Brighton and Hove Labour Council to launch strategy to improve customer services

Brighton & Hove City Council’s Strategy, Finance and City Regeneration (SFCR) committee will meet next Thursday, 7 December, where they will consider a new customer experience strategy aimed at improving customer services for everyone who interacts with the council.

Being a listening Council was a key manifesto pledge of Brighton & Hove Labour. Since taking control of the administration in May, customer service and the customer experience has been a high priority for the administration and detailed in the Council Plan.

The proposed customer experience strategy being considered by SFCR committee next week sets out the council’s new approach and how it will be achieved. The strategy vision is ‘Getting things right first time, every time’.

Councillor Jilly Stevens, lead councillor on customer experience, said: “We know that over the years, residents have had mixed experience when they contact the council. In our manifesto, we promised to change this and have made customer service a priority.

“We are pleased to now be launching our customer experience strategy, which will drive improvement of the customer experience and aim to improve customer satisfaction with our council. Our vision is ‘Getting things right first time, every time’.

“For most residents our frontline customer services team are the most important people at the council, they are the ones they talk to – by email, on the phone or in person. It is vital they have the skills and experience and tools to be able to give customers clear information, whatever their query.

“The council delivers a huge range of services which can often be confusing. It is our job to explain and guide customers to the people who can help them, whatever the issue.

“Most of our customer help is going to be delivered digitally in the future. This is what people want. So we will make sure that our digital offering is the best it can be. This means it not only has to be user-friendly but that we make sure people know where to find it and how to use it.

“At the same time, we are determined to cater for those who are not able to access digital services. We will help those who can, to learn, but will provide face to face support for those who genuinely need help in a different format because they can’t access our services without it.

“At the heart of our customer service, I believe that we must treat everyone as we would want our family and friends, the people we care about, to be treated.”