Citizens Advice consumer service
Partner readiness pack
December 2011
Contents
Introduction to the Citizens Advice consumer service 3
Target operating model 2012 4
Roles and responsibilities 10
Our suppliers 11
Transition 14
Referral and notification process 18
Service partner protocols 22
Trader tracking 23
Quality monitoring and feedback 24
Performance reporting 27
Business continuity 28
Data users 29
Communications 30
Next steps 32
Citizens Advice consumer service • Partner readiness pack 3
Introduction to the Citizens Advice consumer service
Dear partners,
The Government’s reform of consumer protection places the Citizens Advice service* – along with Trading Standards – at the heart of the new consumer landscape.
Citizens Advice in England and Wales, and Citizens Advice Scotland in Scotland, together help 2.5 million people every year with 7.5 million problems, of which 700,000 primarily concern consumer issues, so we already have a wealth of expertise in solving consumer problems.
From April 2012 the Citizens Advice service will deliver the consumer advice service currently provided by Consumer Direct, and we are on track to operate a transition service alongside Consumer Direct from towards the end of February. The team from Agilisys, who will run the contact centres in England and Wales currently handle more than half of the calls to Consumer Direct, so they will bring consistency to the new service. Agilisys will be working alongside Citizens Advice Direct in Scotland to deliver a joined-up service.
The Citizens Advice consumer service will be available, as now, from 9.00am to 5.00pm on weekdays to people in England, Wales and Scotland, and there will be a Welsh-language service for Welsh speakers. We will keep the same telephone numbers as Consumer Direct use to provide continuity for callers. Like Consumer Direct, we expect to take up to 7,000 calls or emails per day. In addition the web information for consumers will be richer and easier to use than ever.
In time, the Citizens Advice consumer service will provide access to the whole range of CAB services so we’re able to help consumers with wider problems too.
Further Government proposals may see us taking on broader consumer advocacy and education work at a later date. We believe that integrating consumer advice and advocacy into the Citizens Advice service will help protect consumers, that the advocacy and the advice will be rooted in consumer experience and the pool of evidence which informs our advocacy work will be deeper than ever.
We hope that this partner readiness pack will provide the information you need to prepare for the transition from Consumer Direct to the Citizens Advice consumer service.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank our colleagues at the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for their continuous help and support with both the creation of this pack and the project as a whole.
Please get in touch with queries at change@citizensadvice.org.uk.
Yours faithfully
Alistair Cromwell
Director of Programme 2014, Citizens Advice
Rohit Marwah
Change Manager, Citizens Advice Scotland
*By Citizens Advice service we include both Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland.
Target operating model 2012
The new consumer service forms part of a wider programme of change for the Citizens Advice service.
For April 2012 we will be implementing the first major project that forms part of this programme of activity – the Citizens Advice consumer service.
Building on the excellent work carried out by the OFT with Consumer Direct, the new consumer service will continue to develop partnerships already in place and enable links into the wider Citizens Advice service with its trusted brand and local presence.
Service scope
The Citizens Advice consumer service will advise clients on general consumer law, their rights in regards to the energy and postal sectors as well as specific cases with the aim of giving clients the knowledge to resolve issues with traders and companies themselves and therefore reducing the likelihood of similar issues arising in the future.
Contact centre advisers will not take ownership of client issues or pursue them on the client’s behalf. For those clients who are unable to resolve their issues themselves we will use referral routes, already well established in the Consumer Direct service, to ensure clients get the help they need. In addition we will utilise, where possible, other Citizens Advice services to add further benefit. If we are unable to help a client, because
the nature of their issue is outside the scope of the service, then they will be signposted to another, more appropriate, organisation.
The level of data currently collected by the Consumer Direct service will continue to be collected by the new Citizens Advice consumer service. This will be made available to the enforcement agencies and consumer groups who currently access Consumer Direct central database (CDB). Over time, we hope to add to this data to create a more in depth picture of who our clients are and how best to help them.
The Citizens Advice consumer service will also advise businesses on consumer law and industry-specific issues when requested. Further details on this will be provided in the new year.
Citizens Advice consumer service • Partner readiness pack 5 The diagram above highlights the six telephone and
online channels available to access the Citizens Advice service. The first three channels will form the new Citizens Advice consumer service and will consist of:
• The English language Citizens Advice consumer helpline. This service will be provided by Agilisys and Citizens Advice Direct (CAD).
• The Welsh language Citizens Advice consumer helpline. This service will be provided by Agilisys.
• A webform (email facility) on the newly redesigned consumer area of our website Adviceguide.org.uk.
The existing telephone, email and face-to-face contact channels to bureaux will continue alongside the new service. Internal procedures will ensure that clients receive the best possible advice based on their individual needs.
Key to the successful delivery of the new consumer service will be the partnership work that we undertake with our service partners, including local authority Trading Standards Services (TSS), Consumer Focus and energy and post suppliers. Referrals to service partners and notifications to TSS are all vital elements to ensuring that clients achieve the best possible outcome to their case and consumer protection agencies receive the intelligence they need to take action where appropriate.
