets and letters;
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54.9%
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26.8%
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18.3%
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6. The amount of time it took them to tell me whether my claim was successful.
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62.2%
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8.9%
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29.0%
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7. Overall satisfaction with the (Benefits) service:
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73.6%
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11.5%
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14.9%
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Explanation of notations used in table:
:-) denotes 'very satisfied' or 'fairly satisfied'
:-| denotes 'neither satisfied nor dissatisfied'
:-( denotes 'fairly dissatisfied' or 'very dissatisfied'
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