Memorandum from the Department for Education
and Skills
As recognised by the Committee the delivery
structure for education, as in Health, is different from other
parts of government and the inquiry questions are therefore not
quite as appropriate. The Department's role is to provide leadership
and support for what is a diverse system for education and children's
services. These frontline services are of course very much in
the business of putting people first and this is clearly demonstrated
by the many Charter Mark holders throughout the system. There
are many examples of customer focus in practice in our sectors.
School governance arrangements provide an exemplar of direct customer
representation; the Centre for Excellence in Leadership has a
major initiative to promote the learner voice; and we are working
with the Learning and Skills Council on how purchasing power can
be put in the hands of customers in order to make the system as
responsive as possible to their needs. A National Learner Panel
has been established recently with an encouraging start and a
panel is also being set up for learners with learning difficulties
and disabilities. And of course we are supporting a major drive
towards personalisation in education and learning, arguably the
ultimate in customer choice and responsiveness.
However, as agreed, our contribution to the
Committee's work primarily focuses on the Department itself—how
it uses customer consultation and feedback to influence national
policies and to improve its own customer services (answers to
specific inquiry questions are in Appendix 1). In addition we
offer two examples of practice from sector partners—Ufi
learndirect and our work with the Student Loan Company (Appendices
2 and 3).
OUR APPROACH
Our commitment to and focus on the end user
is firmly embedded in the Department's recently refreshed five
year strategy. In particular this stresses that the customer's
experience and holistic needs will be central to our thinking
and our policies; and that cross-government collaborative working
will be important because the customer journey often extends beyond
organisational and sectoral boundaries.
Customer insight is thus a priority for the
Department and a focus of our capability review implementation
plan. We are currently developing our customer insight programme,
bringing together all associated activities, with a focus on customer
segments, and making it more integral to our day-to-day work.
For example, we are reorganising our Schools Directorate around
customer and front-line feedback and making sure that this fuels
policy and operational decision-making. This includes using quarterly
tracking of parent's and head teacher's views, supplemented by
weekly feedback via our Public Communications Unit. We also work
in partnership with the National Association of Governors which
gives regular feedback to ministers on any issues of concern and,
drawing on their networks, comment on policies in development.
We are now developing a new twice yearly survey of the views of
our key stakeholders to help us understand, track over time and
act on the issues that concern them.
Public consultations play an important but changing
role. We take them very seriously: we have the only dedicated
consultation unit in government which provides support and advice
to policy makers; and we have developed a sophisticated e-consultation
system that can for example collate and analyse responses. We
have also exploited different media and techniques, from CDs and
DVDs to outreach partnerships with supermarkets.
However we and other departments face a challenge
in the changing customer attitudes to formal consultations. It
has become clear recently that customer motivation to respond
to formal written consultations has declined, with many consultations
receiving less than 100 responses after the twelve week consultation
period. Nevertheless some consultations have received a good response
rate, for example the School Admissions Consultation received
over 4,000 responses. Therefore it appears that only certain changes,
decisions, policy, guidance and regulations are best suited to
a full public formal written consultation, where the public will
be clear that they have a personal stake in the outcome. On other
issues where consultations directly affect only certain sectors
or specialist groups these can be more targeted at key stakeholders.
Our experience is that the most effective type
of consultation will use a mix of approaches tailored to its target
audience. For example, with the Green Paper "Somewhere to
Go—Something to Do", in addition to enabling young
people to respond to the consultation online via the Department
for Education and Skills (DfES) website and their own Need2Know
website, their views were collected by providing lesson plans
to teachers to encourage discussion and completion of response
forms during school time, promotion in youth clubs, through face-to-face
events for hard to reach groups and via a specially written version
for young people with special needs. To deliver this variety of
approaches, we worked in partnership with the Government Office
regional network, bringing together professionals and voluntary
and community sector workers across a range of youth services.
These efforts resulted in over 20,000 responses to the Green Paper
consultation, 95% of which were from the key target audience of
young people aged between 13 and 19. There were marked differences
between the views of young people replying by questionnaire and
those who attended consultation events—views which otherwise
would not have been heard.
A further example is the Childcare Act 2006
section 12 consultation, which was undertaken in two parts, a
formal 12 week consultation and a schedule of nine focus groups
across the country with voluntary groups and officers from the
Children's Information Services (CIS). Between 30 and 70 delegates
attended each focus group and discussed their views and concerns
about how their information should be available to the public,
and their new remit of young people. Getting direct to those in
CIS via focus groups was vitally important in this case as the
written consultation received few responses. Therefore a multi-route
approach ensures that we not only reach the target audience more
effectively but that they are able to respond in the most appropriate
way for them. Further research is being undertaken in the Department
on customer motivation and the best medium for consultation for
all groups including the hard to reach.