Client phone and web channels
Citizens Advice consumer helpline
Welsh language
Citizens Advice consumer service webform
Citizens Advice consumer helpline
Citizens Advice Direct (CAD)
Scotland Adviceline
CAD – consumer case
advice (15%) Agilisys
– consumer case advice (85%)
Gateway phone in bureaux General phone
advice
Consumer partners – referrals and notifications
Internal referrals/
signposts to Citizens Advice
service helplines
Bureaux current service
3rd parties and partners general referrals
and signposts
Adviceline Plus generalist advice by call back
Client calls, emails and visits direct to bureaux Existing service
New service Clients and channels
We recognise that providing access to data for service partners is an important element in ensuring the delivery of better outcomes for clients. At Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland we treat information assurance and the need for client confidentiality as core to our service, so it is important that we have clear protocols in place for when and how we will share data, and that our clients consent to this data sharing.
This service partner readiness pack explains how key procedures will work within the new Citizens Advice consumer service.
Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland have named Agilisys and Citizens Advice Direct (CAD) as the suppliers of the contact element of the new service. The new service will incorporate existing Consumer Direct operations in the North West, South East and Scotland.
Citizens Advice telephony front end and scanned white mail
Citizens Advice webforms / email
Agilisys Agilisys Agilisys Agilisys CAD
sub-contractor
Somerset 75 seats Post, Energy General
South Wales 30 seats Post, Energy General Welsh
Barrow 80 seats General
Maidstone 45 seats General
Stornoway 27 seats General
@ @ @ @ @
Glasgow 30 seats
@
CAD
Overflow
Citizens Advice consumer service • Partner readiness pack 7
Call distribution
TSS can continue to transfer their local calls to the new Citizens Advice consumer helpline. Where an existing divert arrangement is in place no further action is required.
However, unlike the current approach to routing these calls, callers will simply be diverted to an adviser in the same country as their call originates from. So, a caller from Wales will be routed to the contact centre based in Wales, whilst a caller from England may be routed to any one of the three contact centres in England and Wales and clients calling from Scotland will be routed to the Scottish contact centre. This differs from the current arrangements, where callers are routed to individual, designated contact centres.
Clients calling the national 0845 number directly will be routed as outlined above where it can be identified that their call originates from England, Scotland or Wales.
Calls from mobiles or numbers that cannot be identified will be distributed between all of the contact centres based on availability.
Performance management
To ensure that our contact centre suppliers deliver the service we expect, our contracts with them contain a number of key performance indicators (KPIs). Amongst other things we will require our suppliers to answer calls in good time and deliver practical and accurate advice.
We will also expect our clients to receive excellent customer service and all data collected to be accurately recorded.
The table below sets out the main KPIs our suppliers will be measured on:
Output Key performance indicator Target service level
Quality of service Contacts monitored by the central management team as part of the defined quality monitoring process are categorised as “good”
At least 70% of reviews are categorised as “good”
Accessibility of consumer service Contact centre availability The service must be available from Monday to Friday 9.00am to 5.00pm for at least 99.5% of the available time
Client wait time At least 80% of calls must be answered within 20 seconds
Abandonment rate No more than 5% may be abandoned
Online form response time At least 95% of clients submitting online forms should receive a
substantive response within 2 working days with the remainder receiving a response within 3 working days Client satisfaction Overall client satisfaction At least 80% of clients surveyed state
they are very satisfied or satisfied with the service they receive
Key service partner relationships Overall service partner satisfaction At least 70% of partners surveyed state they are very satisfied or satisfied with the service they receive
As well as these a number of additional performance indicators (PIs) will also be measured. These PIs cover a variety of matters including (but not limited to) data quality, referral management, knowledge management, reporting, business continuity and disaster recovery.
As is standard practice at the start of and after
significant change to a service, performance indicators will be relaxed for the first three months to allow for systems and staff to settle in.
Client and service partner satisfaction
As part of delivering consumer advice to the public and providing referrals and management information to a range of partners, we will measure how well we are meeting the needs of our clients and the impact we have on them.
For the public we will offer a range of ways for them to provide feedback on satisfaction with our services. We will also undertake regular sample-based research to measure the outcomes of our service.
We will engage with our partners in a number of different ways. This will cover measuring the quality of referral data and management information, ease of access and use of our partner portal, our response to ad- hoc requests and how we can best meet emerging and future business needs. We are still designing the final models but we will use a combination of:
• surveys for TSS officers and other partners
• qualitative interviews with leads from partner organisations
• a forum for partners to discuss issues and talk about future changes and improvements.
Consumer information and advice from Adviceguide
Traditionally, the Adviceguide.org.uk website has been for the general public. It provides access to CAB information – including benefits, housing, employment and debt. Information is accessible and easy to read and supports people who cannot visit bureaux for any reason.
Adviceguide helps people to have a better understanding of their rights and entitlements. It supports people to take the first steps to resolving their problems. Where appropriate, its users are clearly directed to additional sources of expert advice from partners and other providers. There are also links to the directory of CAB services across the UK.
In addition, the Citizens Advice service produces the AdviserNet database for bureau advisers and subscribers.
This is a more detailed rights-based information system.
From April 2012, Citizens Advice with Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) will be the primary source of consumer information and advice for Great Britain. In order to fulfil this requirement, the Citizens Advice service will produce consumer content to meet the requirements of all potential audiences – from contact centre staff to bureau advisers to the public. There will be a private area for contact centre staff which will contain protocols and processes and there will be an adviser login for content which is exclusively for Citizens Advice contact centre advisers – for example, energy companies’
adviser-only telephone numbers, integrated training materials etc.
