Recognition for Inland
Revenue continuous improvement in Excellent Customer Service
21 January 2003
Fourteen offices have achieved
the Charter Mark award this year. One for a record 3rd time and four for a 2nd
time. The offices are from all areas of the UK and represent the many and varied
businesses of the Inland Revenue.
These successes are similar in number to the previous year when we also won
14 awards.
This year’s winners are:
Accounts Office (Cumbernauld, East Kilbride and Newcastle) 3rd
time winner
Cornwall & Plymouth Area
Enforcement Office Scotland 2nd time winner
Oxford & Buckinghamshire Area
Scotland North Area
Scotland West Area
South London Area
Surrey and North Hants Area
Sussex Area
Valuation Office Agency – South Wales Group 2nd time winner
Valuation Office Agency – London City Group
Valuation Office Agency – Manchester Group 2nd time winner
Valuation Office Agency – Newcastle Group
Valuation Office Agency – South West (England) Group 2nd time
winner
Nick Montagu, Chairman
of the Board of Inland Revenue said:
“I am delighted that we have such a good number of winners
again this year and congratulate them all. They can take pride in
having demonstrated true excellence in public service, and it is
tremendous that the awards recognise this. Charter Marks are given
for continuous improvement, and more stringent standards are set
each time an office applies to renew its award. Winning any award
is an achievement: winning for a second or third time shows real
success in building on that achievement.”
Details
- Accounts Office
(Cumbernauld, East Kilbride and Newcastle) - 3rd time winners. Charter
Mark first awarded in 1996, second award 1999.
Accounts Office is a large organisation serving many different groups of customers
in an ever changing environment. The work is carried out on three separate
sites, with the core functions based at Cumbernauld. The work at Cumbernauld
commenced in 1978 and the Telephone Debt Pursuit work carried out firstly
at East Kilbride since 1999 was introduced to the Accounts Office in April
2001 and became the Receivables Telephone Centre (RTC). A unit, responsible
for banking National Insurance payments joined the Accounts Office in April
2001. In the year ended 31st march 2002, they employed 1194 staff; had an
operating budget of 33 million; banked and accounted for £98 thousand
million; dealt with 441 thousand items of correspondence; and handled 1.6
million incoming telephone calls.
- Cornwall &
Plymouth Area - In April 2001 they became the largest Area in Southern
England geographically, with over 80 miles separating Plymouth and Penzance.
Locations at Plymouth Apex, Plymouth West Point, Launceston, Truro, Redruth,
St Austell and Penzance became the Cornwall and Plymouth Area. They have a
comprehensive programme of local initiatives which included distributing information
brochures to over 200 public community places, holding regular tax surgeries
in out lying areas and plans are in place to visit shopping centres and large
super markets.
- Enforcement Section
Scotland - Second time winners, Charter Mark first awarded in 1999.
Enforcement Section Scotland is part of Inland Revenue Receivables Management
Service. The office, which has a staff of 36, is situated in the centre of
Edinburgh. Their main business aim is to recover late payments and returns,
at a cost that offers best possible value for money. Their customers are people
and businesses in Scotland where local recovery action has proved unsuccessful.
- Oxford &
Buckinghamshire Area - The Area consists of five offices,
Aylesbury, Banbury, High Wycombe, Milton Keynes, and Oxford, which is
the nominated Area Office. Their customers come from a diverse range
of financial and social groups which include:
37,962 Incorporated companies, clubs and societies who are within the
scope of Corporation Tax.
18,200 employers, businesses and organisations employing from one
to thousands of employees.
140,000 customers within Self Assessment.
238,000 customers who are employees.
Staff are encouraged to take the National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) level
3 in Customer Service.
- Scotland North Area - Scotland North is one
of 7 Areas in Inland Revenue Scotland. Their Area consists of
5 offices in very different geographical locations spread over
an area larger than Belgium. These are Aberdeen, Buckie, Inverness,
Peterhead and Wick. Its' 285 members of staff are responsible
for 77,640 individual customers, 17,100 companies and 18,363 employers
in a geographic area of almost 60,000 square miles. Within the
Area they have 2 large Enquiry Centres, Inverness and Aberdeen.
The Area runs the Scottish Share Fishermen's Deduction Scheme.
This has proved highly successful with more fishermen now complying
with their tax obligations.
- Scotland West
Area -
The Scotland West Area employs around 362 permanent staff responsible for
the tax affairs of approximately 78,000 taxpayers and deals with almost 60,000
face-to-face enquiries a year. It is one of seven Areas, which make up Inland
Revenue Scotland. There are five geographical areas (including Scotland West)
and two Areas, which deal specifically with Pay As You Earn (PAYE), work.
Scotland West are based in eight offices and cover approximately 7,600 square
miles of western Scotland. They have offices in Dumfries, Ayr, Irvine, Rothesay,
Dunoon, Dumbarton, Greenock and Glasgow. The Area was formed in April 2001.
They set up an Area Consultation Panel with members from professional bodies
and other representative organisations and use their feedback to shape the
customer service they provide.
- South London
Area - South London Area (SLA) is part of Inland Revenue London.
