Neighbourhood Advice and Information Service - Consultation Feedback Report
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APPENDIX 2 Neighbourhood Advice and Information Service - Consultation Feedback Report Feb 2016 Lloyd Crooks Birmingham City Council Page | 1 APPENDIX 2 [email protected] Contents: Content: Page(s) Executive Summary 2-7 Introduction 8 Methodology 9-11 Assumptions and Constraints 11 Key Findings 11-12 Equalities 12-13 Conclusion 13 Appendix A Consultation brief 14-16 Appendix B Questionnaire 17-18 Appendix C revised Questionnaire 19-20 Appendix D link to excel document with 21 all data Page | 2 APPENDIX 2 1. Executive Summary: 1.1 The public consultation was to seek users views in relation to the Neighbourhood Advice Service, it is proposed to provide specialist advice over the phone so that more issues can be resolved in this way whilst protecting face to face appointments for the most complex of situations or people who are most vulnerable. 1.2 It is also proposed to deal with a greater proportion of housing benefit and council tax enquiries over the phone. For other advice queries it is proposed to call people within 2 hours of contacting them to offer specialist advice over the phone and then, only if the situation deems it appropriate, offer a face to face appointment. 1.3 The proposed future service would offer general face to face appointments at 5 locations in the city (Quinton, City Centre, Saltley, Erdington & Northfield) and a further two locations at Letting Suites for council tenants (Ladywood & Sparkbrook). The service is also seeking to deliver advice in partnership with a range of other advice organisations in the third sectors. 1.4 The proposal for delivering these services in partnership with the third sector remains in development and as such members of the public where invited for their views on the proposed new ways of working. 1.5 The Neighbourhood Office City wide survey had 1231 respondents but not all respondents answered all the questions on the survey. 1.5.1 Respondents were asked what service did they come in about. The results were as follows: Answer % Numbers answering question Use phone or 4.5% 55 Computer Benefits advice 22.6% 274 Council Tax 12.2% 148 advice Bring in 46.5% 565 paperwork 31.8% 386 Page | 3 APPENDIX 2 Other 1.5.2 The majority of people using the NAIS visited to hand in proofs which tallies with statistics that about 40% of our users require a verification service. 1.5.3 Respondents were asked the mode of transport they used to access a face to face service. Answer % Numbers answering question On foot 29.7% 352 By Car/Motorcycle 36.8% 437 By Bus/Train 31.2% 370 By bike 0.6% 7 Other 2.3% 27 1.5.4. The survey identified that nearly 30% of users where able to access the service by foot where 68% of users travelled by public transport or motorised vehicle. This figure is based on the current number of locations. 1.5.5 Question 3 respondents were asked how long they took to travel Page | 4 APPENDIX 2 Answer % Numbers answering question less than 15 mins 40.9% 475 15-30mins 39.7% 460 31-45mins 14.4% 167 over 45mins 5.2% 60 1.5.6 The statistics show that 80% of users took 30 mins or less to reach their local office 1.5.7 Respondents were asked whether they tried to find the information they required before visiting the office the means that they used. Answer % Number of respondents By calling the Birmingham City Council contact centre? 68.7% 535 By looking at the Birmingham City Council 28.6% 223 website? By contacting another agency first i.e. job centre, 15.1% 118 advice agency 1.5.8 Respondents were asked to think about what they came in for and could we have dealt with this in any other way listed below: Answer % Number of respondents By an improved website with clearer on line help and 24.2% 141 advice By an arranged call back or interview by phone 41.6% 242 Page | 5 APPENDIX 2 By allowing documents to be emailed in to us 49.8% 290 1.5.9 While 41.6% supported the service review of dealing with interviews by the phone work will have to be done to arrange for council documents to be emailed to service users. 1.5.10 Users were asked about the proposed changes to the NAIS service. Answers Agree overall Disagree overall Agree overall Disagree overall % % Dealing with most 380 714 33% 61% housing benefit & council tax enquiries over the phone Seeing if all other 396 648 35% 57% requests for advice can be dealt with over the phone prior to offering an office appointment. Prioritising office based 508 531 44% 46% appointments for complex cases & for those people who are most vulnerable There being 5 general 381 612 34% 54% places for appointments in the city. Council tenants will also be able to access advice at our letting suites Dealing with homeless 328 696 29% 61% enquiries at one specialist location in Newtown Page | 6 APPENDIX 2 1.5.11 The figures show an overall desire for face to face interviews while the margins are narrower when asked if face to face appointments were prioritised for more complex queries and those users who were more vulnerable. 