Content will cover all areas currently provided by Consumer Direct but will go into the additional level of detail required by bureau advisers. For the first time, this level of detail will be available via the public website, Adviceguide, but in plain language, however complex the issue. Content will also be produced in Welsh.
Citizens Advice consumer service • Partner readiness pack 9 Content will be provided in web pages of no more than
750 words and will be produced with clear headings to allow readability. This will allow face-to-face advisers quicker access to content; support the work of telephone operators and people providing email advice; and provide all users with the resources they need to solve their problems – where they are able to. In addition, a template for letter generation has been added to the site.
Adviceguide will continue to signpost users to organisations who can help them further. While the majority of the content will be produced internally, we will also use content provided by other organisations where appropriate. This content will be clearly branded to indicate origin.
The Adviceguide website is being redeveloped to ease consumer use and navigation across all areas of the website. It will also allow for an enhanced social policy capability over the next year, allowing consumers to have a louder voice and supporting their campaigning efforts.
Redirecting emails
As with the current Consumer Direct service, the new Citizens Advice consumer service will not accept emails, sent by clients to TSS offices. Instead, all clients should be advised to use the appropriate webform found on www.adviceguide.org.uk.
This allows the service to properly monitor the number of web enquiries being submitted, and ensures sufficient detail about the client’s issue is submitted to the adviser.
It also means the risk of potential data protection issues, raised by the forwarding on of a client’s personal details to the new service, is avoided.
Roles and responsibilities
Citizens Advice consumer service central management team
The Citizens Advice consumer service will be run by a Citizens Advice central management team. This team will be responsible for all aspects of service delivery, including:
• service planning and development
• performance, quality and contract management
• training development, management and delivery
• relationship management
• provision of subject matter expertise
• forecasting and reporting
• database access, training and reporting.
Citizens Advice consumer service project team
Until the central management team is in place, the transition and implementation of the consumer service will be managed by the contact centre management team, working closely with the existing Consumer Direct management team at the OFT. The project team is currently made up of:
John Nodder Project Manager
Malcolm Taylor Change Delivery Manager (transition management) Lydia Anderson Change Delivery Manager
(operational procedures) Tom Ballard Change Delivery Manager
(stakeholder management, energy and post) Liz O’Hanlon Human Resources Lead Michele Shambrook Operational Delivery Manager
OFT Helen Morgan Learning and Development Lead Danny Golding Consumer Case Management
Project Manager
Rohit Marwah Change Manager
Citizens Advice Scotland Stewart Gibson Citizens Advice Scotland
Citizens Advice consumer service • Partner readiness pack 11
Our suppliers
Agilisys – England and Wales
Agilisys is a business process outsourcing company with clients across both public and private sectors in local government, education, travel and tourism, retail financial services and healthcare. The company was founded as Netdecisions in 1998, growing and evolving into Agilisys in 2004.
Agilisys currently has a workforce of over 1,600. The timeline on page 12 provides an overview of the
development of the company and the range of clients as at the end of 2010.
Agilisys has been involved in providing telephone and email consumer advice since 2005 when, as subcontractor to Cumbria County Council, the company provided the Consumer Direct North West contact centre for the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and then the OFT.
Initially the centre handled calls from consumers across the 22 local authority areas in the North West of England. However, since 2010 Agilisys has progressively taken a greater volume of contacts from consumers across Great Britain.
As well as providing general consumer advice, the centre was chosen by the OFT to trial a generic money advice service following the Thoresen Review, which ultimately led to the creation of the national Money Advice Service funded by the Financial Services Authority.
Kent County Council (KCC) is acting as subcontractor to Agilisys in providing part of the Citizens Advice consumer service. KCC provides the Consumer Direct South East service from its contact centre in Maidstone. The continuity of skills and experience from Consumer Direct in both Agilisys and KCC will provide a solid base for the new service.
The Citizens Advice consumer service will be delivered from four locations – Agilisys contact centres in Barrow- in-Furness, South Wales and North Somerset, and the Kent County Council contact centre in Maidstone.
The illustration on page 13 shows the locations. All four centres will handle general consumer advice contacts, and the centres in North Somerset and South Wales will also respond to contacts concerned with energy and post.
Citizens Advice consumer service • Partner readiness pack 13
South Wales New site
Energy & post and consumer advice
North Somerset
Located with North Somerset Council contact centre
Energy & post and consumer advice
Barrow
Current CDNW contact centre Consumer advice
Maidstone
Current CDSE contact centre Consumer advice
Mul> Site Solu>on
Citizens Advice Direct (CAD) – Scotland
Citizens Advice Direct is an innovative service established to develop effective ways of providing an accessible telephone advice and information service. As part of the Citizens Advice Bureau network in Scotland the service provides free impartial advice by telephone, email and web chat, delivered by a combination of paid staff and volunteers. Since the first call on 9 November 2004, Citizens Advice Direct has assisted over 200,000 clients.
Initially developed with the support of Citizens Advice Scotland, Glasgow Council, Highland Council and local Citizens Advice Bureaux, Citizens Advice Direct continues to develop ways of delivering information and advice that increase and improve access to those who are currently excluded.
