Customer Insight

Report

1st

July – 30th

September 2014

1. Introduction

1.1 What is customer insight?

Customer insight is the broad term used to describe the process of using data and information about

our residents to residents to help improve our understanding of their needs, expectations,

behaviours and experiences. This information can then be used to target services and

communications around the needs of different customer groups.

1.2. What information is available about our residents?

Information about our customers (our residents) is available from a variety of sources. The results of

the 2011 Census provides a vast amount of demographic data on those living within the district. This

information is summarised in a number of profiles currently available on the South

Northamptonshire website and detailed ward profiles are currently in development.

However, information about our customers is also collected through our interactions with residents.

This can be through formal consultations, focus groups, customer feedback, customer complaints,

and our website and through social media. Elected Members also provide officers with an important

source of customer insight, often being the first to hear of issues impacting local areas.

1.2. What is the purpose of this report?

The purpose of this report is to pull together various customer insight sources available to the

Council on a quarterly basis and to attempt to highlight trends and areas of importance to our

customers.

2. Latest News / Consultation Results

During this period, the Council carried out four consultations, one with residents on Customer

Services, one around SPLAT leisure services, pathfinder and lastly the Housing Needs survey.

The Customer Services Survey has received 368 responses and closed at the end of July. SPLAT

survey had 55 responses and the Pathfinder consultation 33 responses.

The Housing Needs survey will end on 3 November and to date 386 responses have been received.

There are two other shared consultations due to close on 7 December, namely Noise Policy and

Noise Investigation Procedure and Enforcement Policy.

All consultations were available online on the “Have your say” section of the website

http://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/1448.htm.

For more information on consultations or community engagement events please contact Michal

Gogut, Consultation and Engagement Officer on 01295 221575 or

michal.gogut@cherwellandsouthnorthants.gov.uk.

3. GovMetric Report

The Council uses GovMetric as a mechanism for capturing

customer feedback about its services. GovMetric asks

customers to rate their experience as either ‘Good’, ‘Average’

or ‘Poor’ based on a system of smiley faces.

Feedback can be provided through three different channels. Face-to-face machines are available at

the Council office in Towcester, while feedback can also be provided by telephone and via the

website.

1.1 Overall satisfaction

Number Of Respondents

774 84 191

Percentage Of Respondents

74% 8% 18%

Trend (compared to Q1)

3% 1% 2%

In September 2014 SNC was placed second in the top ten of councils using Govmetric for Face to

Face contact

Overall satisfaction by channel

Face-to-face Satisfaction

Number Of Respondents

509 35 49

Percentage Of Respondents

86% 6% 8%

Telephone Satisfaction*

Number Of Respondents

28 2 0

Percentage Of Respondents

93% 7% 0%

* Telephone satisfaction respondents are based on calls processed by the Customer Services team only.

Website Satisfaction

Number Of Respondents

234 47 142

Percentage Of Respondents

55% 11% 34%

1.2 Service satisfaction

The following tables provide a breakdown of the GovMetric responses by service areas.

Service Number Of

Respondents

Benefits

134 92% 3% 5%

Council Information

88 69% 5% 26%

Council Tax

100 78% 6% 14%

Environmental Services

62 71% 13% 16%

Housing

120 87% 5% 8%

Licensing

35 71% 9% 20%

Planning & Building Control

78 74% 5% 20%

Waste & Recycling

88 72% 5% 23%

+

Other Services*

56 66% 11% 23%

Uncategorised**

90 37% 20% 43%

* Service areas with fewer than 25 responses are included in ‘Other Services’ along with responses that cannot

be attributed to one specific service area.

4. Complaints Report

A new Corporate Management Process for both South Northamptonshire Council and Cherwell

District Council was introduced on 1 July 2013. Both councils have now moved to a more effective

two phase approach, replacing the old three stage complaints system.

4.1 Total number of complaints received

Quarter 1

(Apr – June)

Quarter 2

(Jul – Sept)

Quarter 3

(Oct – Dec)

Quarter 4

(Jan-March)

Stage 1

Complaints 34 40

Stage 2

Complaints 1 6

No of

Complaints

Received

Acknowledged within 3

working days

Responded to with 10

working days

Still Open /

On-going

No. % No. % No. %

46 45 98% 26 57% 1 2%

No of Complaints

Received

Valid Complaints Invalid Complaints Unknown

No. % No. % No. %

46

21 41% 19 41% 6 17%

4.2 Complaints by service area

Service Area

No of

Complaints

Received

Acknowledged within

3 working days

Responded to within

10 working days

Valid

Complaints

No. % No. % No. %

Council Tax

7 7 100% 4* 57% 4 57%

Waste Services

11 11 100% 10 91% 8 73%

Planning and

Building Control

16 15 94% 8* 50% 3 18%

Other Service

Areas

12 11 92% 6* 50% 4 33%

*Extensions beyond the 10 day response rate were accorded to 2 complaints in Council

Tax, 1 complaint in planning and 2 in other services

Overall level of complaints received for each service area remains broadly the same.

4.3 Reasons for complaint

The following table provides a breakdown of the reasons for each complaint received.

Reason for complaint

Number of

complaints

% of all

complaints

% valid

complaints

Services not being delivered / Delivered at

a lower standard 28 61% 73%

Attitude of staff

5 11% 16%

Disagreement about a decision

3 6% 0%

Policy decision

2 4% 5%

Other

8 17% 5%

The majority of complaints received (61%) during this period were received as a result of

services not being delivered or being delivered at a lower standard. In addition, 11% of

complaints were received as a result of the attitude of staff.

