Agenda item

Sarah McCall, Performance Officer, presented the submitted report which summarised RBT’s performance against contractual measures and key service delivery issues for November, 2009, across the areas of Customer Access, Human Resources and Payroll, ICT, Procurement and Revenue and Benefits.

Key points for this period included:-

Customer Access

-              All performance targets

-              Average waiting time for face-to-face customers had significantly improved – 90% of customers being seen within 10 minutes

-              Revenues and Benefits customer contact remained poor – 31% of customers abandoning their telephone call.  TSP Team requested specific performance measures relating to the Process Review to ensure that this level of performance was satisfactorily addressed

-              4 complaints received in November, all relating to Revenues and Benefits Service.  3 upheld and 1 inconclusive

-              RBT currently developing options for the staffing of Aston Joint Service Centre and for incorporating cashiers within the wider customer services network

Human Resources and Payroll

-              All performance targets achieved apart from HRO2 (Accuracy of Payment) – 98.43% against a target of 99.5%.  Understood to be due to a manual processing error and as a consequence 214 employees did not receive subsistence payments.  These were minimal amounts in most cases and any affected employees who requested it were given cheque payments.  Additional safeguards have been introduced to prevent a recurrence

-              External audit of teachers pension return completed on 26^th November, 2009 and submitted to Capita by the statutory deadline

-              Version 8.1 Yourself went live on 30^th November, 2009

-              Preparation commenced for the early production of payrolls ahead of the Christmas holiday closure

-              Version 9 Yourself due in February, 2010 including a mileage re-write and further organisation chart views

-              Work Package 1 Transformation projects successfully drawing to a close with only 2 projects outstanding – timesheet automation and automation of establishment records

ICT

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Over 100 VOIP handsets deployed to Norfolk and Bailey Houses to facilitate the agile working of staff decanted from Crinoline House

-              RBT restructured the ICT Section with 2 sections “Implementation” (focus on project work) and “Live” (responsible for the business as usual, day-to-day IT operations)

-              Government Connect (GC) e-mail facility went live which allowed the Council to send and receive data securely to other organisations connected to the GC network including the NHS, Police, Central government and other Councils

Procurement

-              All performance targets achieved

-              Former BVP18 achieved 95.58% in November, 2009, an improvement on 2008.  Average performance to date stood at 94.22%

-              Procurement savings for the period to the end of October, 2009, were £407,000

-              Council had been approved as signatories to the Government’s Prompt Payment Code which involved references from local suppliers

Revenues and Benefits

-              Council Tax Collection Rate 74.38% at the end of November, 2009, 0.23% lower than the same point in 2008

-              Overtime continued to be worked and, together with the strict recovery timetable, hoped that any shortfall in collection, compared with the previous year, would be addressed by the end of March, 2010

-              The target for 2009/10 continued to be a Council Tax Collection Rate which placed Rotherham in the upper performance quartile for Metropolitan District Councils with a minimum collection level of 97.0%

-              Average number of days taken to action a Council Tax Change of Circumstance was 12.45 days, below the 14 days target and significantly better than the last reported figure

-              As at November, 2009 69.01% people paid their Council Tax by direct debit.  The comparative point in 2008/09 was 68.59%

-              NNDR collection rate was 78.76% at the end of November, 2009, 0.07% down on the same point in 2008.  The figure was adjusted to incorporate the affect of the NNDR Deferral Scheme but also included over £280,000 in advance payments

-              As at the end of November, 2009, there were 329 live cases on the NNDR Deferral Scheme, allowing deferral of £465,298.70

-              The average time taken to process HB/CTB New Claims and Change Events continued to be closely monitored.  As at 22^nd November, 2009, the figure was 12.51 days, a slight increase from the 12.08 days reported previously

-              Average time taken to process HB/CTB New Claims and change Events continued to be a cause of concern.  As at 25^th October, 2009, it was 12.08 days

Resolved:-  (1)  That RBT’s performance against contractual measures and key service delivery issues for November, 2009, be noted.

(2)  That an update on the Revenues and Benefits Business Process Review be given at the next meeting.