DWP Change ProgrammeDWP Change Programme

Final

National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers – RotherhamNational Association of Welfare Rights Advisers – Rotherham

Stephen Holt – DWP Director of Change ManagementStephen Holt – DWP Director of Change Management

5 December 2008 5 December 2008

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The vision of the DepartmentThe vision of the Department

to contribute towards fair, safe and fulfilling lives, free from poverty for children, people in work and retirement, disabled people and carers;

to reduce welfare dependency and increase economic competitiveness by helping people to work wherever they can and employers to secure the skills and employees they need; and

to provide greater choice, personalisation and a higher quality of service for customers where it is in their interests and those of the taxpayers.

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Operating at scaleOperating at scale

DWP is the biggest delivery department in the UK, serving over 20 million customers

Every working day we:

help over 6,000 customers move into new jobs’, conduct 45,000 advisor interviews and receive 800,00 job searches;

process over 15,000 new benefit claims;

assess over 3,000 applications for state pension;

undertake over 3,000 home visits; and

collect or arrange child support for over 30,000 children.

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The DWP Change ProgrammeThe DWP Change Programme

A response to three insights:

40% of contact with DWP comes from people who are customers of more than one of our agencies;

overall customer service for those people often poor and fragmented;

almost half of contact was intrinsically of no value to customer or DWP.

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Customer service?Customer service?

The 2008 Customer Contact Survey shows out of 152m customer contacts:

Payment queries accounted for 14.7m contacts e.g. 7.8m of these – “ I haven’t received my money”;

Customers progress chasing - 5.3m contacts e.g. 2.6m customers asking “what is happening with my appeal”;

6.5m customers have contacted the wrong number/office agency;

“one of your customers has died” generates average of 4.8 contacts per death;

State Pension – an average of 3.7 contacts for every claim processed.

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Our business strategy is based on two core Our business strategy is based on two core principlesprinciples

We want to transform the quality of customer service …

…while driving up the efficiency of our delivery

… each of which reinforces and enables the other

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Our new service delivery strategyOur new service delivery strategy

‘Right door first” so customers know which is the most appropriate point of contact for their needs, but with…

‘No wrong door’ so customers are always helped at the point of contact or passed to someone who can help, regardless of their access point;

‘Right first time’so customers get the correct help/advice for their overall circumstances in the course of that contact and don’t have to repeat information or chase progress;

‘Once and done’ so, as far as possible, resolution is achieved in the course of the contact, minimising the need for follow-up action

?

Structures products/services around customer needs - accessible, efficient and based on customer insight

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Transforming Customer Contact - managing and developing contact capability across the Department - latest technology e.g. voice activated telephone systems; SMS; moving to a single DWP wide contact centre by summer 2009 – handling 18 million calls p.a. –

largest single contact centre in Europe.

Customer Transitions - removing obstacles and duplication for customers moving between services or businesses.

Information Management – making better use of information: reusing and sharing information we already hold, whilst keeping

customer data safe.

Self service – improving channels for those customers who wish to use them.

Lean - delivering efficiency and customer service through relentless attention to continuous improvement – (developed by Toyota).

Delivery via five implementation projectsDelivery via five implementation projects

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Customer insightCustomer insight

“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”.

Bill Gates

Customer insight: thinking like a customer, understanding their experience and putting yourself in their shoes.

helping us gain a better understanding of our customers’ needs-informing the design of future products/services

e.g. self-service - integrating DWP customer and private sector data, segmenting customers based on potential to use self service channels.

development of a Customer Charter – describes standards of service customers can expect when dealing with any part of DWP.

after asking 3,000+ customers we have identified four key factors that make a real difference to their lives…

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Treat customers well – delivering great service, listening carefully, offering good advice, treating them with respect.

Deliver the right result – giving support to customers so those who work can find jobs and those who can’t get the right financial

help.

Respond on time – by meeting customer needs faster and keeping them in touch with progress.