The Transformational Government strategy and
the Varney service transformation review will have a major impact
on how we approach customer insight and its use in service design
and delivery in the future. It requires a shift from a departmental
to a cross-government view of customers' needs and that government
responds to those holistic needs with a similarly joined-up approach
to delivery via Directgov and integrated call centres and local
offices. The impact will be heightened by the new emphasis on
making online delivery the primary channel for public information
and transactions in the coming years. In online delivery the Department
has a more direct role and leads on the delivery of education
and skills information and services on Directgov. But it also
has an important cross-government role in shaping the overall
online offer for parents, for children and for young people—all
of which will increasingly affect our approach to customer research
and feedback.
For example, we are developing Directgov Kids,
an interactive children's-eye view of the world of government,
public services and related issues. This has involved extensive
research and testing with 5-11 year olds (and their parents and
teachers). This has been designed to encourage children to express
their views and ideas and feel ownership of the website—very
much in keeping with the Children are service users too
report. Similarly we have fully involved young people in designing
their online services and how they should be presented. For example,
in designing the Need2know information facility young people were
not only involved through roadshows and focus groups but they
were employed on the project team and were members of the project
board and the cross-government steering group. An OGC review cited
this innovative approach as an exemplar for government engagement
of young people.
For older groups too a tailored approach is
important not least because needs can vary greatly even within
broad customer segments such as "parents", "adult
learners" etc, for example, nine parent typologies were identified
from earlier research. Therefore customer insight on motivations
and attitudes is used to develop a range of personas and scenarios
to inform service designs which can then be user-tested, not just
for usability but also for whether customer outcomes are achieved
effectively. Further power is given to customers in the design
itself, for example through use of decision trees, access to sources
of independent advice, and of course through online feedback facilities.
Some focus group work has had to reflect the fact that a service
often has to meet the needs of more than one customer group, for
example student finance support facilities have to be suitable
not only for young people but their parents and for mature students.
With the increasing reliance on web-based delivery
of public services it will be important that hard-to-reach groups
are fully engaged and that online services are fit for their purposes.
The Department has recently supported two related pieces of customer
research and evaluation around this issue. The first worked with
mostly older people in different locations around the country
to test "myguide", a service to remove the barriers
to the benefits of the internet for the many who currently cannot
or will not use it without intervention. The second pilot engaged
disadvantaged groups in a South West in using online public services
through a network of UK online centres. In both pilots the user
response was very positive and user insights will inform service
design.
Looking to the future, we see the sharing of
customer insight across government to be key to continued improvement
in public services and there will be an important role in this
for customer contact and digital inclusion networks. The government
response to the Herdan report and particularly the development
of a new customer service standard and diagnostic tool could also
be very helpful and timely.
Appendix 1
DETAILED QUESTIONS
What formal systems do you have for gathering
customer feedback?
The Public Communication Unit (PCU) plays a
key role in delivering customer service to the general public
on behalf of the DfES. It receives approx 250,000 enquiries per
year and has monitored customer satisfaction in relation to the
service it provides since 2002. The enquiry types and content
are recorded via a correspondence handling system (ECHO) and a
telephone desk top system used to note the type of caller and
nature of enquiry/complaint. Throughout its daily contact with
DfES customers the PCU gathers customer intelligence relating
to public perception of its policies. This information is fed
into the Policy and Board Directorate on a weekly basis to be
used to inform the development of future policy.
The Consultation Unit is the only dedicated
team in government set up to undertake formal consultations. In
2006 the Unit has launched, and provided administration and advice
on 46 consultations. We have an excellent e-consultation system
which is used to facilitate the consultation process—collating
replies and providing a framework for analysis and quantification
of results.The Public Communications Unit undertakes an annual
survey to examine service in relation to that of previous years,
identify and develop areas for improvement, benchmark its service
against other government departments and service providers and
establish what is most important to the customer. This information
helps us to prioritise our business needs and resources to ensure
that the expectations of our customers are addressed.
Which systems are most effective?
All the systems have their place in gaining
feedback from customers. The day to day enquiries provide valuable
intelligence and can be used as a litmus test for public reaction
to policy. The e-consultation system is designed to get specific
feedback to a range of questions relating to a policy. The data
can be cut and analysed to provide statistical information and
well as qualitative views. The annual survey provides a benchmark
on how well the Department is responding to telephone enquiries,
email and letters. The year on year analysis has been used to
understand customer expectations and the extent to which we meet
those expectations.