As a part of the Citizens Advice consumer service, Citizens Advice Direct has secured newly refurbished premises in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. Transferring the 18 existing staff and recruiting an additional 23, Citizens Advice Direct will deliver 15 per cent of the total UK call volume.
Whilst the Agilisys and CAD contact centres will primarily deal with contacts from England/Wales and Scotland respectively, both will handle additional volumes for the Great Britain wide service.
Transition
To ensure a smooth transition from Consumer Direct to the new service, we have planned a gradual migration of contacts. Existing Consumer Direct contact centres will close in a staged manner starting on Friday 9 March 2012 and weekly thereafter. The benefits of this approach are that it:
• provides some certainty to the closing contact centres and enables them to plan resourcing appropriately
• enables the OFT to provide Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland with a clear forecast of volume available for transfer to the new service during the transition period
• assists the OFT with the management of the existing service by providing certainty in advance of the volume transferring to the new service.
The transition period will last for six weeks starting from Monday 20 February until Friday 30 March. During this time both the OFT and the Citizens Advice service will be taking live calls. The Citizens Advice service will start taking a small proportion of live calls at the beginning of the period, ramping up to almost all calls at the end.
From Monday 2 April the Citizens Advice service will be taking all contacts for the service.
A representative call profile during and after the transition period is shown in the diagram below.
April
20 February27 5 12 March19 26 2
Transition period Live
service OFT calls
Citizens Advice calls
0%
100%
Citizens Advice consumer service • Partner readiness pack 15
Referrals
The Citizens Advice consumer service is maintaining the current referral process, at least in the near term. There will be no change to the method by which you receive referral messages today. This means you will continue to receive referral messages in the same format, to the same address or account that has already been provided to you by the Consumer Direct management team. The only change the Citizens Advice service will make is to our sending account, i.e. we will send messages from our Citizens Advice account instead of the existing Consumer Direct account.
General consumer referrals will come from both Consumer Direct and us during the transition period.
As the Citizens Advice consumer service takes a greater proportion of the calls, a greater proportion of referrals you receive will come from us. We plan to transfer all energy and post calls by 26 March. This means that all energy and post referrals will be from us after this date.
Telephony instructions for TSS
As a local authority TSS, you may currently divert one or more of your public facing telephone lines to the Consumer Direct service. Calls to these numbers are transferred via dedicated 0808 (or alternative) numbers which connect callers to a designated Consumer Direct contact centre. As part of the transition activities being carried out, these numbers will be diverted from the current Consumer Direct service to the new Citizens Advice consumer service.
This migration will be carried out during the transitional period. More information on this will be provided early in the new year.
Although we have a full list of the 0808 numbers supplied by the OFT to TSS, we do not have a record of the local numbers that these are assigned to. We will ensure that diverts from the 0808 numbers are thoroughly tested but you may wish to perform some additional tests by calling your local numbers to ensure that your call is routed appropriately.
If you wish to do this please ensure any calls are made after the migration date and you make it clear to the adviser you speak to that it is a test call and report any issues experienced.
We are aware that a small proportion of TSS who currently divert their calls to Consumer Direct are unable to route calls to non-geographic 0808 numbers. We will work with the OFT to identify these authorities and contact you individually to discuss alternative arrangements.
Key Milestones
The following table shows the key milestones for the project:
Date Milestone
12 January England and Wales training starts 2 February ICT components ready for training
6 February Telephony components ready for end-to-end testing ICT components ready for end-to-end testing Start of end-to-end testing and dress rehearsal
17 February End of testing and dress rehearsal. Transition checklist complete. Ready for transition 20 February Start of transition period, both the Citizens Advice consumer service and
Consumer Direct will be taking live calls 27 February Scotland training starts
5-30 March Closure of existing Consumer Direct centres 26 March Stornoway starts taking live calls
30 March End of transition period. OFT ceases to run Consumer Direct
2 April Go live. Citizens Advice and Citizens Advice Scotland are responsible for the delivery of the consumer service
Citizens Advice consumer service • Partner readiness pack 17
Your assistance in testing
Before and during the transition we would like your help in testing the new service. The areas we would like assistance with are shown in the table below:
Feedback and testing support
During this period we will need your input to ensure that all testing is successful. In the new year we will provide you with more detail on how you should provide this feedback, and contact details for any support you might need.
Testing Dates
Referrals
We plan to test the referral mechanisms before the transition period. This will involve us sending you test referrals. We ask you to feed back to us if you have received them and the content contained in them is correct.
More information on these tests will be given early in the new year
Early February
0808 Numbers (TSS only)
In order to test the local authority diverts (via allocated 0808 numbers) we will have a period when you can call them. You will either get through to an operator, who will log the call, or receive a recorded message. Please feedback the success or any problems through the feedback process we will give you.
More information on these tests will be given early in the new year
Early February
Mid-call transfer tests
We will want to test mid-call transfers from us to you, we will call you on the relevant numbers during this time period.
More information on these tests will be given in the new year
Early February
Referral and notification process
The Citizens Advice consumer service will, at least in the short term, refer and notify to you in the same way as the current Consumer Direct service. It will also signpost clients to other more specialised services if required.
Over time, we expect to refine and improve referral and notification processes through consultation and collaboration with our partners.