The new office came into existence on 11 December 2000. SLA has four locations
in Croydon, Bromley, Redhill and Sutton together with Points Of Presences'
in Catford and Thornton Heath. There are 403 staff covering an area of some
300 square miles. Their customers include the largest concentration of small
businesses in the country comprising 95,000 unincorporated and 20,000 incorporated
businesses. They are also responsible for 30,000 employers and a large diverse
residential population. They have developed a very effective partnership with
the London Borough of Lewisham involving participation in their Tellytalk
video conferencing system which enables customers to access face to face help
from remote locations. This is of clear benefit to those for whom cost is
a concern.
- Surrey &
North Hants Area - Surrey and North Hants Area is one of 14 geographical
management units which form Inland Revenue Southern England. The Area was
created in April 2001 by the merger of 6 offices situated at Woking, Farnham,
Basingstoke, Staines, Walton on Thames and Epsom. They also incorporate a
stand-alone Enquiry Centre situated in Guildford. The 527 members of staff
have responsibility for customers whose tax affairs fall within the following
categories:
Self Assessment
-- 123064
Pay as you earn -- 141268
Employers -- 16526
They have pro-actively looked to support their users by asking them to highlight
ways in which we can help to improve the environment in which they work with
them.
- Sussex Area - In June 2002, the offices of
Brighton, Worthing and Lewes were merged with the offices in Hastings,
Crawley, Horsham, Haywards Heath and Chichester to form the Sussex
Area. In addition, the Area took in two remote Enquiry Centres
based in Bognor Regis and Eastbourne. The geographical area covered
by Sussex Area amounts to 1750 square miles, stretching 70 miles
along the coast and 25 miles inland. It is one of the larger Areas
in Southern England, employing 797 staff on ten sites throughout
Sussex. They held "special" events, such as "Subbie
Saturday" - for customers involved with the Construction
Industry Scheme
- Valuation Office
Agency - South Wales Group has offices in Cardiff, Carmarthen, Merthyr
Tydfil, Newport and Swansea. It has 135 staff with responsibility for maintaining
the rating and council tax lists for some 71, 000 non-domestic and 968, 000
domestic properties.
Assessors were impressed
with the Group and found no areas where there was scope for making significant
improvements. The Group was also praised for its innovative use of information
technology - in relation to service delivery - and for its major focus on
customer satisfaction.
- Valuation Office
Agency
- London City Group has offices in the City of London and Tower Hamlets. It
has 108 staff with responsibility for maintaining the rating and council tax
lists for some 55, 000 non-domestic and 355, 000 domestic properties.
The team was praised
for its hard work in developing a strong working relationship with its five
local authorities. The Group also focused on technology to help transfer data
between the local councils. This helped reduce processing times quite considerably,
which left more time to focus on customers.
- Valuation Office
Agency - Manchester Group is made up of offices in Manchester and
Stockport. The Group has 152 staff responsible for maintaining the rating
and council tax lists for some 92, 000 non-domestic and 1.1 million domestic
properties. Staff were praised for providing an exceptionally high quality
service to customers and for their commitment to continuous improvement. The
assessors also noted the close working relationship the Group developed with
its ten local authorities.
- Valuation Office
Agency
- Newcastle Group has offices in Newcastle, Alnwick, Durham and Teesside.
It has 130 staff with responsibility for maintaining the rating and council
tax lists for around 73, 000 non-domestic and 1.14 million domestic properties.
Assessors were extremely impressed by the level of enthusiasm shown by staff
to become more customer focused. They have developed a close working relationship
with the twenty three local authorities in their area. There is also a clear
commitment to putting things right. Guidance on what constitutes both formal
and informal complaints is provided to all staff together with details of
how these should be dealt with. The Group log and analyse complaints and suggestions
and take action to improve services in response to the comments received.
- Valuation Office
Agency - South West Group is made up of offices in Exeter, Barnstaple,
Bournemouth, Dorchester, Plymouth, St Austell and Taunton. It has 190 staff
with responsibility for keeping the rating and council tax lists up to date
for some 108,000 non-domestic and 1.25 million domestic properties. They also
work closely with thirty local authorities.
The Group managed
to settle over nine thousand business rates appeals relating to the foot and
mouth epidemic, whilst minimizing disruptions to other customers. As a result
they were praised for providing a high level of customer service and for also
putting forward a very strong application across all Charter Mark assessment
criteria.
Notes For Editors
- Charter Mark is an integral
part of the Modernising Government programme. It is the Government's award
scheme for excellent service to the customer - for public services that go
that extra mile.
- To win a Charter Mark,
organisations must demonstrate that they meet ten tough criteria
· Set standards of service
· Be open and provide full information
· Consult and involve
· Encourage access and the promotion of choice
· Treat all fairly
· Put things right when they go wrong
· Use resources effectively
· Innovate and improve
· Work with other providers
· User satisfaction
- Charter Marks are awarded
for three years, after which organisations must apply to renew their award.
To win another Charter Mark, organisations must show real improvements in
service.
- Any public service that
provides direct services to the public, and manages its own staff and budget
can apply for a Charter Mark. Winners receive a trophy and a certificate and
can use charter mark logo on their stationery etc for three years.
- Charter Mark may be
withdrawn by the judging panel if standards fall below the high quality expected
of a Charter Mark holder.
Inland Revenue Media
Enquiries to Sheila Good: 020 7438 6692/6706
(out of hours: 0860 359544)
Inland Revenue information is also available on the internet:
www.inlandrevenue.gov.uk
Valuation Office
Agency Media Enquiries to Roger Charles: 020 7506 1927
Valuation Office Agency is also available on the internet:
www.voa.gov.uk
|
