Citizens Advice consumer service

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Citizens Advice consumer service

Partner Satisfaction survey

report Wave 4 – October 2015

12 November 2015

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Citizens Advice consumer partner satisfaction results Wave 4 October 15 V2.0 | Private and Confidential

1 December 2015 | 1

Introduction

To find out what our partners think about the Citizens Advice consumer service (consumer service), we conduct partner satisfaction surveys twice a year. We are targeted by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills to achieve a satisfaction rating of 70 per cent, as an aggregate of the results of the two surveys within each year.

The most recent survey was conducted in October 2015, with 145 respondents.

This paper reports the results and includes:

An overview of the survey results

An analysis of the survey, including trends from this and previous data Information about next steps and actions

Survey results - an overview

A high level summary from the wave 4 survey can be found below, with graphs and results included in the separate results document.

In summary, the survey told us:

83 per cent of you were satisfied or very satisfied overall with the service (an increase of 8 percentage points)

79 per cent of you were satisfied or very satisfied the accuracy of advice (no change)

65 per cent of you were satisfied or very satisfied with the depth of advice (7 percentage point increase)

51 per cent of you were satisfied or very satisfied with the quality of information collected about traders and suppliers (12 percentage point increase)

76 per cent of you were satisfied or very satisfied with training (1 percentage point increase)

95 per cent of you were satisfied or very satisfied with our operational support arrangements (an increase of 5 percentage points)

Survey analysis

The results of the most recent survey are positive, with high levels of satisfaction overall, and positive results or significant increases in many areas. It is particularly pleasing to see increases in key areas of focus from previous partner satisfaction. Specifically

identified improvement activities have been driven by these surveys and it is hoped these results are reflective of this.

One particular area of the survey, relating to trader tracking, suggests higher levels of dissatisfaction, and although the number of respondents in this area is significantly lower this still remains an area of focus for us as we need to consider how this process can be made more effective.

The analysis below is broken down by survey sections for ease of reference.

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General

There has been an overall increase in satisfaction for Citizens Advice as a delivery partner in this survey, with 83 % of those surveyed stating they are satisfied or very satisfied. The wider trend shows significant increases in this area in the last eighteen months.

Results in the other, more detailed, questions in this area are positive and reflect the focus we have placed on areas highlighted in previous surveys.

Satisfaction with the accuracy of information has remained consistent, while satisfaction with depth of advice has increased by 7 percentage points

It is pleasing to see that partners continue to be largely satisfied with the advice we offer, and in particular there has been an increase relating to the breadth of

information provided.

Over the last twelve months there has been significant focus in offline training activity, relating not only to legislative updates such as the Consumer Rights Act and ADR Regulations, but also sessions on the work of Trading Standards and doorstep crime. We have also re-written our training materials in full, and these will be available in the near future on our re-designed partner pages.

The quality and completeness of case notes and trader information, while still being an area of concern, have shown significant improvement.

Both of these areas have shown an increase in satisfaction of 12 percentage points in this survey. Nonetheless, they remain a key and ongoing focus for us in our commitment to drive partner satisfaction in all areas.

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A great deal of work has gone into the format of case notes, to try and ensure greater levels of clarity, and advisers have also been briefed on the importance of identifying and recording all relevant information in case notes. There has also been increased focus on the accuracy of trader information, and the database continues to be cleansed at regular intervals to remove duplicate or erroneous records that we are able to identify.

We also have asked at our most recent audit for closer tracking of improvement activity in both these areas.

The overall trends in this area for the last three surveys can be found below.

In relation to advice the trend across all three surveys is consistently upward. On case notes and trader information, the drop indicated in the wave 3 survey is likely to be indicative of the significant number of new advisers we brought into the service at that time. From an induction perspective new advisers are fully trained on all aspects of the role, including process around system use and data recording. Nonetheless, some impact in these areas was not unexpected and focus has subsequently been placed on

improvement here as outlined above.

Contact centres

Satisfaction with contact centre suppliers has increased since the previous audit, with an 11 percentage point rise for CAD, who deliver the service in Scotland, and a nine

percentage point increase for Agilisys, who deliver the service in England and Wales.

