DWP Change Programme

1. DWP Change Programme National Association of Welfare Rights Advisers – Rotherham Stephen Holt – DWP Director of Change Management 5 December 2008 Final

2. The vision of the Department • to contribute towards fair, safe and fulfilling lives, free from poverty forchildren, 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 greaterchoice, personalisation and a higher quality of service for customers where it is in their interests and those of the taxpayers.

3. Operating 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 3,000home visits; and • collect or arrange child support for over 30,000 children.

4. The 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.

5. 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.

6. Our business strategy is based on two core principles 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

7. ? Structures products/services around customer needs - accessible, efficient and based on customer insight Our 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

8. Delivery via five implementation projects • 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).

9. “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”. Bill Gates Customer insight • 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…

10. Focussing on what is important to our customers • 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.

11. Same messaging for customers – contacting call centres or Benefit delivery Centres: - consistent customer greeting; and - consistent “in-queue” and termination messages (from early 2009) Treat customers well • 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). • 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.

12. 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 result

13. What happens when a customer reports a change…..today Difficult Customer Experiences whenever they report a change 3 contacts Example over 10 million wasted contacts per year for 3 changes (address, method of payment and bereavement) 1 contact 4 contacts 5 contacts 1st line contact don’t gather all information, particularly when the customer gets more than one benefit 2 contacts Forms and Calls are made to customer to request further information. Often several times per change 6 contacts

14. What happens when a customer reports a change…..in 2009 Once and Done Customer Service Stage 1 - Information Capture Toolby end April 09 (Wrexham Pilot – most changes processed on date of receipt) Stage 2 - Single Customer Viewfor Enquiries October 09for Changes 2010

15. 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 time

16. 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. Improve access to services 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.

17. What our customers will say in 2011…

18. Barriers to providing an integrated customer 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

19. Questions?