Mystery Shopping
What should I buy
that for?
Overview
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
What is mystery shopping?
Does it work?
What do the people get out of it?
What does the organisation get from it?
Would we do it again?
What did we learn?
Was it value for resources?
The Homelessness Networks view?
Background
• The Local Authority Homelessness Network received funding
from the Welsh Assembly Government to develop our
understanding of how it feels to be homeless.
• In order to improve our understanding it was agreed to
undertake a mystery shopping exercise. To make it valuable we
should work with people who had previously experienced
homelessness to undertake the exercise.
• The network approached United Welsh HA, who successfully
secured volunteers who were willing to work with us and visit
local authorities from across Wales.
Time Banking
• To give the exercise value we used the
United Welsh time Banking scheme
• What is time banking?
• How did it work practically?
• Why did we do this?
• Did it aid the exercise?
The Aim
• This project sought to assess the quality of service that people
presenting as homeless experience when they approach local
authorities.
• The housing offices that were visited were assessed in the
following areas:
• Staff attitude and sensitivity – are staff members friendly,
encouraging and supportive? Do they give their name and job
title?
• Decision-making – are mystery shoppers told about decisions
that are made, and are they offered good advice and support for
what they need to do next?
• Help and advice – are mystery shoppers given advice in a
sensitive manner that ensures they understood all of it?
The Aim
• General care and support needs – do mystery shoppers receive
friendly and encouraging support and assistance?
• Emergency accommodation – are mystery shoppers offered
emergency temporary accommodation (especially when this is
most appropriate, such as in cases of domestic violence)?
• Returning home – do staff members explore the possibility of
mystery shoppers returning home?
• Mystery shoppers also recorded the time they had to wait to see
a member of staff and gave feedback on their general
impressions of the service they received.
The Outsiders
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Who are they?
Where did they come from?
What did they do?
How involved where they?
Did they buy into it?
Did they need training?
Did it help them?
There Case Studies
• 1 Domestic violence female:
A 17 year old who is homeless because she is fleeing domestic
violence. Moved into the area two years before with abusive
partner. Has a heroin addiction and is taking methadone. Is
unable to return to her mother’s house in Barry because she has
four brothers and there is no room for her in the family home.
• 2 Ex-offender, male
A homeless 18 year old who has just left under-21 prison in
Bridgend. He is originally from Cardiff but his father lives in the
area he is presenting in and he wants to make a new start after
coming out of prison.There is no room in his father’s house for
him. No addictions or health issues.
The Case Studies
• 3 Rent arrears eviction, female:
A 23 year old woman who has been evicted from her council flat. This was her
first tenancy and she got confused and behind with the rent. Although she is
staying with a friend she cannot stay there much longer because it is too
crowded. She is a care leaver and has nowhere else to go. No addictions or
health issues.
• 4 Young person, female:
An 18 year old who had moved abroad with her parents but her mother’s partner
was violent and she had to leave and returned to Wales. Has been staying with
a friend but cannot stay there forever. No addictions or health issues.
• 5 Domestic violence male:
A 20 year old man who is fleeing domestic violence from a gay partner and
cannot return home. No addictions or health issues.
The visits
•
•
•
•
•
•
11 Local Authorities
All of Wales Covered
12 days given up
Support Workers on Hand
Good hotels and meals provided
Splitting Visits
The respect that was built!
•
•
•
•
•
Having to re-visit a previous experience in your life and one that would not have
happy memories cannot be easy. The young people we worked with, not only
did this, but did it on a number of occasions across Wales.
They dedicated two days to being trained so they knew what to expect and how
to handle things if things went wrong. This may not sound that hard, but when
you have methadone scripts to pick up and Job Centre interviews to rearrange it
shows a real commitment
They then visited twelve LA’s across Wales. Bravely entering an office when
they knew they may be ‘found out’. They acted professionally. Went through the
interviewing process. Fed back to support workers who were waiting for them
outside and discussed their experiences in depth with the person who has taken
their findings and written the report.
The report has been launched and the findings and recommendations contained
in it have had a genuine impact on how homelessness services are delivered in
the future. This is due to the hard work and commitment of these young people.
They discussed their experiences with the managers of services. This, once
again, shows a real commitment to changing how things are delivered. It is only
sometimes through hearing these stories, rather than simply reading a report,
that people are compelled to act.
The News Headlines
•
•
•
•
•
•
50% of visits did not fully meet the persons needs
Inconsistent responses
Four members of staff unfriendly and sympathetic
50% of people told about decisions
40% thought the service was poor
Sex of interviewer not discussed with those feeling domestic
violence
• That it was not always about accommodation
• Moving back home hardly ever discussed
• That one shopper attended the homelessness network
The changes
• Through a series of regional seminars, engaged all LA's to
develop an action plan on how they are going to improve and
develope their services for young homeless people (aged 16 17) in partnership with Social Services
• 2 consultants will be spending 2 days with 6 local authorities to
help implement their plans and ensure that outcomes for
homeless young people are met.
• Neighbouring authorities will also be able to access part of this
training to share good practice and in turn help drive
improvement in all LA’s in Wales.
• Chris Price and Kelly Davies (WAG) will also be working with
the LA's that are not receiving the direct 2 day support to ensure
they are progressing with their action plans.
The Changes
• We have also been working with Jan Pickles (WAG –
Community Safety) to improve our response to those fleeing DA
• Domestic abuse coordinators will be delivering training to front
line housing options/homelessness staff across Wales, in
relation to domestic abuse, MARAC and the DASH toolkit. This
will help improve the front line response.
• This training is already being set up in Gwent and North Wales
and will be cascaded to other areas in due course.
• WAG are also considering, with the help of S180 funding
available from April, other projects / training that could be
developed to help improve our services.
• And all of this by the time the report was released
The Value/ Cost
•
•
•
•
For the people
For the L/A
For United Welsh
For future Services
•
•
•
•
For the people
For the L/A
For United Welsh
For future services
The Pit Falls
•
•
•
•
•
Aim high with starting numbers
Be entirely clear on what you want to achieve
Set times when visiting places
Offer support outside of the visits
Expect high resources to be used for a short period
The Final Note
• For all the good and bad experiences that I had on
this trip, I really enjoyed myself. It’s not only about
assessing a service and making it better, it’s about
meeting new people, enjoying the experiences you
have together, talking freely and making friends. So
on behalf of the Mystery shopper team I would like to
thank the people who let me have this opportunity
and the team leaders for supporting us all the way
thank you,
• Gabby Mystery Shopper