Definitions
The following information sets out the process for these referrals, notifications and signposts. These terms are defined as follows:
Referral: A referral is used to indicate the transfer of case details to a service partner where there is prior agreement that the service partner will take responsibility for the case, taking further action where appropriate. This action may simply mean that case details are noted for future intelligence-led activities, or could involve the provision of further assistance to the client. The referrals sent to each service partner will be determined by their, individually agreed, referral protocol.
Notification: A notification is used to indicate the transfer of case details to TSS for information purposes only. No commitment will be given to clients which suggests that any further action will be taken.
Signpost: A signpost indicates that a caller has simply been given contact details for another agency, which may be better placed to assist them. It will be for the client to contact that other service directly. No commitment of further action is given to the caller.
Citizens Advice consumer service • Partner readiness pack 19
TSS referral process
This covers the process steps for the referral of cases to TSS in line with agreed referral protocols.
1. Client contacts the Citizens Advice consumer service.
2. Client details are taken.
3. Advice provided by contact centre adviser and referral protocol checked to identify whether a referral is appropriate.
4. Client is advised that their case will be referred to TSS and advised what, if any, commitment the TSS referral protocol provides for further contact.
5. Should the case be deemed urgent, and the referral protocol provides a mechanism for rapid action, the contact centre adviser may call TSS as prescribed to provide case details over the phone.
6. Case Handling System (CHS) creates an XML and HTML message of the case details.
7. The XML message and HTML message are submitted to TSS via the Secure Post Office (SPO) delivery mechanism.
8. TSS receives an email notification of the referral.
9. TSS either manually accesses the email via their SPO account or imports the referral (either manually or automatically) to their own system.
10. The referral is then acknowledged by TSS via SPO.
11. This case has now been fully referred to TSS.
12. TSS takes action as appropriate.
13. Referrals not acknowledged within two working days will be followed up by the service to ensure they have been safely received.
Energy and post service partners referral process
This covers the process steps for the referral of cases to energy and post service partners in line with agreed referral protocols.
1. Client contacts the Citizens Advice consumer service.
2. Client details are taken.
3. Advice provided by contact centre adviser and referral protocol checked to identify whether a referral is appropriate.
4. Client is advised that their case will be referred to the appropriate partner and advised that they will receive further contact as provided for by the relevant referral protocol.
5. In the case of referrals to the relevant energy companies, the client will be transferred via warm mid-call transfer to the company in question.
6. In the case of referrals to Consumer Focus, a warm mid-call transfer will be completed as provided for by its referral protocol.
7. CHS creates an XML and HTML message of the case details.
8. The XML message and HTML message are submitted to the service partner via the Secure Post Office (SPO) delivery mechanism.
9. The service partner receives an email notification of the referral.
10. The service partner either manually accesses the email via their SPO account or imports the referral (either manually or automatically) to their own system.
11. The referral is then acknowledged by the service partner via SPO.
12. This case has now been fully referred to the service partner.
13. The service partner takes action as appropriate.
14. Referrals not acknowledged within two working days will be followed up by the service to ensure they have been safely received.
Incorrect referrals
Whilst every care will be taken to ensure referrals are made in line with service partner referral protocols, there may be occasions where incorrect referrals are made.
For referrals where additional assistance is requested by the client, wherever possible this help should be provided, even where protocols were not strictly adhered to. The feedback process should be used to alert the service to the inaccuracy so that steps can be taken to address training needs or adjust protocols for further clarity.
If it is not possible to offer assistance or, if the client has been referred to the wrong service partner, then the appropriate contact centre should be contacted immediately. Details on how this should be done will be communicated in the new year.
Home authority referrals
As with the existing Consumer Direct service, home authority or primary authority referrals are not undertaken by the service. Referrals and notifications will be sent to the TSS local to the consumer or trader in question, based on the addresses provided by the client during their contact with the service.
Referrals received during the transition period
From 20 February, the Citizens Advice consumer service will start to take some calls as it begins with the transition of contacts from Consumer Direct to the new service. As a result, between 20 February and 30 March you will receive referrals and notifications from either organisation.
We will shortly provide you with further information to help you to easily identify which service your referrals and notifications have been sent by. We will also provide you with detailed information on the process for providing feedback on the quality of information
We will work closely with the Consumer Direct
management team to ensure that all feedback reaches the correct contact centres and that the number of duplicate cases created as a result of the dual running are kept to a minimum.
In situations where both services have dealt with an individual case, every effort will be made to ensure that this is clearly noted in the case record.
Service partner notification process (TSS only)
This covers the process steps for the notification of TSS that the Citizens Advice consumer service has received a contact from a consumer or trader residing or operating within their jurisdiction.
1. Client contacts the Citizens Advice consumer service.
2. Client details are captured by the contact centre adviser.
3. Advice provided by the contact centre adviser and referral protocol checked to identify whether a referral is appropriate.
4. A notification message is sent to the TSS local to the client, the trader or both.
5. Where a referral has been sent to a TSS related to the case, a notification should not be sent to the same authority at the same time.
6. CHS will create an XML and HTML message of the case details.
7. The XML message and the HTML message are submitted to TSS by the SPO.
8. TSS receives the notification.
9. The details of the case have now been fully notified to TSS.
Citizens Advice consumer service • Partner readiness pack 21
Switching off notifications
Some TSS have notified the existing Consumer Direct service that they do not wish to receive notifications.
