Borough Council achieves excellence award for putting customers first

Published: Friday, 26 January 2024

Thanks to its ‘commitment to putting customers at the heart of service delivery’ Oadby & Wigston Borough Council (OWBC) has landed the Customer Service Excellence award for the fourth consecutive year.

Introduced by the Cabinet Office, the externally-assessed award represents a national gold standard, designed to recognise organisations that provide excellent customer service and strive for continuous improvement.

One of the criteria the award assesses is how customer insight informs policy, and OWBC was commended for how its analysis of the customer experience and an embedded ‘survey mentality’ led to positive improvements for customers in 2023.

These included the opening of a reception point at the Brocks Hill Council Offices following consultation with residents identifying a need for face-to-face contact, upskilling the Customer Services team to be able to resolve more enquiries at the first point of contact, and reducing processing times.

The Customer Services team was also highlighted for achieving a 99% Customer Satisfaction rating from feedback surveys, ahead of the target of over 90% and beating last year’s score of 97%.

Cllr Samia Haq, Leader of OWBC, said: “Customer Service Excellence is something which runs through the heart of our organisation, and I’m very proud that we have achieved this award in recognition of that for the fourth time.

“This past year has seen some big improvements for our customers, particularly around the expansion of our face-to-face offer with the success of our new reception point, and we are pleased with all the excellent feedback we have had not just from the award, but more importantly from our residents.

“As well as recognising the work we have already done, each yearly assessment also provides us with valuable guidance on how we can drive further improvement while continuing to ensure that local needs are our top priority when designing our offer.”

The report also went on to praise OWBC’s corporate commitment to customers, noting how ‘Putting Customers First’ is embedded throughout the organisation’s values, objectives and Customer Experience Strategy ensuring that it’s something for which all members of staff are accountable.

To retain the Customer Service Excellence award each year OWBC must not only maintain previous customer service standards from across 57 different criteria, but prove it has surpassed them.