Some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people in Brighton and Hove are excluded from council services by the focus on “digital access”, a Conservative councillor fears.
But more than two years after the first coronavirus lockdown, when the town hall doors were closed to the public, Councillor Alistair McNair wants officials to have more face-to-face contact with taxpayers.
This would help tackle the soaring number of complaints, he said, and be fairer for all, compared with the ever-greater reliance on smart phones, computers and social media.
Councillor McNair plans to ask fellow members of Brighton and Hove City Council to back his call for a better service for the digitally excluded.
He is particularly concerned for people who were old, poor, dyslexic or who had difficulties such as impaired eyesight or hearing that made it harder for them to use phones and computers.
The councillor, who represents Patcham ward, is due to propose a motion at the meeting of the full council on Thursday (21 July).
His motion is included in the meeting papers and said: “This council recognises and appreciates that the pandemic has been an unprecedented challenge for staff, notes that there has been a 55 per cent increase in complaints regarding customer service, believes that a satisfaction rate of 57 per cent for transactional council services is disappointing (and) believes that customer satisfaction will increase if there is a focus on in-person delivery.”
It also said that “returning to and focusing on an in-person service, rather than a service focused on improving digital access and social media, will help to ensure that the most vulnerable residents, including often the poorest, the elderly, the dyslexic, and the hard of hearing, many of whom cannot use email or the phone easily, can receive the same level of care as other residents”.
Councillor McNair called for key services – such as housing, parking, libraries, benefits, bereavement, financial advice and rubbish and recycling – to provide a fully accessible in-person service from 9am to 5pm five days a week from the start of September.
He also called for a “contact rate” of 15 per cent – last seen in 2015 – to be achieved by the start of next year, compared with letter, email, phone and online, noting that the contact rate was 0 per cent at the start of this year.
Fellow Conservative councillor Anne Meadows raised concerns at the council’s Housing Committee met last month after an officer told her that there were no face-to-face meetings.
She told the committee that she had phoned on behalf of a vulnerable resident who needed an in-person appointment, only to be told by an officer that it was not possible.
At the Housing Committee meeting, one of the council’s most senior officials, Rachel Sharpe, said that face-to-face appointments were possible.
Councillor Meadows has since met Ms Sharpe and said: “I had a meeting with Rachel Sharpe and explained it again, giving the officer’s name but was told, yes, they do make appointments.
“It’s not really helpful, I feel, as other residents have apparently tried to make a visit by appointment but have been brushed off.”
The council said: “Our Hove and Brighton customer service centres are open Monday to Friday from 9am to 4.30pm.
“They provide support for people who need help in accessing council services or who need a computer or phone to do so.
“There is free internet access, computers, scanners and telephones for customers to use to contact or transact with the council.
“Staff are on hand to help people use these facilities. They can also advise on how best to contact particular council services either online or over the phone.
“Where it is not possible for services to fulfil customer need either online or via telephone, face-to-face appointments are being provided.”
The full council meeting is due to start at 4.30pm on Thursday and is scheduled to be webcast on the council’s website.
Many of the digital services do not work properly either. The council has admitted this for parking permits, but there are many others. Even when you point out a fault, there is little interest to fix it.
Pre-pandemic I ordered a larger bin online using their web forms. Provided all the information showing that I was entitled to one. The council then posted (yes posted!) the same form to be (but blank) for me to fill in again. I asked why. They said a signature was needed. So the web form would never work! After 6 months, and a couple of formal complaints, the bin finally arrived.
Digital systems need testing and issues found resolving. They also need a backup – both for when they go wrong and when they are not usable by the customer. The council fails on all counts for this. It seems to get something you need to make a formal complaint or two, get councillors involved, or both. And that is a sign of a failed system. Not just in one department but many. Not just because of covid (or anything else) as pre-dates. We deserve better, much better.
Here Here!
if you add up the true cost of homelessness its its quite shocking, charities and lawyers getting a large income to cover the cost of advocacy for the homeless just to get the council to take a duty and house.
It used to be you presented at the council as homeless, all the various forms and applications are taken, there and then, various documentation taken “if they do not have” still assist and follow up that part later, do all the income assessments and provide an answer yes or no.
Now its call this number and wait and wait and wait, or you are sent to a computer, asked over a period of weeks to provide the documentation, its delays and puts people off, the longer they draw out the process and make it hard, the more people stay hidden homeless.
The council are lying about appointments, i have never been able to get one for a client.
I have proof of this.