Can you identify any changes made as a result
of customer feedback?
In previous years customer feedback through
surveys has suggested that people have been dissatisfied with
the tone and content of some of the replies they have received
from the Department. The case for establishing a central unit
to respond to all correspondence was partly based on the need
to drive up standards and the quality of the response to customers.
As a result, the majority of written correspondence in DfES is
undertaken now by our Public Communications Unit. The 2006 survey
has shown a marked improvement in satisfaction rates for correspondence.
If you undertake user surveys how often are they
repeated and how much is spent on each survey?
The annual customer satisfaction survey is conducted
by an external research organisation and project led by the Central
Office for Information at a total cost in 2006 of £45k.
What targets for customer service, if any, are
in place?
The Six Standards for Central Government from
1999-2000 apply to the department. The updated Central Government
standards are also know as "Service First" standards,
they are:
In serving you, every central government department
and agency will aim to do the following:
1. Answer your letters from the public quickly
and clearly. Each department and agency will set a target for
answering correspondence (including letters, faxes, and e-mails)
and will publish its performance against this target.
2. See people within 10 minutes of any appointment
you have made at its office; it will set a target for seeing callers
without an appointment, and will publish performance against this
target.
3. Answer telephone calls quickly and helpfully.
Each department and agency will set a target for answering calls
to telephone enquiry points, and will publish its performance
against this target.
4. Provide clear and straightforward information
about its services and those of related providers, along with
one or more telephone enquiry numbers and e-mail addresses to
help you or put you in touch with someone who can.
5. Have a complaints procedure, or procedures,
for the service it provides, publicise it, including on the Internet,
and send you information about it if you ask.
6. Do everything reasonably possible to make
its services available to everyone, including people with special
needs. Consult users and potential users regularly about the service
it provides and report on the result.
The published list of agreed standards (October
1999) state DfES' specific targets under the above standards as:
Standard 1: Target for Responding to Correspondence
(including faxes and E-mails) from members of the public: 15 days.
Standard 2: Maximum length of time a person
without an appointment time should have to wait before they are
seen in a public office: 10 minutes.
Standard 3: Target for Answering Calls to
Designated Telephone Enquiry Points: 20 seconds.
Standard 4: E-mail enquiry points for central
government departments and agencies: info@dfes.gov.gsi.uk
The following internal efforts are also being
made to ensure good customer service standards:
Standard 1: We have extensive key performance
indicators for dealing with correspondence with the key target
that 95% of cases should be replied to within 15 working days
(our performance so far this year is 93%). This standard is set
and agreed by DfES, but recent work to benchmark our services
with others demonstrates that different departments apply and
measure a range of standards for Government Correspondence.
Standard 2: We hold annual surveys on all
DfES sites to measure our performance against this standard. In
the most recent 95% of visitors were seen within ten minutes.
99.5% of visitors considered that they were dealt with in a courteous
manner by reception staff and feedback from visitors has been
used to improve reception areas.
Standard 3: The Department's General Enquiry
Line aims to answer 80% of all calls within 20 seconds, our current
performance against this is 84% and aims to answer 90% within
60 seconds, our current performance is 95%.
Standard 4: The department is currently
rationalising its web presence through focusing online communications
along user specific channels. The amount of external email boxes
for contacting the department is also being reduced with info@dfes.gsi.gov.uk
being used as a centralised contact point.
Standard 5: The current complaints procedure
is clearly publicised on the department's corporate website and
linked from the home page. This link leads to a clear section
providing information on complaints to the Department and its
agencies.
Standard 6: The annual satisfaction survey
outlined above under question 2 provides data on customer perception
of our general service. Users of our e-consultation system are
automatically asked their views of the system and suggested improvements.
We offer Minicom services for hard of hearing phone callers who
contact the Department through the enquiry line. We can also provide
foreign language letters and emails to people those requesting
it.
In DfES, we plan to revisit the Customer Service
Standards ensuring they are in line with cross-Whitehall standards
and still reflect customer expectations.
Do you have a complaint handling unit, or are
complaints handled where they are received?
The Department does not have a complaint handling
unit as such but most complaints are routed through and allocated
by the PCU.
The Department considers a complaint to be a
clear expression of dissatisfaction with our service which calls
for a response. A complaint can be made in writing, fax, email,
telephone or in person by appointment. Minor complaints are handled
over the telephone.
Complaints are handled on a case by case basis
with the complaint forwarded to whoever is considered the most
suitable person, normally the line manager of the individual being
complained about or the senior manager with responsibility for
the policy. All written complaints are received by the Public
Communications Unit, unless it is sent direct to an individual,
and from there it is allocated to a suitable staff member to address.
