Cut some time off that Council Tax Bill!!

With the view of having a Digital Newham, we have been putting users at the heart of our designs, enabling digital change to cater to needs, and not just out-of-the-box fancy technology that fails to deliver. Ever wondered what happens behind the scenes when you need to move in to, out of, or within Newham and what the council tax team need to know?

The Council is told about a property move over 20,000 times a year and with a growing housing population of 3% per year, Council Tax is a vital area to look for improvements to the Newham Digital experience that will impact almost every single resident — and this is before taking into account that it’s a major source of income for the council.

As part of the Council Tax and Benefits Services transformation, Digital Services, together with Rainmaker Solutions have worked closely with the council officers, managers and residents to specifically look what is needed by the council from people moving home, and get the view of users when this information is collected.

Right now, despite forms being readily available on Newham’s website to initiate service requests, officers still have to contact customers for further information and often query details given in the first place. There was a profound need for our digital capability to evolve with the ever changing character of the Newham population. Forms were not fit for purpose and quite frankly the fastest way to tell the council anything was to call in and speak to someone or simply send an email which are even more inefficient for council officers. (digital efficiency report suggests that online transactions are 20 times more cost effective than phone calls). All in all, the service was struggling to meet its target of answering all queries within 10 working days.

So as part of this ongoing research and analysis each stage of the move process was mapped out, timed and recorded. Each contact route was looked at individually and areas were identified that were non-value adding (non-beneficial steps in the process) or time consuming, particularly from the eyes of residents using the service; but also the officers carrying out the work. It was important to review the end to end journey; meaning from the moment a person gets in contact with the council, right to being issued a council tax bill/closing the case. By understanding the full picture, a cost could then be applied to all the combined activities, respective savings, improvements and quick wins to implement. This concluded that overall there was a necessity for a better web presence, removal of free text emails, better forms and improved working practices for Officers. Ultimately this paved way for Rainmaker Solutions and Digital to begin laying the foundation for a new and improved Council Tax customer experience.

Speaking to residents through user research also shed further light on areas for improvement like delayed contact, hard to understand forms, and overall why digital wasn’t their preferred method of contact. In addition to this was the creation of personas to understand the various types of people using the service and what was important to them when contacting the council tax team. The main outcomes of this was to make a change to the way information was captured by the council, making it not only easy for customers, but also keeping them informed of the stage of their enquiry along the way.

So the next time you move in, out or within Newham there is just the form for you!

This blog was co-produced by London Borough of Newham’s Digital Services team and Rainmaker Solutions, their Strategic Digital Partner.