We have continued to work on initiatives that ensure our partners feel able to establish and maintain relationships with the contact centres where relevant. As such we remain committed to delivering training sessions orientated around the work of Trading

Standards, and in the last fifteen months advisers have received sessions on the work of Trading Standards, and doorstep crime. There are further sessions planned for the end of this year on safeguarding, which have been developed in conjunction with Trading

Standards.

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In addition, where capacity of the service has permitted, we have approached authorities in a close proximity to contact centres and arranged adviser visits to these to allow them to see the work that is undertaken first hand. The feedback from both partners and advisers on these visits was particularly positive, and where the service provision allows we will aim to continue these.

Finally it is pleasing that we have seen an increase in the number of partners using the direct contact numbers for centres when necessary. These were re-circulated to partners as part of a refresh of the feedback process, to allow for urgent matters to be taken up without unnecessary delay.

The overall trend for both suppliers over the last three surveys is upward, and while there is a slight difference between the two centres performance in this area, the overall level of satisfaction is pleasing.

The consumer service operations team

There has been an increase in each of the individual areas within this section of the survey:

Satisfaction in training has increased by one percentage point to 76%

Satisfaction with the duty officer and process has increased by five percentage points to 95%

Satisfaction with IT support has increased by six percentage points to 97%

Satisfaction with overall engagement has increased by four percentage points to 84%

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It remains our firm commitment to ensure partners can receive the support they require from the consumer service central operations team, and these results suggest our approach has been largely successful.

Satisfaction with our training programme has remained relatively consistent. We have recently refreshed all our consumer related training materials, and also created content for the ADR Regulations. These materials will soon be hosted on the partner pages of our website for those who wish to view them and understand how we approach these

sessions. We also continue to schedule partner related training activity in conjunction with Trading Standards, as outlined earlier in this report.

The duty process, and IT support that relates directly to this, remains a central function of the team and the re-circulation of the process to partners appears to have increased the understanding of what we can assist with. We have also trained a number of additional team members on the duty process to increase the level of internal knowledge in these areas. We positively encourage any partners to contact us through this channel if they have any questions, issues or concerns with the consumer service.

Engagement continues to be an area of focus, and a number of activities are now taking place to help further increase this level of satisfaction. We have recently attended a number of regional Trading Standards meetings to talk about the work of the consumer service. We have also changed the format of our partner working groups, to make them more interactive and discussion focused based on feedback from attendees and our desire to make these less briefing orientated.

The imminent launch of our new website partner pages should also create a hub for all matters related to the consumer service. The aim of these pages is to ensure information is available for partners to self-serve based on their requirements, while also ensuring there is clear and relevant contact information also available.

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Again the trend across the previous three surveys remains positive in all areas.

Nonetheless we continue to seek to maximise satisfaction in the role of the central

operations team and welcome any and all feedback from partners in how we might further achieve this.

Referrals and feedback

Satisfaction in this area remains relatively high overall, although there was an increased level of dissatisfaction in one area:

Satisfaction with the design of the referral process increased by eight percentage points to 87%

Satisfaction with referrals being sent in line with agreed protocols increased by three percentage points to 70%

Satisfaction with the design of the feedback process increased by four percentage points to 75%

Satisfaction that feedback is responded to within agreed timescales decreased by five percentage points to 86%

Satisfaction that changes were made based on feedback remained unchanged at 91%

In the last twelve months, we have provided partners with the opportunity to edit their own referral protocols without the need to complete templates and send them to us. This in turn means the information can be uploaded and made available to the advisers in less time, and provide greater control to partners.

Adherence to protocols remains an area of attention, and in the most recent supplier audit, this was a particular area of focus. We have requested greater levels of checks and reporting in this area, to ensure advisers understand the need to follow instructions

outlined in the protocols and the impact of failing to do so.

The feedback process has been re-circulated previously, and while the levels we receive remain well within the target levels, we recognise from pervious feedback that partners would like this process to be more straightforward. To that end we have now begun specifying requirements with our technical supplier on a solution to this that, like the protocols, should avoid the need for templates to be completed and emailed to us. We will send separate communication on this once the specification work is concluded, as we will likely seek some testing support from partners to ensure the new way of working meets their requirements.