At the moment there are two email complaints
address boxes (one is Complaints.PEU@dfes.gsi.gov.uk alongside
complaints@dfes.gsi.gov.uk) both of which go through to the Public
Communications Unit allocation team. If any complaints are made
on the Public Enquiry Line (0800 000 2288) then the person is
asked to submit a formal complaint in writing which then comes
to the PCU allocation team.
Every complaint should be replied to within
15 days. The response to the complaint will be reviewed by an
authoriser after drafting who will check that it answers the question.
A further step for a complainant is to ask their MP to raise the
matter with the independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration
(the Ombudsman).
How many full time equivalents are involved in
complaint handling, and at what grades?
No staff are involved in full time complaints
handling; little resource is involved as there are relatively
few complaints in the course of a year.
Do you have an internal review process for dealing
with complaints? If so, how does it operate?
There is no separate formal review process but
replies to complaints are dealt with as laid out above, with an
authoriser checking the suitability of the reply.
Do you do any analysis of complaints to inform
service delivery and design?
Because telephone calls and correspondence are
channelled through our PCU we do have a good understanding of
the scale and nature of the complaints we receive. Our correspondence
handling system can flag complaints. Although there isn't a single
system for recording complaints about service delivery and design
we are able to get a good deal of information from the records
we hold and act accordingly.
ANNEXE BY
UFI
1. Background to learndirect services
Ufi operates two services for members of the
public under the learndirect brand: learndirect courses and learndirect
advice.
learndirect courses is delivered through a network
of more than 800 online learning centres in England and is also
available in Wales and Northern Ireland. Since the service was
launched in October 1999, 2.2 million people have, between them,
taken over 5.3 million courses[57].
The learndirect network is now delivering one in four of the post-18
sector's first Skills for Life national tests in literacy and
numeracy. The network currently receives new course registrations
at an average rate if 10,000 a week.
The learndirect advice service was launched
in 1998 as the Learning Direct advice line. The learndirect advice
service has delivered more than 30 million advice sessions about
courses and careers online and on the telephone, drawing on a
database of more than half a million courses from hundreds of
providers nationwide.
Funding (budget) for each service in 2006-07
is as follows:
learndirect courses—£153.3 million[58]
learndirect advice—£25.1 million[59]
2. Formal systems for gathering feedback
about service provision
a. learndirect courses
| Feedback mechanism |
Cost per annum (£) |
| Web facility (web research survey) | 35,000
|
| Response cards in learndirect centres | 2,000
|
| Focus groups | 10,000 |
| User surveys | 210,000 |
All complaints and queries directed to the learndirect learner
services help line are formally recorded and given a unique reference
number. Management information is then provided to the business
through a range of regular and ad hoc reports.
b. learndirect advice
| Feedback mechanism | Cost per annum (£)
|
| Focus groups | 10,000 |
| User surveys | 60,000 |
3. Effectiveness of feedback systems
a. learndirect courses
— Learner Satisfaction Survey—since the learndirect
network was established in 2000, Ufi has gathered information
on learner satisfaction with learndirect a telephone survey of
a small representative group of learners, undertaking a number
of "waves" of the survey each year. The same core range
of questions about the key components of the learndirect service
has been used for each survey. The information gathered has been
used to produce an action plan for core service areas for each
of the nine English regions, plus Wales and, until March 2005,
Northern Ireland. The action plans are based on the key areas
of dissatisfaction highlighted by the survey. In 2006, Ufi introduced
an on-line survey which attracted responses from 10,000 learners,
equivalent to 20% of the active learner population at any one
time. This represents a substantially higher response rate than
the telephone survey and is therefore able to be analysed at learning
centre level. The notably higher response rate to the online survey
from learners with disabilities suggests that learners respond
more willingly to the questions posed when the survey is conducted
on-line than when it is conducted by telephone. The online approach
also allows for issues relating to front-line delivery (eg service
in centres, tutor support) to be improved. The key actions from
the surveys are included in centre, regional and national Self
Assessment Reports, which all Learning and Skills-funded providers
complete and whose format is defined by the Learning and Skills
Council.
— Focus groups—are used primarily to test
specific approaches to service delivery eg a new course, a new
service or marketing materials. Focus groups have also been used
to test proposed solutions to issues raised in the learner survey.
— Learner Services—This is a service for registered
learndirect learners whose primary purpose is to respond to immediate
issues which are preventing learners from continuing with their
course, eg difficulty in accessing their course online. The service
operates on a five-day service level agreement from the time the
initial enquiry or complaint is received to when it is resolved.
