Decision Details

Report of the Director, Digital and Customer Services.

The purpose of this report is to submit the Council’s Customer Service Strategy and associated delivery plan for approval.

Request the associated funding to deliver the initial phase of improvements to services included in the scope of the Outline Business Case and the methodology of returning to cabinet with specific business cases when the full extent of the benefits and costs are known.

It sets out progress made by the Customer Service Programme since the submission of the Outline Business Case in December 2020.

It also highlights the activities undertaken by the Customer Service Programme to develop the draft Customer Service Strategy and the approach of engaging with citizens for a period of three months and then returning to cabinet with a final version for approval.

Finally, it establishes a set of principles for the development of our Customer Service strategy for 2021 and beyond, positioning work and priorities within the context of ‘A fit for purpose council’.

On 14 December 2021, Cabinet:-

(i)       Approved the Customer Service Strategy (report Appendix A) to ensure a joined-up and consistent approach to best-in-class service delivery across the Council Page 3 of 15 and partner organisations, putting the customer at the heart of everything we do;

(ii)      Approved the enhanced business case (report Appendix C) with associated investment of £1.7m to deliver the next stage delivery programme to start in January 2022 until January 2023 as a drawdown of the already approved investment funds for Customer Service. Further investment will be brought back to Cabinet for approval together with the successes and learnings from the programme implementation;

(iii)     Noted the progress made by the Customer Service Programme to date since the submission of the Outline Business Case in January 2021.

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