The importance of responding to feedback within timescales has been emphasised to suppliers, and it is disappointing to see the satisfaction in this area decline, although overall it remains still very positive. We encourage partners to report any delays to the duty officer at the earliest opportunity, to allow us to engage directly with the relevant supplier as required.

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With the exception of response times, as explained above, the overall trend in each of these areas over the last three surveys is upward. We continue to emphasise the

importance to advisers of ensuring appropriate referrals are identified and sent however and we hope ongoing improvement, and scores reflecting this, will be seen in the next survey.

Trader tracking

This area of the survey reflects much greater levels of dissatisfaction proportionately, and as such will be a key area of focus for improvement activity. Of note only a very low proportion of those surveyed responded to this section. Nonetheless the results are disappointing and reflect the need for our attention:

There had been a decrease of 9 percentage points in those who had requested a track in the survey period to 22%

Satisfaction with tracking procedures decreased by three percentage points to 71%

Satisfaction that tracking processes are following decreased by eight percentage points to 53%

Satisfaction that tracking requests are processed in line with agreed timescales increased by two percentage points to 87%

These results, and the wider trends across the last three surveys as highlighted below suggest that while the processing of requests meets the needs of our partners, the process itself may require detailed review. While it may be the case many partners now rely on the partner portal for information, the tracking of individual traders and messages from partners relating to them are likely to have a place. Initially we will add an agenda

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item at the next Trading Standards working group to initiate discussions on partner needs in this area, and then consider how we might improve the process to reflect these.

Partner portal and data

There have been some significant improvements in satisfaction levels in relation to the partner portal and the intelligence data accessed by partners:

The percentage of respondents that had accessed data from the portal was unchanged at 70%

Satisfaction with the quality of the data increased 12 percentage points to 91%

Satisfaction with accessibility increased by 10 percentage points to 88%

Satisfaction with usability increased by five percentage points to 69%

The migration to the new partner portal has been successfully completed, and there has been an increased focus with advisers on case notes and trader information, as

highlighted earlier in the report. It is therefore pleasing that satisfaction in quality of data is now so high.

As part of the migration to the new partner portal, video user guides were added to the portal. Nonetheless, we had already identified the need to refresh the associated guidance materials and a project to do this is already underway.

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Once more the overall trend is for increased satisfaction in all areas, while the level of users accessing data that were surveyed remained consistent. There was a fall in

satisfaction of data in wave three, which again ties in to the earlier observation around the increased number of new advisers in this period and the subsequent focus on these areas.

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Next steps and actions

Although this survey has seen improvements in a number of areas, it is important for us to demonstrate to you that we are consistently seeking to improve the service we provide both to you and our clients.

To this end, below is a summary of actions undertaken since the 2014/15 wave 1 survey, along with updates against progress, and a number of new actions arising from this survey.

Action Impact Date for

implementation Refresher training for our contact

centres on the following processes:

o Collecting and attaching trader information

o Production of case notes

o Checking protocols before sending referrals

o Acknowledging and processing feedback

Improve process compliance within contact centres

Improving the quality of available trader information Improving the quality of case notes

March 2015 Completed

Agreeing a new data targets with our contact centres in relation to a set of agreed data fields, including traders information

Improve data collection within contact centres

February 2015 Completed

Explore a technical solution to support depth of advice: Case notes template and ‘checklist’ pilot.

Improve case notes, data collection, depth and accuracy of advice with contact centres

July 2015 Ongoing – a statement of requirements has been

developed with providers.

