Agenda item

Sarah Hollingworth, Transformation Lead, introduced the report advising Members that the website was a key part of the Council’s digital strategy. There was a lot of work going on behind the scenes to increase functionality and the website had two key purposes –to provide information and advice and to handle simple transactions for residents 24/7.

The Committee was advised that a lot of time and energy had been invested in changing the platform to GOSS and migrating information into the new framework. Whilst undertaking this exercise, the content had also been refreshed. It was acknowledged that local authorities were generally good at using their websites to convey statutory information, but this was not necessarily what residents wanted or needed. The revised website was more straightforward and had been aligned to the type of queries residents generally raised. For transactions, ideally the information captured would go directly through to the relevant back-office team who would process the request; however, this required a number of different systems to link up behind the scenes.

Members heard that the aim was to ensure residents had their needs met 24/7, not solely when the telephone lines were open. A more data led approach to decision making was being taken. Analysis of the type of contacts residents made to the Contact Centre enabled officers to rephrase the information on the website thereby reducing the need for people to call in; an example of this was in relation to housing repairs whereby it was found that a large proportion of calls did not result in a repair being made as the request was not the Council’s responsibility. Information on the website had been updated to set out tenant / Council responsibilities more clearly.

Councillors were informed that My Account had been part of the first wave of changes. The functionality had been created in the GOSS system and linked to Hillingdon First cards. Members heard that previously residents had needed to log in to their accounts to raise a request online but were now able to raise one without logging in. However, it was noted that residents could not track their requests if they did not submit them via their accounts.

It was confirmed that changes were now being made to make it easier for residents to navigate the website. The aim was to make the website more efficient and interactive - chat bots were to be trialled for Waste Services to answer residents’ questions quickly. A recent project in Housing reviewing the customer pathway identified that the Council received a large number of contacts from people checking that their rent payments been received. Officers were considering ways to present this information back to the resident via the website thereby reducing waiting times and anxiety.

The Committee was informed that work was underway to link the information typed in by a resident directly to the back-office databases thereby facilitating a more streamlined process which would enable efficiencies and savings around business administration. It was felt that staff would then be able to focus on and respond to queries directly which would be more rewarding work and more efficient for the resident enabling faster response times. Following requests for clarification from the Committee, it was confirmed that user groups were utilised to assist in testing the website pathways and would be used increasingly in the future. Moreover, there was an option on most webpages for residents to give feedback. Members noted that, in the past, it had been possible for housing tenants to log in to their service accounts and view what had been paid and what was outstanding. It was confirmed that it was still possible to check an outstanding balance on My Account before making a payment. It was agreed that the Transformation Lead would investigate this to establish whether a further level of detail was available and would feed back to Democratic Services.

Members observed that some residents had experienced difficulties in signing up to the new My Hillingdon Account. It was noted that 40,000 residents had successfully registered; however, the Committee was interested to know whether it was possible to ascertain how many people had been unsuccessful in doing so. It was agreed that the Transformation Lead would investigate this further and confirm with Democratic Services what percentage of those who had had an account previously had managed to re-create one (whilst noting that there would have been a number of inactive accounts).

Councillors welcomed the new website noting that it was generally much improved particularly when accessed on mobile phones. However, it was noted that a lot of information had not yet been brought through into the new site and some links were not working or linked directly to the old website. It was noted that the link for Ruislip Woods was unavailable. Also, information for young people appeared to be missing and the details of Young People’s Centres were out of date.

In response to this, Members were advised that work in relation to missing links was ongoing. In terms of young people, it was possible that some information had not yet been migrated across – possibly because the information was outdated and needed to be refreshed based on recent questions and queries. It was agreed that the Transformation Lead would explore this further and would have a look at the section on Young People’s Centres in particular. It was likely that all this information would be refreshed and reinvigorated in the near future.

The Committee observed that Members were high users of the Council’s website and enquired how Councillors could report any feedback re. broken links etc. It was confirmed that a link was available on each page of the website through which such issues could be reported to the web team. The Transformation Lead would liaise with Democratic Services to provide an example of this.

Finally, it was noted that the information on the website regarding support to Local Businesses with links to the Chamber of Commerce and other organisations appeared to be missing. The Transformation Lead agreed to investigate this further.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Transformation Lead explore whether a further level of detail was available in relation to housing tenants’ service accounts (to show what had been paid and what was outstanding) and feed back to Democratic Services;

2.    That the Transformation Lead confirm to Democratic Services the percentage of residents who had an account previously that had managed to re-create one;

3.    That the Transformation Lead liaise with Democratic Services to provide an example of a link on the website via which issues could be reported to the web team;

4.    That the Select Committee noted the development work that had been completed on the Council’s website; and

5.    That the Select Committee noted the ongoing improvements to the website and other resident contact technology currently being delivered through BID’s Digital Transformation projects.