The Operational Improvement Plan
Q. What is the Operational Improvement Plan?
A. We launched the Operational Improvement Plan in February 2006. Over three years additional resources will be invested in the Division in order to radically improve the service we provide to our clients.
The plan, which will last for three years, is designed to help us fundamentally change the way we work, making us focus on the things that matter most to our clients. It is set out under four headings:
- Getting it right - gathering information and assessing applications
- Keeping it right - active case management
- Putting it right - enforcing responsibilities; and
- Getting the best from the organisation.
Q. What are you actually doing to improve things?
A. The initial phase of the Operational Improvement Plan focused on the organisational and operational restructuring of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division and the training of our people to increase capacity and capability.
In 2007/08 we will be delivering the second year of the plan. We will continue to embed the changes to the way our organisation is structured. A number of real and lasting benefits will also be visible from Spring 2007. These include:
Getting it right
- improved client communications through better inbound and outbound telephony systems and simplified leaflets, forms and letters.
Keeping it right
- improving our complaints handling process
- a campaign, launching in the summer of 2007, to help tackle the problem of non-compliant non-resident parents - parents who should pay child maintenance, but won't. The campaign will highlight our enforcement powers and how we will increasingly use them against those who evade their responsibilities.
Putting it right
- the collection of historic debt, both by our own people and through working with specialist debt-collection agencies
- improvements to our computer system which will boost productivity, aid our debt and legal enforcement activities and increase levels of case compliance.
Getting the best from the organisation
- a revised management information service to support managers in delivering on-going service improvements
- stronger planning and prioritisation, through more effective risk management
- a re-designed operating model, with an upgraded computer system to improve efficiency
- improvements to our computer system which will help us to:
- become more productive
- sort out problems with cases which cannot currently be progressed
- reduce the number of cases being dealt with clerically
- improve financial accounting
- manage payments more effectively for clients.
|
