Proposal to Implement a Single
Eligibility Check for Unemployed
customers
Bassetlaw District and
Nottinghamshire County Council
…..And others
A R Burton – Head of Revenues and
Customers @BDC
Why Unemployed ? Why Bassetlaw DC and Nottinghamshire
CC
?
• Work together to create integrated first point of customer contact –
we have OSS , First contact
• 48 hr claim guarantee on HB/CTB
• Can link customer to NCC benefits as well as CAB but methods lead
to insufficient customer impact
• Increases in the numbers of unemployed people visiting and
contacting our One Stop Shops- Benefits caseload increasing
• Commitment to improving customer outcomes and experience,
access, customer standards, extended hours , good facilities,
Mystery shopping, CX buy in
• Strong partnership working with Gateway agencies BCAB , A1
Housing –. Organised for access
• Recognition that the way the public sector deliver services to our
citizens needs to be improved
Context
• Undertook a Circles of Need® project around worklessness
with all Nottinghamshire local authorities
• Developed an understanding of the needs of our unemployed
citizens and the services currently available to them. They are
disjointed , lead to poor satisfaction , inconsistent advice
• What if we could develop a system that explains to an
unemployed customer whats out there for them in a single
assessment to meet their needs. ICT rule based.
• Strong alignment to Total Place agenda – we are helping to
developing a whole area approach to public services leading
to better accessible services at less cost. Reducing duplication
and ensuring services actually meet customer need will
enable this
National context
“There are 290 different agencies working with
citizens who are out of work, and that in some
areas of the country there can be as many as 9
different agencies administering as much as
£250,000 on the same family, without
reference to each other.”
Sir Michael Bichard
Treasury adviser and former permanent secretary at the then Department for Education and Employment
What we found
There are 19 separate
Application Forms
Completes
MICHAEL
SEGMENT:- Newly Unemployed
GENDER:- Male
AGE GROUP:- 30-45
RELIGION:- n/a
STATUS:- Married/long term cohabiting
DEPENDENTS:- Average of 2 children
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20
20 Eligibility/
20 Entitlement
Eligibility/
20Entitlement
Eligibility/
checks
20 Entitlement
Eligibility/
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20 separate
Entitlement
checks
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20 Entitlement
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20 Entitlement
Eligibility/
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20 Entitlement
Eligibility/
checks
17 Entitlement
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checks
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Service silos
• BDC- Northgate e benefits
• NCC FSM.SUG, STG cross checked via data
sharing to determine elibility
• JCP Eligibility script which cannot be released,
JSA/IS ,HMRC?
• CAB JSA,IS, ESA, MRS , HMRC , LEGAL ADVICE
• Non system, debt, loans , child care
Customer experiences
“Can you just point
me in the right
direction? I’m happy
to put the effort in
but I don’t know
where to go””
“No-one has
asked me what I
want”
“We asked over and over
again, and did a lot of
research online but it was
all a mess. So in the end
we gave up and didn’t
bother claiming anything
as it was too much hassle”
“I really don’t feel
I’ve had very much
support at all”
“Why can’t I get all
my questions
answered by the
one person I come
to see?”
“I have no idea
where to turn to
get the help I
need”
Customer frustrations
• Having to ask for specific support as opposed to being offered all
the support that is available to me
• No idea where to turn for the support they need – a maze of
organisations and services
• Unable to determine what support I am actually eligible for
• No-one asking about my needs, circumstances or what support I
want – standardised offerings
• Having to visit multiple locations and speak to multiple people
• Having to repeat the same information over and over again – “very
frustrating that I constantly have to tell you I’m married and how
long I’ve been unemployed for etc.”
• Palmed off from pillar to post – from one organisation to another
• Hearing of services / support from my friends but not being told of
this by public sector
Customer improvements
• One person to help me out – signposting to all the services I’m entitled to
and how to get them
• A sheet of paper explaining which services I can access, how they will help
me and how I get them
• Tailored support as a result of my circumstances – I’m not the same as
everyone else
• Someone to tell me what support is available before I become made
redundant
• Simplify the language you use in leaflets and on websites
• Reuse information I have already told you
What we want to do
• Develop a rule based IT system. One that highlights/determines a
customer’s entitlement to a service based on the answers we input
• They enter what they receive already eg child benefit, which
updates follow on questions or basic details will update questions if
tyhey receive no current entitlements
• Objective is to narrow from a list of 25-40 services a list of services
the customer is entitled to based on the answers to questions the
customer provided.
Features
• The short-term pilot, must meet the
following criteria:
• ·
Web-based
• ·
Easy to use
• ·
Secure – although no data will be
captured or transferred, it is critical to
ensure that the information is not made
available or retained in anyway.
Features (2)
Web-based –use by customers on-line and also to be used by mediating BDC, NCC, JCP, CAB
·
and the Credit Union. Options for how and where the system is hosted should be offered by bidders,
identifying the cost implications, advantages and disadvantages. Pilot to run with BDC and CAB front
of house but with self serve option available
·
Easy to use – both from a perspective of the language used and also the way that information and
the layout is presented– a non-user friendly approach would probably result in subsequent telephone
calls and hence would be of no value to the agencies
•
Secure in the future (if data is going to be held).Option to save session so use of username and
password
•
Easy to maintain – such that changes to criteria can be changed without significant cost or effort.
It is not envisaged that any changes will be delivered during the 6 month duration of the pilot,
•
•
Scaleable across other areas to allow the scope to extend to include other customer segments and
hence different services. During the pilot, there will be no scale required, but again should the tool
become a longer-term option, then this would become important
•
·
·
What we will deliver
Customers
consent
Yes
Eligibility
Assessment
Customer
makes
Mediated Servicecontact
No
End of process
Customer
logs on to
council
website
Self Eligibility
Assessment
List of
services that
the customer
is eligible for
List of
services that
the customer
is eligible for
Future
Customers
consent
Customer
makes
contact
Yes
Apply for them
Eligibility
Assessment
No
End of process
List of
services that
the customer
is eligible for
No
End of process
Yes
Captured
Information is
re-used to
populate
application
forms
RIEP FUNDING
RIEP do not determine supplier
Formal RIEP project , highlight reports etc
Open mind , successful technical partner will be
the one that can deliver a solution set out in
the spec
Questions to drive the system come from PT
who will define questions through use of
process maps and scripting
What this will achieve
Much improved Customer Outcomes
•
•
Customers are much more informed of all the services that they are actually eligible for at
first point of contact – much improved customer experience and greater levels of
customer satisfaction
More personalised, tailored customer service for each customer – the customer will feel
valued during what is a particularly difficult time. Needs left unchecked can lead to
downward spiral
Significant Efficiency Savings
•
Improved use of resources by undertaking a joint eligibility check once rather than each service area
undertaking a separate eligibility check – significant efficiency savings and a reduction in avoidable
contact
•
Potential for significant efficiency savings through the migration of the single eligibility check from
face2face to the web – enabling self-eligibility checking of all the services a customer may require
will release resources to actually deliver these services rather than simply checking that a customer
is entitled to them
And ultimately…
Improving the way that support is delivered to
unemployed citizens will increase the number of
people returning to work, improving the lives of
many of our families and reducing the long term
reliance on expensive public sector
support..with YOUR help