An analysis of common issues and complaints are fed into Ufi's
quality improvement process so that solutions can be identified
and implemented. Improvement is measured by monitoring reductions
in call volumes.
learndirect advice
— Post-helpline research—Ufi conducts a telephone
survey of a robust, representative group of clients who have accessed
the service. The survey is carried out on a monthly basis with
300 people who have called the helpline in the previous couple
of weeks. To ensure that all key groups are spoken to, the sample
is split between core service (200 per month) and guidance service
callers[60] (100 per
month). The guidance sample is in turn split to make sure it includes
action plan callers. The focus of the survey is about understanding
caller satisfaction with how their call was dealt with and how
effective it has been. The way in which the research is conducted
has recently been changed to place greater focus on understanding
the specific aspects of the service which have most influence
on satisfaction, and developing an action plan to try to maximise
the levels of satisfaction generated amongst all types of callers.
— Helpline progression research is carried out biannually,
with a statistically robust sample of callers from six months
previously. 500 callers are surveyed, again split out between
core and guidance service users. The three aims of this element
of the research are to:
— understand the impact of the call to the advice
line on respondents progression to learning and qualifications;
— quantify the level of learning;
— understand the motivations for progression, in
order to maximise the impact and influence on future progression.
— Both surveys are conducted by the same agency
and hence benefit from an holistic overall analysis, drawing the
findings from both together and informing action planning.
— learndirect advice—The service has a front-end
Interactive voice response (IVR) messaging service. The IVR message
invites callers to comment/feedback on the provision of the service
when they speak to an advisor. The advisor can accept any feedback/comments
from the caller directly or if the caller prefers, they can speak
to a helpline manager, write in or email their feedback. All complaints,
and positive feedback is documented and if appropriate, fed into
the quality improvement process. Improvements are measured by
a reduction in complaint call types. Positive feedback is communicated
to advisors to encourage best practice. Users who access the learndirect-advice
website can also provide feedback online.
4. What changes Ufi has made as a result of gathering
user feedback
learndirect courses
— Introduction of "Test my PC" service
so that remote learners (ie those not learning in a learndirect
centre can themselves test their own PC to perform an initial
diagnosis to identify and fix frequently encountered problems.
Queries not resolved in this way can then be escalated to learner
services.
— Changed the process for learners to obtain their
Completion Certificate when they have finished a course. Certificates
previously issued by learning centres are now issued centrally
by customer services, as a large number of calls about delays
in receiving certificates were being received.
— Set up a campaign within Ufi to reduce the time
taken to respond to queries from learners to five days.
— Increased the number of learners who record having
been told about Equality and Diversity at their induction. The
figure now stands at 83%. This has been achieved by training people
working in the centre network and introducing Equality and Diversity
impact measures.
— Ufi is replacing the core technology infrastructure
which supports the delivery and administration of the learndirect
network. The upgrade takes account of learner and network feedback,
with a user group supporting the design and testing. This is a
four-phase upgrade. Phase 1 went live in 2006, phase two is due
to go live in July 2007, phase 3 in January 2008 and phase four
in March 2008.
learndirect advice:
learndirect advice is continually improving the quality of
service to clients through its Continuous Quality Improvement
Plan. Some of the main improvements delivered during funding year
2006/07 as a result of user feedback include:
— Provision of long-term support to callers and
of richer management information about customer profiles, following
the launch of new telephony platforms.
— There have been a number of significant changes
to the guidance service offer (see footnote 4) as a direct result
of caller feedback including:
— A more tailored approach to meet specific individual
needs.
— A reduction in the time a caller can expect a
follow up call.
— Better provision of learner and management information.
— Improved referral processes to external agencies.
— The learndirect advice service (including guidance
and minority language services) is currently piloting a brokerage
service. The advisors support the caller in making initial contact
with external agencies.
5. Frequency and cost of user surveys
| Survey type | Frequency |
Cost per year |
| learndirect courses | |
|
| Learner satisfaction telephone survey | twice per year
| £120,000 |
| Learner Satisfaction online survey | quarterly
| £60,000 |
| Learner progression survey | annual
| £20,000 |
| learndirect advice | |
|
| User satisfaction survey | monthly
| £45,000 |
| User progression survey | bi-annually
| £15,000 |
6. Targets for customer service
learndirect courses:
The learndirect customer charter defines what people doing
a learndirect course should expect from the service. The charter
is displayed in learning centres and can be accessed via the learndirect
website at:
http://www.learndirect.co.uk/personal/helpandadvice/charter/
In its strategy for 2006-11 published in October 2006, the
demonstration of year-on-year improvements in quality, measured
by adult learning inspection grades and learner satisfaction rates,
is published as a key performance indicator for the period of
the plan. The key performance indicator for funding year 2006-07
is 91%.