As a result, the Consumer Direct service does not provide notification to those authorities.
Prior to the commencement of the transition period, the Citizens Advice service will obtain a list of those TSS who do not wish to receive notifications from the Consumer Direct management team. We will contact those
authorities to confirm that they are content for the same arrangements to be replicated once the new service is in operation.
Signposting
Signposting will cover those situations where the contact relates to a matter outside of the scope of the Citizens Advice consumer service and/or where there is no agreement with another agency to take referrals. In such cases the contact centre will provide contact details for an appropriate specialist service for the client to make direct contact with.
Environmental health referrals and signposts
This covers the process steps for dealing with food-related cases which may require environmental health action.
1. Client contacts the Citizens Advice consumer service.
2. Client details are captured by the contact centre adviser.
3. Advice provided by contact centre adviser and referral protocol checked to identify whether a referral is appropriate.
4. Where the case clearly involves a food-related environmental health issue and the TSS referral protocol does not provide for a referral to TSS, the case should be notified to TSS and the client signposted to their local authority environmental health department.
5. When the case clearly involves a food-related
environmental health issue and the TSS protocol states that cases should be referred to TSS for liaison with environmental health, the case should be referred to TSS and the appropriate commitment given to the client in line with the protocol.
6. CHS creates an XML and HTML message of the case details.
7. The XML message and HTML message are submitted to TSS via the Secure Post Office (SPO) delivery mechanism.
8. TSS receive an email notification of the referral or notification.
9. TSS either manually access the email via their SPO account or import the referral (either manually or automatically) to their own system.
10. The referral is then acknowledged by TSS via SPO.
11. This case has now been fully referred to TSS.
12. TSS takes action as appropriate.
13. Referrals not acknowledged within two working days will be followed up by the service to ensure they have been safely received.
Service partner protocols
Before deciding whether a referral can be sent to a service partner, a contact centre adviser will need to look up certain information about that partner and the services it offers. This information is held electronically as part of the service partner referral protocols.
A protocol for each service partner is currently held within the Consumer Direct Knowledge Base and used by the current Consumer Direct service. These protocols have been formally agreed with each service partner and are regularly reviewed and updated.
As part of the transition activities taking place over the coming months, the Consumer Direct management team will be contacting you to ensure that your referral protocol is up to date and to agree any amendments with you.
Once existing protocols have been reviewed and, where appropriate, updated, they will be transferred to the new Citizens Advice consumer service. This review work will begin towards the end of January 2012.
During the six week transition period, both services will be sending referrals to you. It is therefore important that, during this period, any changes to referral protocols are incorporated by both organisations. We will work closely with the Consumer Direct management team to develop a process that makes this as simple as possible.
From 2 April 2012, any updates and amendments to referral protocols will be carried out by the Citizens Advice central management team. We will provide you with further details about the process for requesting such amendments early in the new year.
Citizens Advice consumer service • Partner readiness pack 23
Trader tracking
The Citizens Advice consumer service will provide, via its case handling system (CHS) the facilities of trader tracking and trader certification. These concepts were introduced by Consumer Direct in recognition that it was acting as the front end to many TSS services and that for some traders, TSS or other enforcement agencies, would want to be notified of any complaints involving the trader or may wish the adviser to take special actions of some sort.
Please note that the trader tracking and trader certification process is not to be used instead of
searching the Citizens Advice consumer data warehouse for details on all cases relating to a specific trader(s). The process is only to be used where:
• specific guidance is to be given to advisers relating to a trader
• specific information is being requested
• action is required by the service which is outside of normal business process, for example, referring all cases with commitment
• the trader belongs to a trader scheme.
Trader tracking categories
Trader tracking can be categorised under three headings:
Enforcement action
• Cases where the trader has an enforcement order in place, for example, under the Enterprise Act.
• Cases where a TSS has begun or intends to begin, an enforcement investigation under civil or criminal law.
• Cases where the trader is out of area. Perhaps they are operating under different names registered in different locations and urgent notification of cases to a central point is required.
Trader selection information
• To prevent common errors when selecting a trader.
An adviser selecting a specific trader from the trader database can be warned of the existence of another more likely trader.
Consumer information
• Where advisers need to request specific information about the case or trader, or to advise the client of specific information that would not normally be provided, for example, administrators’ details.
Trader certification category
A trader certificate can be added if:
• The trader has signed up to an approved trader scheme, such as Buy with Confidence, which provides for an element of Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) or similar and there is a request for referrals to be made under this scheme.
Approval process and timescales
Where possible, we will mirror the current process used by the Consumer Direct management team. Each trader tracking request will be verified by the Citizens Advice consumer service management team.
However, due to statutory restrictions, the Consumer Direct management team cannot pass on current trader tracking information to the Citizens Advice consumer service. As a result, any current tracks to traders will need to be requested again. We will let you know in the new year how we would like these tracks to be requested and when.
We are currently exploring an option which may allow current trader certification information to be migrated from the Consumer Direct service to the new Citizens Advice consumer service. We will provide an update in relation to this in the new year.
Quality monitoring and feedback
Central quality assurance
As well as ensuring calls are answered quickly by our suppliers, we must also ensure the quality of advice provided to our clients and the data recorded for our partners is appropriate.
