Southwark delivers single contact point for citizens

"One Touch Gov" helps Southwark residents benefit from full range of services and benefits

One Touch Gov helps spare citizens avoidable contact with the council

Southwark Council has implemented "One Touch Gov", a single point of contact for citizens, which stops citizens from being passed around separate departments to resolve queries and requests.

One Touch Gov, from business transformation group Vangent, uses technology from software supplier Adobe that pulls together information from a council-wide master database, turning back office data into intelligent information.

It allows the council to deal more sensitively with life changing events, such as births, deaths, or sudden disability, so that the citizen does not need to keep repeating the information.

When a new Southwark resident calls the council's callcentre for the first time, the customer service representative accesses a clear picture of all services relevant to that individual, and can alert them to any additional services they may require.

We wanted to totally reshape the customer experience, using a system that allowed us to be more intelligent, said Nick Stanton, leader of the council.

"We are grimly determined that the first time you ring the council after moving to Southwark, we will tell you, while you're on the phone, that we can offer you a whole host of other services,'" he said.

"And we'll know that someone in a third floor flat doesn't need garden waste services, or that a mother on housing benefits probably needs free school meals for her kids."

The contact point covers over 100 public services, allowing residents to set up multiple services in one call, from parking permits to registering on the electoral role. Eight hundred citizens a month have opted for the service and the council says its customer satisfaction ratings have improved significantly.

"We're a massive social landlord and is word is now out that it might be worth ringing the council about repairs," said Stanton.

"And we've saved by having a more systematic repairs system because we're not having to pay huge overtime rates for emergencies."

The system has improved the take up of council services and freed up resources, according to Dominic Cain, client services director at Southwark.

"Since the implementation of One Touch Gov, more than 5,000 residents who contacted the council about one service then opted to benefit from two or more additional services," he said.

"Not only does this reduce the need for multiple contacts, which is frustrating for residents, but it also frees up valuable resource to help meet service demands elsewhere."