The strategy can be found at:
http://www.ufi.com/home/section5/stratplan0611/index.html
The key performance indicator on quality can be found at:
http://www.ufi.com/home/section5/stratplan0611/courses—key—strategies.html
Ufi has a service level standard for responding to customer
queries and complaints within five working days.
The contract with the Learner Services helpline provider,
BSS, is monitored and managed against the following key performance
indicators:
| 93% of learner contacts are resolved within 24 hours
| 97%[61]
|
| 83% of learner services advisors meet internal quality monitoring
| achieved |
| 90% of customers are satisfied with the service
| achieved |
learndirect advice
The learndirect advice service states in its complaints process
that all complaints will be resolved within five working days.
A pre-recorded announcement to all users, which they hear when
they make contact with the service, encourages clients to provide
feedback on the service to the advisor. The complaints process
is published on the learndirect website.
Ufi has a key performance indicator for funding year 2006-07
of 91% for advice service users.
The contract with advice services helpline provider, BSS,
is monitored and managed against the following service levels:
— Monthly report on complaints and positive feedback
received.
— All complaints to be resolved within five working
days.
— Complaints process agreed by Ufi and adhered to
as per the service level agreement which Ufi has with BSS.
7. How complaints are handled
learndirect courses:
The complaints policy for learndirect learners is displayed
in learning centres and can be accessed via the learndirect website
at:
http://www.learndirect.co.uk/personal/contactus/contactus/
Under the terms of the policy learners can choose to contact:
— the learndirect centre at which they enrolled;
— the learndirect learner services helpline via
phone, email, fax, message board or letter; and
— Ufi via phone, email, fax or letter.
Any learner who is dissatisfied with the way in which their
complaint has been handled can contact Ufi's Head of Customer
Service, who will review their case and provide a formal response.
All customer complaints logged at the Learner Services help
line are monitored on a weekly basis and reviewed for continuous
improvement opportunities.
learndirect advice:
All complaints received are logged centrally at the helpline
and managed via a register through to conclusion. Each complaint
is given an individual reference number. The register can also
be monitored to identify patterns and systemic issues.
The operations manager, an employee of BSS, is responsible
for co-ordinating and maintaining the complaints register, to
which both Ufi and BSS have continual access.
All complaints are acknowledged within two working days of
receipt by email or letter, explaining the likely course of action
and outlining when a formal response should be expected. It is
a principle of the process that wherever possible, complaints
be responded to in the same format in which they were received.
All complaints are formally and fully responded to within
a maximum of 14 working days of receipt.
8. The number of full-time equivalents (FTEs) involved
in complaint handling
learndirect courses:
— On average 1% of calls into the helpline express
some level of dissatisfaction. This equates to around 50 expressions
of dissatisfaction per month and on average 25 of these are formal
complaints. All formal complaints are escalated to Ufi for investigation
and resolution.
— The learner services helpline has 39.8 FTEs handling
both customer queries and complaints.
— The Customer Service Team at Ufi has 10.2 FTEs
who work on handling all escalated customer queries and complaints,
contract manage the helplines, and compile and distribute reports.
— There are a further 168 staff across Ufi who have
responsibility for answering customer queries and complaints within
their specialist business area as part of the formal responsibilities
of their post.
learndirect advice:
— The learndirect advice line has 160 advisors FTE,
19 coordinators, two operations managers and one senior operation
manager. All post holders are responsible for handling complaints
as part of the agreed complaints procedure and as part of their
other responsibilities.
— 2.5 FTEs at Ufi work on handling escalated customer
queries and complaints, contract manage the helplines, and compile
and distribute reports.
— On average, the advice service handles over 700,000
telephone enquires per annum. In 2006-07 to date, the service
has received five complaints.
9. Internal review process for dealing with complaints
learndirect courses:
All customer complaints are logged at the learner services help
line. The level of caller dissatisfaction is monitored weekly
against Ufi's agreed benchmark.
All complaints logged each week are printed off and reviewed
by the Head of Customer service for continuous improvement opportunities.
Customer complaints and queries are reported to the learndirect
courses board on a quarterly basis and any issues or trends raised
with heads of department for action and development. The learndirect
courses board is one of five internal boards at Ufi which monitor
on a monthly basis activity across all Ufi's four external strategic
objectives.
Performance against the five day response target is reported
to heads of department on a weekly basis. Regular workshops are
held with departments to identify opportunities to improve their
query handling.
learndirect advice:
All feedback documented on a feedback log and collated on
a monthly basis. This data is used to identify any trends and,
where appropriate, feeds into the quality improvement programme.Any
complaints or issues which cannot be resolved within the agreed
response times are escalated to the senior operations manager
at BSS or the advice and partnership manager at Ufi as appropriate.