Improve access to services – making information clearer, systems simpler and contacting us easier.

Focussing on what is important to our customersFocussing on what is important to our customers

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Same messaging for customers – contacting call centres or Benefit delivery Centres:

- consistent customer greeting; and

- consistent “in-queue” and termination messages (from early 2009)

Single Customer View will enable:

- staff to view customer information on one screen;

- a wider range of customer queries to be answered at the first point of contact; with

- rollout from October 2009 for some benefits.

new telephony:

- will enable customer calls to be routed to the next available customer service agent, with the appropriate skills, wherever located without the customer having to re-dial (from March 2009).

Treat customers wellTreat customers well

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Reducing the level of official error through a combination of:

- more efficient processes (often with less steps) – improved accuracy so more customers get the right decision first time;

- online facility, via Directgov, for customers to track their claims and check entitlement (from 2009);

- improved management of data – reducing the number of times data is captured twice and improvements to how changes of circumstances are captured.

Deliver the right resultDeliver the right result

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DWP

What happens when a customer reports a What happens when a customer reports a change…..todaychange…..today

Example over 10 million wasted contacts per year for 3 changes (address, method of payment and bereavement)

Difficult Customer Experiences whenever they report a change

1st line contact don’t gather all information, particularly when the customer gets more than one benefit

Forms and Calls are made to customer to request

further information. Often several times per change

1 contact

2 contacts

3 contacts

4 contacts

5 contacts

6 contacts

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What happens when a customer reports a What happens when a customer reports a change…..in 2009change…..in 2009

Stage 2 - Single Customer View for Enquiries October 09

for Changes 2010

Stage 1 - Information Capture Tool by end April 09

(Wrexham Pilot – most changes processed on date of receipt)

Once and Done Customer Service

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using Lean we have already demonstrated the ability to reduce the length of time it takes for a claim to reach conclusion, through removing “waste” from processes.

looking at new ways of gathering, checking and re-using information to make the claims process faster and easier e.g. for change of address, method of payment, reporting a death.

have reduced avoidable contacts by 72 million calls equivalent over last 3 years – by 2011 we aim to reduce

current level by 50% - we can spend more time providing a valuable telephone service to those who really need it.

Respond on timeRespond on time

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Improve access to servicesImprove access to services

online service channel for customers via Directgov.

increased access 24/7 as services expand: e.g.

- from the end of 2009 – 700,000 customers every year will be able to claim their State Pension online if they wish to do so;

- working with CABs in Blackpool & Hertsmere to evaluate an enhanced online better off calculator and comparison tool;

- looking a feasibility of bringing forward online JSA claims.

Benefits Adviser Service:

- launched October 2008 - advice on 28 benefits and credits (previously 11), how to make a benefit claim, links to online Jobsearch and State Pension forecast;

- good customer feedback - 75% rated “Good – Excellent”.

customers moving between working age & pension age benefits: - by re-using information we already hold – many customers, will simply confirm that the information is correct to claim their pension benefits;

- roll out by end May 2009.

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What our customers will say in 2011…What our customers will say in 2011…

Treatment“Customer service is actually getting better”.

“You are treated as an individual and they understand your needs”.

Right Result“You only need to report certain changes once and they tell other departments for you”

“We now have a wider choice of fast and secure methods for communicating with DWP”

Ease of access“I have a personal online account with DWP”

“It is really reassuring that I have a wider choice of intermediaries who can start off DWP business on their behalf”.

Timely response “You can submit claims online and track its progress”.

“Service is much more efficient as they have streamlined their internal processes which means less people contact them unnecessarily”.

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Barriers to providing an integrated Barriers to providing an integrated customer experiencecustomer experience

generating investment funding

levels of waste and repeated contact

history (e.g. 28 legacy systems and 7 telephony platforms)

the politics of mandating channel choice

organisational accountabilities fragmented

risk appetite

legislative barriers

cross agency customers

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Questions?Questions?