Frontline staff want to be fully back to face-to-face services, we need skilled housing options officers working from barts house.
Not remotely.
They should be back to work fully on August 1st.
We taxpayers are still paying for their long, long holiday. It is a disgrace.
WFH is not a holiday. I get this a fair amount at my work and it’s infuriating. I’m not council, but I am public sector and our productivity has shot up since going remote. We get stuff done faster, our record keeping is better, and the service is definitely more accessible (to people with sensory issues, to people that aren’t available to visit during office hours, etc.). And, without wishing to sound defensive, we work really hard!
To be fair, if the council online systems aren’t fit for purpose that’s a separate problem.
You are right. Employment should be judged by output, rather than input. Sitting at a desk in an office doesn’t mean that you are working – just that you are sitting there!
The problem at Brighton Council is that the output isn’t there. Performance levels across the boards have plummeted. There was more oversight, management and strategy initially, and covid has made this worse (and provided more excuses!).
Individual staff seem to work hard, but the overall output is far from the sum of the parts. Different departments don’t work together – and often work against each other. Within departments, work isn’t coordinated. Lessons are never learnt (despite media claims that they will be). Staff do not face consequences for poor performance or gross errors.
Senior management, which remains as councillors change, seem to be the key issue. Lack of strategy, ownership and team development.
The systems issues are a symptom, but the causes are much deeper…
Well I have to say, I have found when advocating for homeless that the productivity question has to be queried in regards to housing. I would say like 90% of the time none of the required admin on their part are complete, most are not provided the relevant duties, almost all do not have a housing action plan when I ask, this is meant to be done with the client. They often dont have other stuff on record, i mean emails go into junk boxes!!
Many never get read or replied too.
That is not productive, when advocates are now more and more involved, we chase, councillors involved, senior officers.
Its all actually one big joke.
Campaigners, those with lived experience, academics, health professionals and councillors all want proper one stop hubs.
What happened to first contact resolution?
Taking a homeless application, doing all the paperwork there and then, following up on other work.
I get some are chaotic, thats because the system when it was front line is the same as it is digital, gatekeeping and not actually helping solve the need.
Look at the city and the state of it all, the main cause is the mismanagement in the housing department which has unleashed record numbers of fucked up individuals living in unsupported accommodations left to rot and die many, that poverty and isolation is creating a really dark side of exploitation, a lot of those in the worst managed private sector hostel’s are seriously suffering with addiction and health issues.
Going digital is not going to help these people of this system, / city. It will put pressure on other services like the police, go surgeries, ambulance and prison system as people are in and out in and out, stuck.
Its all broken, but there are a lot of good people who do help and want to fix, reform. It has to start with Housing. Severe changes are needed and changing the top director when the ones below who live though dozens stay and have a huge amount of clout and power.
Id like to know how the dyslexic and those who cannot read or write deal with this digital system.
In the few years this has happened, 60 people have died in homelessness accommodation and I am calling for a report, as this would also be one of the questions. They didn’t die of covid that we do know.
This is simply about providing a proper service.
We can order our groceries online nowadays but that is not compulsory and going to a shop is what so many of us would still prefer. (During the pandemic the daily shop visit for groceries was often the only social interaction I had.)
If you want a pint of milk for tea in the morning then you don’t order that online and, similarly, when we need parking vouchers for visitors we don’t want all the hassle of applying online with photographed evidence of who we are – and then a wait of several days before the vouchers actually arrive in the post.
Get that City Hall front desk open! – both for the obvious customer base and for the workers who would prefer to be back working in an office setting.
Working from home might work for some, but not for everyone.
Above all, local Council services seem to be at an all time low, and so something needs to change.
Are our councillors still too busy in their ideological Zoom meeting bubble to notice the city is in a complete mess? Cleaning, weeding, public transport, and social care all remain a thing.
Well said, Billy. that sums it up perfectly.
Meanwhile, although Covid is still with us, the Council staff are ignoring the fact that the last lockdown ended a long time ago. Time to get up in the morning and go to work and deal with the problems of the frustrated public face to face, not leaving them having to sort them out online, and having to wait for several days as a response.
Well this is surprising as I was told, as an autistic person who struggles with phone calls, seeking URGENT benefit assistance that was provided to me on two different instances over the years … Then called a sister service to be told she would call me back the same day and try to get me an in face appointment, and never heard from her again. Then 3 weeks later the original service calls me and refers me to a different benefit advice service,also not in person. Wtf is going on? How do I complain? Where do I upload the recorded conversations that’s an app on my phone automatically records?