A comprehensive quality monitoring programme will be undertaken by our central management team, which forms part of the contract management regime with our suppliers. Its aims and objectives are:
• To increase the consistency and quality of advice across the Citizens Advice consumer service.
• To improve the overall performance of Citizens Advice consumer service by identifying and addressing areas for improvement.
• To provide the Citizens Advice central management team with an assurance that the quality of advice provided to consumers and data collected for stakeholders is consistent with requirements.
To do this we will ensure that contacts across all channels are reviewed on a regular basis.
Reviews will produce an overall score and individual marks for each of the following review sections:
Section 1: Opening Section 2: Core questions Section 3: Targeted questioning Section 4: Advice
Section 5: Close Section 6: Data quality
Section 7: Customer service skills
Scores equating to less than 85 per cent of the total available score per section; or for the entire review, will be recorded as ‘needs improvement’.
These findings will then be reviewed with the contact centre suppliers on a regular basis as part of the ongoing contract management regime.
Contact centre quality
Both Agilisys and CAD must ensure their advisers regularly undergo comprehensive quality checks in line with the criteria outlined above. These reviews will also be monitored by the Citizens Advice central management team.
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Quality monitoring during the transition period
A significant number of advisers working for the new service will previously have been Consumer Direct advisers. They will bring with them the knowledge and experience developed during their time with the Consumer Direct service. However, there will also be a large number of newly recruited advisers.
We recognise that during the transition period, and the early stages of the new service development, these advisers will be learning new skills and getting to grips with sometimes complex legislation and procedures.
We recognise that service partners may be concerned that they could experience a reduction in the quality of advice provided and data collected by the new service.
In order to ensure the quality of advice and data during this period, we will:
• Work closely with the Consumer Direct management team to develop robust procedures for the monitoring of quality.
• Ensure that the Citizens Advice central management team works closely with our contact centre teams during the period to closely monitor quality and address improvement areas.
• Require every referral created by a new adviser to be reviewed for quality until that adviser has created ten clear referrals which have not required corrective action.
• Deploy experienced staff as floor walkers to support new advisers and facilitate the smooth transition of the service from Consumer Direct.
• Encourage service partners to provide feedback on referrals and notifications received by the service to help swiftly identify areas of improvement.
The provision of feedback
During the transition period and the early months of delivery of the new service, feedback from service partners will be particularly useful.
Whilst the Citizens Advice central management team will be working closely with contact centre suppliers to monitor performance and quality, feedback from service partners on individual cases will help to quickly identify areas of concern.
Any service partner who wishes to feed back on a case that has been handled by a Citizens Advice service contact may do so by completing a feedback form. The feedback form will be made available shortly. The form contains guidance on its completion and submission.
In due course, the feedback form will be accessible via the partner portal. Information about this resource will follow.
Handling of feedback
On receipt of feedback forms the Citizens Advice central management team will immediately forward the form to the appropriate contact centre for review and action.
Urgent cases
Feedback should be recorded as urgent when:
• the legal advice recorded in the case is incorrect
• the case has been referred to the wrong authority
• the service is required to take action, such as to provide information or check details on the call recording in order to enable the service partner to proceed with the referral.
Feedback on cases which are marked as being urgent will be reviewed and responded to within one working day of receipt. If a reply has been requested the relevant contact centre will contact the service partner within this timeframe.
Each service partner will be provided with a designated contact within one of the consumer service contact centres. Should a service partner consider their feedback urgent and in need of immediate response, they may use these contacts to provide immediate feedback on urgent cases direct to the contact centres. These contact details will be provided in the new year.
Non urgent cases
Feedback on cases which are not urgent will be
reviewed, and where appropriate responded to, within three working days of receipt.
What happens with feedback?
On receipt of feedback the contact centre will add a contact to the case in question. A note will be made documenting the relevant points of the feedback and any actions taken to remedy the issue, for example adviser coaching or review of call recording.
Contacting service partners
Where a request is made for the contact centre to contact a service partner, the contact centre will contact them using the contact details specified in the feedback form.
Where the only contact method supplied is a telephone number, the contact centre will attempt to contact the partner at least once during their committed timeframe (see guidance above on urgent and non urgent cases).
The role of the Citizens Advice central management team
Day to day management of feedback
The Citizens Advice central management team will:
• review and feedback cases on a daily basis
• maintain a current contact list for feedback at all Citizens Advice consumer service contact centres.
Disputed feedback
Where a contact centre disputes the comments in the feedback and/or requires guidance they may approach the Citizens Advice central management team directly.
Where appropriate the management team will then liaise with the contact centre and/or service partner to resolve any issue.
Analysing trends in feedback
The Citizens Advice central management team will collate and review feedback on a monthly basis to identify training needs or systems issues on a centre wide and national level.
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Performance reporting
As detailed above, we will be working closely with our suppliers to monitor performance and quality against agreed KPIs and PIs.
We aim to provide regular progress reports to service partners in a number of formats and will provide further information in due course.
Business continuity
Our contact centre suppliers are expected to develop robust business continuity and disaster recovery plans for all aspects of their operations. In addition, the Citizens Advice central management team will ensure operational continuity by developing system and telephony business continuity plans.