Increased coaching and adviser

improvement activities have commenced

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More detailed monitoring and analysis of partner related KPI and PI measures

Increased performance focus on partner relationships

January 2015 Complete, monitoring is ongoing Initiate a programme of process

refreshment reminders for partners covering:

o Feedback o Central duty

o Trader tracking o The use of approved

abbreviations in case notes

Raise awareness and understanding of the key partner processes

Improve engagement with processes and driving

feedback about issues as they arise

May 2015 Complete with exception of Trader tracking process, which will now be reviewed in detail

Provide updates to partners about the timing and content of training, including:

Links to materials Updates about training

schedules and plans

More invitations to partners to support delivery of training

Increased visibility of training materials and activity; to better inform the output of the satisfaction measure

Better efficacy of training, following guest trainers who can bring the content to life with real examples

February 2015 Ongoing – Updates commenced from April and partners are increasingly involvement in training

Links to materials will follow with ADR content likely to be ready

presently Review and evaluate the effect of

specific training on the work of Trading Standards; particularly reflecting on the gaps identified in the TSS Audit (where external partners reviewed a significant number of referred cases), including:

Consumer Credit Doorstep crime Underage sales

Improve the quality of referrals

Improve the quality of case notes

6 weeks post training delivery Initial findings suggest

increased performance in quality of data provided to Trading Standards

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IP/Food/Alcohol

Continued development of technical solutions, including:

Improved feedback process Further development of the

systems around partner protocols

Re-evaluate the Partner portal functionality. Including;

improving access to real time data

Increase the amount of feedback submitted by partners, to improve where required and support training and encouragement for advisers as appropriate Increase transparency and awareness of partners own protocols. Improve access and speed of changes to protocols

Improve access to data, so it is available quicker and in a more accessible format

June 2015 Ongoing:

Feedback option has now been specified with technical supplier New Referral and Signposting Tool (RAST) and case

management development is complete Review partner engagement with

contact centre suppliers; considering the efficacy of processes and

seeking anecdotal feedback via Trading Standards working group

Improve satisfaction with contact centre suppliers

March 2015 Complete Ongoing evaluation, although significant increases in satisfaction Conduct case notes workshop with

contact centres, using the existing internal Quality User Group and work with suppliers on improvement activity

Improve quality of case notes July 2015

Complete – case notes coaching sessions

undertaken Complete trader database data

cleanse and undertake adviser performance improvement activity

Improve quality of trader records on cases

Improves trader tracking adherence by advisers

June 2015 Cleansing is an ongoing

process Adviser performance monitoring continues Review effectiveness of system

changes in relation to adviser protocol use, and implement further

Improve protocol adherence June 2015 Regular protocol

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change as required adherence

checks per adviser are ongoing facilitated by system changes Maintain adviser legislative

knowledge; to include whole service training on Consumer Rights Act and Alternative Dispute resolution

Maintain quality and accuracy of advice

October 2015 Ongoing

Training/briefings for advisers to help identify key priorities for partners, and Citizens Advice, to include;

financial capability, topics planned to support National Consumer Week and scams awareness

Improve satisfaction with the depth of advice

Ongoing

Publish and circulate information on new partner pages

Increase engagement satisfaction

January 2016

Add agenda item on trader tracking for next Trading Standards Working Group

Increase satisfaction in trader tracking process

January 2016

Summary

The most recent partner satisfaction survey results are pleasing, and demonstrate continued progress in the vast majority of areas. This is reflective of our focus over the last eighteen months and suggests that the consumer service is largely meeting or exceeding the expectations of partners.

We remain committed to ensuring all partners can access appropriate levels of support and information from the consumer service as and when they need it, and positively encourage feedback from partners in this regard.

Our particular focus in the next survey period will be on trader tracking, as the one survey area that suggests significant levels of dissatisfaction and low levels of use, as well as technical developments such as our partner pages and feedback portal. We will also continue to embed some of our recently implemented initiatives, such as attending regional partner meetings and collaboratively designed and delivered training sessions for advisers.

We recognise the importance of working with our partners and meeting their needs to deliver the service in the best possible manner. While there are a number of positive indications this is occurring, we will continue to strive for ongoing increased levels of satisfaction.

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Aims and principles

The Citizens Advice consumer service provides confidential and impartial advice on consumer issues in England, Wales and Scotland.

Citizens Advice 3rd Floor North, 200 Aldersgate Street London

EC1A 4HD

Telephone: 03000 231 231

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

The Scottish Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux - Citizens Advice Scotland, Scottish charity number SCO16637