Customer satisfaction

Report: 07
Date: 09 January 2003
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report outlines trends and drivers for customer satisfaction levels, as reported in the monthly performance report.

A. Recommendation

Members are asked to note the report.

B. Supporting information

Overall trends

1. Attached at Appendix 1 are tables showing customer satisfaction figures for the last three years in the following areas:

• All crime victims;
• Burglary victims;
• Violent crime victims;
• Racist crime victims;
• RTA victims;
• 999 callers.

2. These figures have been statistically tested and it has been identified that whilst the decline in satisfaction levels for ‘all crime victims’ is statistically significant, the only recorded reduction in satisfaction in the five subgroups which is significant is that for racist crime victims.

3. Of the other four subgroups, satisfaction levels for burglary victims, RTA victims and 999 callers remain broadly unchanged over the last three years. The slight reductions in satisfaction seen in the monthly performance report can, for these categories, be considered statistical ‘blips’. Conversely, violent crime victims have seen a statistically non-significant decrease however this is being further considered due to the small sample size.

Drivers of satisfaction

4. Appendix 2 shows testing of potential drivers of satisfaction for crime victims. This demonstrates that across all crime types, the facts ‘that police appear interested’, ‘appear to know what they are doing’ and ‘that they act sympathetically’ are better predictors of satisfaction than other options, including ‘given name / phone number of officer dealing with case’. However, this analysis is by necessity based on the options given in the existing survey and there may be other key drivers where information is not being collected. The MPS is taking part in work with the Home Office and ACPO which aims to improve the surveys used by forces and hence our understanding of satifsaction drivers and stallers.

5. The key operational changes which could have impacted on satisfaction over the period considered are: the focus on street crime (including the transfer of officers from other duties); growth (particularly increasing probationer levels on boroughs) and increased resources allocated to counter-terrorism.

6. The reduction in satisfaction of violent crime and racist crime victims may well be related to the increased street crime and counter-terrorism workload reducing the time available for other crime-response duties (in this context, it is worth noting that the most serious crimes are excluded from the sample and the violent crime sample is mainly non-domestic common assualt). It is feasible that probationers are less likely to ‘appear to know what they are doing’ and that this has led to some decline in satisfaction over the last year.

7. It is reassuring that despite these considerable diversions satisfaction of burglary victims and RTA victims have been maintained. The fact that burglary response is to an extent carried out by civilian support staff, and RTAs dealt with by traffic officers, would have ‘ring-fenced’ satisfaction in these areas. As 999 caller satisfaction is satisfaction with the police operator, again this would not be affected by these changes, however it is reassuring that satisfaction levels have been maintained despite the fall in the % calls answered within 15 seconds in the early months of 2002-3.

8. It has also been identified that with regard to the three key drivers the percentage of victims reporting these attitudes was lower for victims of racist crime than for other victims. This percentage was however over 80% for each victim sample, and for each of the three key drivers. This is shown in Appendix 3.

Borough satisfaction levels

9. Borough satisfaction levels for the first six months of 2002-3 range from 66% to 89%.

10. Kensington and Chelsea, Charing Cross and Sutton have all recorded high customer satisfaction levels during 2002-3, and an improvement from 2001-2. Conversely Hillingdon and Newham have recorded low and declining customer satisfaction levels.

11. However few of these differences are statistically significant. Chart 1 (Appendix 4) shows the 95% confidence intervals of each OCU; it can be seen that Heathrow has significantly better satisfaction levels than several borough OCUs but this is likely to be related to a different crime mix.

Dissemination of results

12. The survey results are distributed widely. Significant changes are reported to PRC, investigated, and remedial action taken. For example, a recent meeting considered a report into the gap in satisfaction between racist crime victims and crime victims overall. The analysis presented outlined some of the differences between these categories of victims and this was subsequently fed to borough commanders by (then) DAC Godwin. The importance of initial response was reinforced. It is too early for remedial action taken to be reflected in improved satisfaction levels.

Actions planned

13. DCC4 have recently conducted a scoping exercise to determine the staffing levels and workloads of Community Safety Units, which has identified some discrepancies. These issues are now being taken forward in conjunction with TPHQ.

14. PIB and DCC4 are planning to undertake further research into the reasons for the decline in satisfaction of victims of racist crime in the new year.

15. As noted above, satisfaction surveys are also being developed at a national level; this work is under the remit of the Police Performance Assessment Framework which is intended to replace the Best Value Performance Indicator suite and other Home Office performance measurement / management systems.

Racist crime

16. Members may wish to refer this report to Equal Opportunities and Diversity Board for further consideration with regard to racist crime satisfaction levels.

C. Equalities and diversity implications

None

D. Financial implications

The equalities and diversity implications of this report are included in the body of the report, particularly with regard to the satisfaction levels of victims of racist crime.

E. Background papers

Customer Satisfaction – Trends and Contributing Factors, Rachel Bennett / Yvonne Ferguson, MPS Performance Information Bureau.

F. Contact details

Report author: Carol McDonald, Corporate Performance and Analysis Unit, MPS.

For more information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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