4.4 Identifying Trends

Development Control services attracted a high proportion of the complaints in this quarter

with 16 out of 46 total complaints.

Development Control - Reason for complaint

Number of

complaints

Services not being delivered / Delivered at a

lower standard 7

Poor Communication

3

Disagreement about a decision 4

Failure to follow agreed policy or procedure 2

4.5 Lessons learnt / Service improvements

Service Area: Development Control - Planning

Response: Out of the 16 complaints for Planning (Development Control), 3 were considered

valid and that equates to just 19% overall. In fact if you examine this more closely, they

were all actually partly upheld i.e. it was either a case where; (1) the Council had exercised

its duty correctly in the legal sense, but officers considered that the complainant had made

a fair point about some part of it that could improve the customer experience; or (2) the

majority of their complaint was not upheld and only part of it was considered to be valid.

There were no complaints made that were fully upheld.

When a complaint is partly upheld or fully upheld, the Team Leader and/or Service Manager

first seeks to identify if it was a simple human error or whether it relates to an error with

the process/procedure. If it is the former, the relevant officer is reminded of Council

policy/procedures. If it is the latter, the relevant process/procedure is changed accordingly

so as to help avoid the same type of complaint arising again. In addition, the issue of formal

complaints and ‘lessons learned’ is a fixed item on every service meeting agenda with

officers which takes place every 2 months. This gives the opportunity for all staff to be

aware of how to avoid complaints in the future.

4.6 Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) Complaints

Quarter 1

(Apr – June)

Quarter 2

(Jul – Sept)

Quarter 3

(Oct – Dec)

Quarter 4

(Jan-March)

3 2

Two LGO complaints have been received this quarter. The outcome of complaints received

so far in 2014/15 is summarised below:

� 4 x closed after initial enquiries – no further action

� 1 x not upheld no maladministration

5. Media Enquiries

The Communications Team produces a monthly media monitoring report, detailing how the

Council has been reported on in the local news, whether the news item was positive or

negative and what media enquiries and news releases occurred during the month. This

section is a high level summary of those reports for the period 1st

April to 30th

June 2014.

Total number

of media items

Positive Neutral Negative

July 47 85% 14% 1%

August 25 52% 45% 3%

September 31 75% 25% 0%

Total

Quarter 2 103 74% 24% 2%

During this period, the Council received 44 enquiries and issued 30 press releases. For

further detail on the nature of these enquiries and press releases please contact the

Communication Team on 01327 322312 or Communications@SouthNorthants.gov.uk

6. Social Media

Social Media is a powerful tool for engaging and communicating with customers. The

Council has a Facebook page and a Twitter account which allows us to communicate directly

with any residents who have decided to ‘like’ or ‘follow’ us on these social media sites. They

also allow residents to communicate directly with the Council. The Communications Team

manages the Council’s social media presence.

5.1 Twitter

South Northamptonshire Council currently has 1416 followers on Twitter.

The Council is also following 342 and has tweeted 2534 times. Follow us on

Twitter @SNorthantsC

The Council’s Leisure department also has its own Twitter account. Follow them on Twitter

@SNCLeisure

5.2 Facebook

The Council is also on Facebook and currently has 1117 likes. This is an increase

from the 1059 likes at 1 July. Take a look and start following us - click on the

link to our page: https://www.facebook.com/SouthNorthantsCouncil

7. Website Interaction

The website is one of the Council’s most important tools for engaging with residents and

providing information about our services. The following provides an overview of how

customers access the South Northamptonshire website and what sections of the website

are accessed most frequently.

6.1 Visitor Statistics

01/07/14 – 30/09/14 Compared to previous

Quarter

Number of visits 132,923 -2,1424

Number of unique visitors 77,576 +190

Number of page views 772,875 -3,1305

6.2 How customers access our website (search engine terms)

Rank External Search Term Number of visits

1. south northants council 1347

2. south northants planning 453

3. south northamptonshire council 334

4. South northants council planning register 189

5. SNC planning register 173

6.3 What customers search for on our website (search function on website)

Rank Internal Search Term Number of occurrences

1. planning 256

2. mapping 79

3. Planning applications 84

4. Open register 77

5. Council tax 63

Planning was by far the most popular internal search term used on the website

6.4 Most popular pages

Rank Most Popular Pages Page

Views

1. Search Results

http://snc.planningregister.co.uk/searchresults.aspx?pageprefix=plan

106,932

2. Search Results

http://snc.planningregister.co.uk

38,980

3. South Northamptonshire Council Home

http://www.southnorthants.gov.uk

26,646

4. Online Planning Applications Register Search Page

http://snc.planningregister.co.uk/planappsrch.aspx?pageprefix=plan

24,439

5. South Northamptonshire Council Planning

http://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/planning.htm

14,786

6. South Northamptonshire Council Find Planning Applications

http://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/PlanningApplications

14,538

7. http://snc.planning-register.co.uk/planappsrch.asp 13,529

8. hhttp://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/PlanningInformation.htm 13,476

9. Council Tax

http://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/1127.htm

6,771

10. South Northamptonshire Council Waste and recycling 5,206,

http://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/wasteandrecycling.htm

As per previous reports the most popular pages for the period 1st

July– 30th

September 2014

were planning web pages. Search results from the planning register was by far the most

popular page, however this figure is likely to be inflated by users carrying out multiple

searches.

8. Summary

Customer Satisfaction

Overall customer satisfaction measured through GovMetric increased compared to previous

quarters and In September 2014 SNC was placed second in the top ten of councils using

Govmetric for Face to face contact.

Complaints

The number of complaints recorded remains consistent over the last quarter since the

introduction of the new system using Lagan to capture the information.