Decision Maker: Cabinet

Outcome: Recommendations Approved

Is Key Decision?: No

Is Callable In?: No

Date of Decision: April 1, 2025

Purpose:

Content: RESOLVED:  Cabinet approved the Resident Access Strategy 2024-2029 at Appendix A.   REASONS RESOLVED: 1.     To set out a clear vision for the development of improved and more accessible channels of contact. 2.     To provide a unified structure for how services develop their customer offer making full use of resident feedback, technological developments and predicted changes in consumer behaviour and expectations. 3.     To make clear to residents the resources available to them to find information and advice and to access services in ways that meet their needs, at the time they need us most, with a focus on solutions. 4.     The strategy is an important part of the Council’s One West Northamptonshire plan and in particular our commitment to act as an efficient and effective organisation facilitating the delivery of our priorities and especially how we support our vulnerable residents to live well and thrive. 5.     As such this resident access strategy brings together the principles of: • Think Family (considering all aspects of a person’s life, not just their immediate request for a specific service), • Making Every Contact Count (using every opportunity to intervene and prevent needs from getting worse), and • Human-centred Design (organising services and information in ways which mirror life events and circumstances, rather than the structure of our services and organisation).   ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS: ·       Option 1: Focus resources into the traditional contact centre model of delivering services, with a standard offer of 9-5, Monday to Friday, and using the corporate website as a source of information. ·       Option 2: Move to maximise the use of automation and artificial intelligence to divert as much contact as possible towards self-service and releasing resources by removing the human element of the interaction whenever appropriate. ·       Option 3: Develop a mixed offer which builds on the existing resources, the learning from residents so far and the opportunities available to us. This will see us continuing to diversify our offer, with more options for self-service online, with smart forms which guide the customer towards the correct information and provide them with updates on their applications, more automated solutions for customers who are happy to receive links to information and forms to their mobile phone, or pre-recorded information about specific issues, webchat available across a wider time period, and additional training for our advisors to enhance the depth of advice and resolution they can achieve at the first point of contact.