It is recognised that any system outage could lead to a delay in referrals being sent to service partners due to advisers having to use manual processes to collect data and update systems later. Where possible, service partners will be informed of any significant delay and any urgent cases will be transmitted to service partners in an alternative format such as by telephone.
For energy and post cases that require a warm mid-call transfer, the email referral will be sent as soon as systems are online and cases have been updated.
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Data users
Due to statutory constraints, it will not be possible for the OFT to share their current Consumer Direct case data with the new Citizens Advice consumer service without the express permission of individual clients.
We are currently working with the Consumer Direct management team to explore options for obtaining the express permission of clients for their cases to be transferred to the new service during the weeks leading up to the transition of the service.
However, in order to access historic Consumer Direct cases and new cases created by the Citizens Advice consumer service after 20 February, data users will need to access the existing Consumer Direct central database (CDB) and the new Citizens Advice consumer data warehouse (CDW).
During the transition period between 20 February and 30 March it is possible that a consumer case may appear, in full or in part, in both the CDB and CDW, because a client has contacted both services. Service partners should make allowances for this duplication, though every effort will be made to highlight these cases and reduce the likelihood of their existence.
Although the new CDW is based on the current CDB, we will need data users to sign data sharing agreements and terms and conditions with us in respect of how data should be used. This will be similar to those agreements already in place with the OFT. We will contact you in the new year with further details.
In addition we will shortly issue:
• user names and passwords
• written instructions detailing how to run reports
• information on how contact centre advisers use abbreviations in their notes.
Communications
Branding
The new service falls within the Citizens Advice service branding.
Name
The replacement service for Consumer Direct,
incorporating phone and web advice, will be called “the Citizens Advice consumer service”.
The phone line specifically though can be referred to as
“the Citizens Advice consumer helpline”.
Contact centre staff from both Agilisys (in England and Wales) and Citizens Advice Direct (in Scotland) will answer the phone calling it the “Citizens Advice consumer helpline”.
Welsh translations
“Citizens Advice consumer helpline” is “Llinell gymorth Cyngor ar Bopeth”
“Citizens Advice consumer service” is “Gwasanaeth defnyddwyr Cyngor ar Bopeth “
Phone numbers
We will continue using the Consumer Direct phone numbers so that the transition feels as seamless as possible for regular callers. The numbers are:
English language service: 08454 04 05 06 Welsh language service: 08454 04 05 05
Hyperlinks
From 2 April 2012, all current hyperlinks to either www.consumerdirect.gov.uk or www.direct.gov.uk should be directed to www.adviceguide.org.uk.
Printed materials
As we are planning a smooth transition with a relatively continuous level of calls, we hope that printed materials currently branded as Consumer Direct will be gradually phased out as those branded as the Citizens Advice consumer service are phased in. We would therefore suggest that partners update their marketing materials as required, rather than deliberately launching amended versions in early April.
This will also prevent otherwise correct materials being unnecessarily discarded.
Logos
On English language communications the single CAB roundel should be used. On bilingual communications the dual logo which incorporates both the English and the Welsh roundels should be used. Our logos must only be used in accordance with the logo guidance.
All logos will be on our corporate website
www.citizensadvice.org.uk/logos from 9 January 2012.
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Media handling
Any media queries relating to the Citizens Advice consumer service should be referred to the Citizens Advice press office:
press.office@citizensadvice.org.uk Office hours: 0207 833 7178 Out-of-hours: 0845 0990107
For trading standards partners: Nearer April, we will give you the wording for a replacement “boilerplate”
about the Citizens Advice consumer service to use in the Notes to Editors section of local press releases, where you would previously have referred to Consumer Direct.
Communication with you
Citizens Advice will continue to hold working group meetings and will then issue updated FAQs following each one. From 9 January 2012 FAQs will be available from www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumerfaqs.
For energy partners
Wording on energy bills
We would ask that existing general references to Citizens Advice Bureaux on your websites and energy bills, and current mentions of Consumer Direct, are consolidated into the following:
“For free, independent, confidential and impartial advice on consumer issues visit www.adviceguide.org.uk or call the Citizens Advice consumer helpline on
08454 04 05 06.”
Welsh translation
“Am gyngor annibynnol, cyfrinachol, di-duedd, ac am ddim, ewch i www.adviceguide.org.uk neu ffoniwch linell gymorth defnyddwyr Cyngor ar Bopeth ar 08454 04 05 05.”
Next steps
In the new year we will contact you to provide further information in relation to the following:
• provision of business advice
• contact migration plan
• further testing information
• referral feedback process
• how to update service protocols
• trader tracking
• further information for data users.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or require further information, please contact change@citizensadvice.org.uk.
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Aims and principles
The Citizens Advice service provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. It values diversity, promotes equality and challenges discrimination.
The service aims:
• to provide the advice people need for the problems they face
• to improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives.
Citizens Advice
115-123 Pentonville Road London N1 9LZ
Telephone: 020 7833 2181 www.citizensadvice.org.uk www.adviceguide.org.uk
Citizens Advice is an operating name of The National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.
Registered charity number 279057.
Citizens Advice Scotland
Spectrum House, Powderhall Road Edinburgh EH7 4GB
Telephone: 0131 550 1000 www.cas.org.uk
www.adviceguide.org.uk/scotland
Citizens Advice Scotland is an operating names of The Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux.
Scottish charity number SC016637.