A monthly report including the feedback log is collated on
a monthly basis. This is used to identify trends and where appropriate
information is added to the Quality Improvement Plan for 2006-07.
This is then further analysed by the quality and performance manager
at Ufi to ensure response times are met.
The number of complaints and response times are formally
reported internally to the Ufi Programme Board for Advice via
a monthly scorecard, which also reports on positive feedback received
from clients about the service.
10. Analysis of complaints to inform service delivery
and design
learndirect courses
All the complaints are handled throughout the organisation
are given a unique number CRN and are handled through Ufi's customer
support team. The team works with each department in the company
involved in complaints handling to improve the response time to
resolve and respond to complaints and to identify changes in process
and procedure which could be introduced in response to repeated
complaints.
3 learndirect advice
All complaints handled are reviewed on a monthly basis. However,
the volumes of complaints about the learndirect advice service
are so low that trend analysis is not always possible. However,
a pattern of certain types of complaints over time may inform
the quality improvement plan which will then help to identify
changes to key business processes.
February 2007
Annexe by the Student Finance Service
1. Please could you indicate the four most significant
(in terms of size) services your department provides to individual
citizens, either directly or through its agencies
The Student Finance Service provides funding in the form
of grants and loans to support students attending higher education.
The assessment of eligibility and payment of support is currently
administered by the Student Loans Company (which is an NDPB) and
Local Authorities (LAs). The collection of loans after the individual
has left higher education is administered by the Student Loans
Company (SLC) and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). Bill Rammell
MP, Minister for Higher Education, announced in July 2006 that
after a transitional period starting in the 2009-10 academic year,
the reformed SLC will take over the assessment role currently
conducted by LAs. The SLC will have fully taken over this role
for the 2011-12 academic year.
How many people receive each service (to the nearest 50,000)?850,000
students applied for support for the 2006-07 academic year. A
further 700,000 individuals were involved in the application process
as sponsors whose income was taken into account for means testing
purposes. A total of 2.1 million former students are in repayment
in the 2006-07 financial year (1.4 million through the Income
Contingent Repayment scheme and 0.7 million through the older
mortgage style repayment scheme).
What is the cost of each service to the public purse?
The cost of providing loans and grants is around £3
billion per year. The cost of administering the service is approximately
£50 million per year for the SLC, approximately £4 million
per year for HMRC and is estimated to be around £40 million
in LAs. These administration costs are expected to change substantially
as assessment work is transferred from LAs to the SLC.
2. What formal systems do you have for gathering customer
feedback?
| Yes/No | Cost pa
|
Facility of website | Yes—customers have the option of completing a survey that collects quantitative information and make any qualitative comments.
| Around £4,000 |
| Response cards at offices | No—we understand that some local authorities use these but none feedback into national service delivery.
| - |
| Focus Groups | Yes—these are being used extensively in the development of the transformation programme and are expected to become routine.
| They are not yet considered business as usual so it is not possible to give an annual cost.
|
| User Surveys | Yes—The Department commissions an annual survey of customers looking at an end to end view of the service.
| The annual survey commissioned by the Department costs around £50,000 per year.
|
| The SLC conducts monthly customer satisfaction surveys with 400 customers randomly drawn from those people who have contacted SLC in the previous month.
| The SLC's customer satisfaction survey costs approximately £50,000 per annum.
|
| Analysis of Complaints | See response to question 10 below.
| Not known |
| Other (please specify) | |
|
| |
|
3. Which systems are most effective?
Different systems are most effective for different purposes.
For example, focus groups and user testing of systems are effective
at getting depth information about how users approach the service
and want to use it. Surveys are useful for validating the findings
of focus groups across a large audience and for monitoring customer
satisfaction performance.
4. Can you identify any changes made as a result of gathering
customer feedback?
The Review of HE Student Finance Delivery published in January
2006 used previous customer surveys and one especially commissioned
to make extensive recommendations to improve the service. Most
of these are now being implemented as part of the programme to
transform the student finance service.
In the shorter term, feedback received on the website and
through user testing of web interfaces has led substantial changes
to the online application process for the 2007-08 academic year.
5. If you undertake user surveys how often are they repeated,
and how much is spent on each survey?
See answer to question 2 above.
6. What targets for customer service, if any, are in place?
The SLC has a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) related to
its customer satisfaction survey. The headline target is for at
least 92% of customers contacted as part of the survey to rate
the overall service of the SLC positively. The SLC KPIs are agreed
annually and performance is reviewed quarterly with the Department
and twice a year at a meeting between the Chairman and Chief Executive
of the SLC and the Minister for Higher Education.
