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Touch of a button

Councils are finding innovative ways to improve services using the latest technology and internet, writes Robert Bullard. (Local Government Chronicle, 17th April 2008)

INCREASE STAFF EFFICIENCY

Crawley BC has increased the resources available to its revenues and benefits inspectors when they are out of the office, resulted in increased productivity and greater customer satisfaction.

Laptop and tablet computers provide inspectors with access to the council’s network and geographic information system, as well as e-mail and the internet. “It is a very versatile piece of kit,” says Jane Goodall, the council’s head of ICT. “It is almost as if they were at their desktop in the office.”

She explains that as a result inspectors can do more checking and processing of a customer’s claims while they are with them. This means they have to make fewer repeat visits and the administration of claims by office-based staff is more efficient.

By having more information at their disposal, inspectors have also been able to draw customers’ attention to and initiate benefits they were not previously aware of, and both identify and stop payments to people who are not entitled to them. This can even help individuals who are having benefits stopped, says Ms Goodall. “It can stop them getting into debt and having to be visited by a bailiff. It results in a more constructive relationship with the council.”

The number of clients dealt with by inspectors has increased 11%, says their team leader, Steve Markovich. “Inspectors are now doing extra things so it has freed time elsewhere and means our systems are more up to date.”

REACH OUTLYING COMMUNITIES

In rural Shropshire, many people live 10 or more miles from a council office so Shropshire CC has set up 11 Customer First points in local communities, where people can get face-to-face help over the internet.

At computer terminals in village halls, post offices, garages and libraries people can get on-line help at the touch of a button. This might be advice on completing an application form or finding information on the internet. They can also get specialist advocacy and other help from the project’s other partners, such as Age Concern, Citizen’s Advice and their local housing association.

People are faced with two screens, says Booby Mulheir, the council’s customer services manager. One is a touch-screen facility, the other is a web cam that links them to the organisation they need to talk to.

Anyone can download application forms from the internet for things like a Blue Badge, she says, but many of Shropshire’s elderly population do not feel comfortable using the web.

The Customer First points, which are typically open 20-25 hours per week, provide people with more help than talking to someone on the phone.

“It is going to take time for more people to know about the service and to change their habits,” says Ms Mulheir. However, she predicts the new national concessionary travel scheme will rapidly increase the use of Customer First points.

TAILOR SERVICES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

Norfolk CC is using mobile phones and social networking to reach out to young people.

In 2006, the council developed a pilot project that used mobile phones to provide peer support to some of the county’s young carers. With funding from the DCLG’s Digital Challenge competition, 10 carers were given a mobile phone and assigned a trained young volunteer who they could contact 24 hours a day.

The carers used their mobile phones to talk about the stresses they were under and get help on health issues, says Tom Gaskin, the project’s co-ordinator. “They also had every-day conversations that young people have with their friends, but which the carers did not have time for because of their situation.”

The feedback from the young carers was they valued being able to share their worries with someone from outside their family. As a result, the pilot has been extended it into an on-line social networking project for all young people.

The website is designed to be a safe place where young people can meet people their peers f a similar age. All the profiles and messages that are put up on the website are moderated by the council.

In the web site’s first seven months, 200 people registered. Typically the young people discuss what has happened at school and what they have heard in the media, says Gaskin. They also talk about deeper issues, such as their values and beliefs.

GIVE EASIER ACCESS TO BENEFITS

In 2006, following a review of its e-government targets and an assessment of where services could be improved, Hertfordshire CC invited parents to apply for free school meals on-line.

The original paper-based system processed 20,000 applications each year. “It was a very labour intensive and bureaucratic process,” says Michael Francis, head of customer focus at the council. “It was not customer friendly.”

Within a year the proportion of paper applications fell from 52% to two per cent. In contrast, on-line applications increased from nine percent to 25% and phone applications rose from 39% to 73%.

Mr Francis says the benefits are wide-ranging. There is a lot less bureaucracy for parents because the only paper they have to provide is proof of their entitlement. It is also quicker for schools, who can access the council’s system and see immediately whether people are eligible. And the whole system has been made easier and more efficient - applications used to take up to five days to process, but all of them are now completed within two days.

The procedure could become even more efficient in the future. The council is currently piloting access to the DCSF’s national computer, as a result of which batches of parents’ eligibility could be checked automatically.

USE TECHNOLOGY TO AID THE DISABLED

Brighton & Hove City Council has introduced talking bus stops for blind and partially sighted people – a project that has won the city council an e-Government award for its innovative use of technology to help create a fairer society.

Last August 20 talking bus stops, at a cost of £3000 each, were introduced in the Brighton & Hove area and another two in neighbouring Peacehaven in East Sussex.

“The bus stops tell people when the next bus is coming, where it is going and when it will arrive,” says Brian Pidgeon (Con), deputy chairman or the council’s equalities committee.

The aim, explains Cllr Pidgeon, whose wife has been blind for 40 years, is to enable users to enjoy the same services as those without them, and to give them more independence by making bus travel easier.

The public reaction to the bus stops has been very positive.

A recent evaluation of the 50 people so far issued with trigger mechanisms enabling them to activate the talking bus stops found that 65% were satisfied overall. In addition, 70% had been encouraged into changing their travel habits and were now prepared to travel alone or on different routes.

Every single respondent said they would like to see the scheme rolled out across the city.


Find out more

Crawley BC
Jane Goodall, head of ICT. Tel: 01293 438320 or e-mail: jane.goodall@crawely.gov.uk

Shropshire CC
Bobby Mulheir, customer services manager. Tel: 01743 252164 or e-mail: bobby.mulheir@shropshire.gov.uk

Norfolk CC
Tom Gaskin, project co-ordinator. Tel: 01603 485999 or e-mail: tom@norfolkblurb.co.uk

Herts CC
Michael Francis, head of customer focus. Tel: 01992 556994 or e-mail: michael.francis@hertscc.gov.uk

Brighton & Hove City Council
Brian Walsh, press officer. Tel: 01273 291040 or e-mail: brian.walsh@brighton-hove.gov.uk

© Robert Bullard. Not for reproduction without prior permission

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