1.5.12 Users where asked to think more widely about how we can best deliver advice services to the citizens of Birmingham. To what extent do you agree/disagree that the following improve services: The results are as follows. Answers Agree Disagree Agree % Disagree % Being located in 873 210 75% 18% the same building Being accessible through a single 443 543 39% 48% phone number Allowing advice providers to make direct 545 481 48% 42% referrals to the best organisation who can meet the customer’s needs. 1.5.13 There seems to be an overwhelming consensus for services to be located in the same building. Page | 7 APPENDIX 2 2. Introduction: On 30th November 2015 the Neighbourhood Advice and Information Service NAIS received permission to consult on the reorganisation of the NAIS 1. 2.1. Public Consultation of the proposed reorganisation of Neighbourhood Advice and Information Centres commenced 07th December 2015 and ran until 21st January 2016 (7 weeks). 2.21 During this time customers, citizens and professionals were offered the opportunity to provide feedback on the councils preferred option for service redesign this being: 2.22 To provide specialist advice over the phone so that more issues can be resolved in this way whilst protecting face to face appointments for the most complex of situations or people who are most vulnerable. 2.23 To deal with an increasing number of housing benefit and council tax enquiries over the phone. For other advice queries it is proposing to call people within 2 hours of contacting them to offer specialist advice over the phone and then, only if the situation deems it appropriate, offer a face to face appointment. 2.24 The offer general face to face appointments at 5 locations in the city (Quinton, City Centre, Saltley, Erdington & Northfield) and a further two locations at Letting Suites for council tenants (Ladywood & Sparkbrook). The service is also seeking to deliver advice in partnership with a range of other advice organisations in the third sector. 2.2. The aim of this consultation was to establish the views of the public on the proposed revisions to the Neighbourhood Advice and Information service in order to establish the viability of the proposal, any barriers to its implementation and any additional mitigation required to ensure the service remains accessible to all (in the event that the proposal was approved to move forward). 2.3. Consultation was undertaken via two primary exercises which are detailed below: A) A paper based ‘Snapshot’ Survey provided to all NAIS customers accessing all of the 7 current centres. B) An online survey utilising the ‘Birmingham Be Heard‘consultation tool, available to all customers, concerned citizens and professionals. 2.4. This report contains analysis of the findings from this consultation. Page | 8 APPENDIX 2 3. Methodology 3.1. It was recognised that any proposal to reduce the number of Neighbourhood Advice and Information Centres was unlikely to be contentious however for this reason it was also decided that consultation must be as comprehensive and inclusive as reasonably practicable. It was for this reason that the 2 means of consultation outlined in 2.5 (A-B) were adopted. 3.2. Consultation A (The Snapshot Survey) was undertaken via a paper based questionnaire that was provided to all persons accessing Neighbourhood Advice and Information Services at a Neighbourhood Advice and Information Centre for a period of 2 weeks. This particular consultative channel was chosen for its ability to reach a large number of direct Neighbourhood Advice and Information customers who may be affected by the proposed changes. This piece of work was limited to 2 weeks due to the resource intensive nature of the work including explaining the purpose (if required) and answering any questions asked within an extremely busy office environment. 3.3. The additional pressures on staff to collate and process these questionnaires were an additional consideration limiting the exercise to two weeks. 3.4. During this time all Neighbourhood Advice and Information customers visiting a Customer Service Centre/Neighbourhood office (identified through reception triage process to distinguish from Neighbourhood Advice Service customers) would be issued with 2 documents. The first of these documents was a consultation brief detailing the proposed changes to the service as well as the alternate options which were no longer under consideration.