7. Do you have a complaints handling unit, or are complaints
handled where they are received?
At the SLC all complaints are handled by their Customer Assistance
Team, part of Assurance Services which is independent of the Operations
Directorate. Complaints can be made by telephone, in writing or
by email.
8. How many full time equivalents are involved in complaint
handling, and at what grades?
The SLC has one Coordinator, four senior advisors and three
advisors to handle complaints. The Coordinator reports to the
Legal & Compliance Manager, who is part of the SLC's senior
management team. If complaints cannot be resolved through internal
processes, the SLC may refer them to an independent assessor who
will make recommendations to the SLC on an appropriate resolution
and, if appropriate, compensation.
9. Do you have an internal review process for dealing
with complaints? If so, how does it operate?
The SLC have BSi accreditation for Complaints Management,
which is subject to annual reassessment. In addition, there are
internal quality control arrangements in place.
10. Do you do any analysis of complaints to inform service
deliver and design?
Information about complaints to the SLC is fed back to their
operational management on a regular basis, and the Coordinator
attends the regular Quality Service Initiative meetings held by
the Operations Directorate. A detailed database is maintained
and statistical MI is reported to the SLC Board every month.
CASE STUDY:
STUDENT FINANCE
CUSTOMER FIRST
PROGRAMME
Progress towards 50% participation of 18-30s experiencing
higher education by 2010 is underpinned by an efficient and effective
student finance service. So in order to understand the needs and
views of customers in terms of expectation and actual experience
throughout their higher education journey, the Department carried
out a review of England's student finance delivery arrangements
in 2005.
For the purposes of this research project, we split customers
into seven groups: (i) prospective students; (ii) 1st year students;
(iii) 2nd year students; (iv) former students comprising of those
who had just started paying off their student loans, those who
had been paying for a few years and those who had recently repaid
all their loan; and parents/sponsors of: (v) prospective students;
(vi) 1st year; and (vii) 3rd year students.
Findings included customers receiving a variable level of
service dependent upon where they lived, with average processing
times varying between local authorities from 1.5-12 weeks. This,
in turn, led to dissatisfaction about the timeliness of decisions
and payments. Research also showed that students wanted clearer—and
earlier—indications of their individual financial entitlement.
For example, 75% of students wanted to be able to apply for financial
support at the same time as applying for their higher education
course (currently students can only apply for financial support
around six months ahead of starting their course even though they
can apply for the course up to a year ahead).
Independent appraisal, plus further consultation with key
stakeholders, in 2006 confirmed that we would only obtain the
level of service customers expect by providing a primarily online
service, in addition to making a single organisation responsible
for both the assessment and payment of HE students' grants and
loans (currently assessment of entitlement is split between 150
local authorities with the Student Loans Company (SLC—an
NDPB) making payment, maintaining customer records and working
in partnership with HMRC to collect loan repayments).
Against this background Ministers decided to make the SLC
the national delivery organisation for student finance in England,
and to use new technology to provide a dramatically more effective
and efficient service to customers. Characteristics of the transformed
service will include:
— a significantly more accountable and seamless
student finance service as a result of a making a single organisation
responsible for the delivery of student finance across England;
— students applying online using a system built
around their needs (for example, the online system will work out
from the customer's profile what steps they needs to take instead
of them having to digest and complete around 100 pages of application
forms and guidance);
— an online service which enables students to apply
for financial support at the same time as applying for their course
through UCAS and uses data sharing where possible to reduce the
burden on students, for example with the Identity and Passport
Service to remove the need to provide ID documentation; and
— higher quality information advice and guidance
with more personalised support for those that need it, including
an online financial calculator providing students with information
on their entitlement to financial support and comparing bursaries
from different higher education institutions.
Although an online student finance service will offer students
faster decisions and payments, the paper application process will
be streamlined for customers preferring to use a paper format.
The new service will be phased in from September 2008, with
all students experiencing the more efficient and customer-focused
service from 2011-12.
February 2007
57
Learner and course figures as at 26 January 2007. Back
58
Funding (budget) for Learndirect provision from the Learning and
Skills Council (LSC) in funding year 2006-07. Back
59
Learndirect advice funding for year 2006-07: £19.4 million-LSC;
£5.3 million-Department for Education and Skills: £0.4
million NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education. Back
60
cAn in-depth adult careers guidance service delivered on the telephone
launched as part of the Learndirect advice service in January
2006. Back
61
As at January 2007. Back
| 
