The DWP’s experience in improving customer service 13 January 2010 Leigh Lewis, Permanent Secretary,

1. London School of Economics National Audit Office The DWP’s experience in improving customer service13 January 2010Leigh Lewis, Permanent Secretary,

2. The Department for Work and Pensions Our Budget around £150bn this year, mostly in pensions and benefits Our Employees over 100,000 Our Estate 2 million square metres -1,100 buildings Our contracts commercial spend of £3.5bn per year Our customers20 million people at any one time

3. The size of our task Today – and every working day – we will: • help 6,000 people find work • interview 45,000 customers as we helpthem prepare for work • provide child support for 30,000 children • process over 3,000 applications to State Pension • clear over 1,200 claims to Pension Credit • conduct over 3,000 home visits and • take over 2 million phonecalls

4. The DWP Change Programme • A response to three insights: • 40% of the people who deal with us have to deal with more than one part of our Department • our overall service to those customers is often poor and fragmented • almost half of the contacts we received were intrinsically of no value to the customer or to the Department

5. Poor customer service also costs money • In just one year we spent:- • £18 million telling customers that they had dialled the wrong number • £7 million explaining our letters • £30 million responding to customers who were simply asking when they would receive their money

6. Customer insight – what have we learnt? “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”. Bill Gates Treating customers well – delivering great service and treating them with respect Delivering the right result – helping those who can work to find jobs and those who can’t to get the right benefits Responding on time – meeting customer needs faster and keeping them in touch with progress Improving access to services –making information clearer, systems simpler and contacting us easier These principles are now framed in our customer charter

7. So what we have already achieved? We have transformed: from ‘Full Monty’ to modern Jobcentre Plus offices • from delivering State Pension by pen and post to once and done over the phone • from giros and order books to paying 98% of our customer directly into their bank accounts

8. and we now have a clear service delivery strategy ? • ‘Right door first” • helping customers to reach the right person at their first point of contact • ‘No wrong door’ • passing people who don’t succeed in doing that straight to someone who can help • ‘Right first time’ • giving customers the correct advice or outcome quickly so they don’t have to repeat information or chase progress • ‘Once and done’ • so far as possible, resolving their needs in one contact, minimising the need for follow-up action

9. How are we trying to do that? • Lean (our version of EFQM) –delivering customer service and efficiency through continuous improvement • Information Management – making better use of the information we already hold • Transforming Customer Contact – using the latest technology, such as a single DWP wide Contact Centre network, to deliver greatly improved service • Customer Transitions –helping customers move seamlessly between our services • Self service– providing more e-channels for customers who wish to use them.

10. How we are using Lean • making our processes more efficient • making better use of customer feedback • better engaging our customer-facing staff • Resulting in • Faster access to adviser interviews in JSA claims • JSA Rapid Reclaim – making it easier and quicker to re-claim benefit • Delivering pensions more quickly by reducing internal handovers by 60% • Savings of over £100m to date

11. Improving information management • We have put in place: • ‘Trailblazers’ to pilot a DWP wide enquiry service where our agents will be able to answer the most common queries in one call regardless of where they come in • ‘Tell Us Once initiative’ rolling out across Government • Improvements to how we gather, check and re-use customer data.

12. Transforming customer contact • We have put in place: • SMS piloting so that we can remind customers of appointments, interviews etc • A new TexBox ‘chatroom’ facility for deaf customers • Improvements to our customer letters –– personalising according to customer need • A consistent automatic customer greeting to all callers and rationalisation of our phone numbers • A number of virtual pilots so that we can answer calls more quickly

13. Improving customer transitions • We have developed: • An information capture tool and DWP Enquiry Service so that customers only need to tell us once about a change in their circumstances • Improvements to the notification of bereavement process so that next of kin only need to inform us once of a death

14. Facilitating self service – getting there • Benefits Adviser –online adviceon entitlement to 28 DWP benefits, pensions and credits • Contributory Jobseeker’s Allowance Online – launched in August 2009 – has already taken over 80,000 claims • Jobseeker’s Allowance Online – July 2010 –first fully automated online claims service • An online calculator – August 2010 –so customers can find out if they will be financially better off in work • State Pension Online– October 2010 –will enable up to 700,000 customers each year to use an on-line service • A Benefit Enquiry Service– November 2010 – so customers can track their claim and check entitlement online

15. What all this means for our customers • A more personalised approach • Increased ability to self serve via the channel of their choice • Quick resolution of common queries • A clear sense of the standard of service they can expect • Customers needing to tell us once only about a change in circumstances • We are seeking a reduction in avoidable contact of 50% by 2011

16. Some final conclusions • this is a long journey, where you never reach the end • but also a hugely fruitful one • it’s a good job we began it when we did • because, without it, we might not have coped with the toughest 12 months in our history

17. Working with the LSE and the NAO • National Audit review 2009 – making significant progress but work to do • We will continue to use customer insight to frame our approach • This guidance will provide a ‘sense check’ for us and a standard of good practice to work to