To consider the report.

Adele Taylor, Director of Resources, explained that the report reflected RBWMs performance during the period April – June 2020. The impact of the pandemic on business rate collection was not seen in Q1 and was slightly above target. Percentage of calls abandoned after 5 seconds was performing well which was pleasing especially as the number of calls during the period had increased. Improvements were needed in improving the processing of housing benefits, this was due to an increase in demand and adapting to remote working arrangements. However, performance up until August in this area had improved significantly. It was important to note that Covid would have a significant impact on the performance report going forward.

The Chairman asked if RBWM had anticipated the impact that the furlough scheme ending would have on the revenues and benefits performance and resources.

Adele Taylor said that they were aware of that but it was difficult to anticipate how much of an impact there would be but RBWM was able to be flexible with its use of resources. Louise Freeth, Head of Revenues, Benefits, Libraries and Resident Services, said that at the beginning of the pandemic there had been a significant increase in the number of claims but a number of these were not followed through. She was confident that RBWM would be able to handle any significant increase over the next few months.

Councillor Clark joined the meeting.

Councillor Werner said that RBWM needed to be agile in its response and that staff needed to be freed up to deal with demand if necessary. He asked if agile ways of thinking were in place.

Adele Taylor said that teams had been hugely flexible throughout lockdown and mentioned that library staff had been calling those on the shielding list. She passed on her thanks to the library staff for all their work. Louise Freeth said that many staff had been cross trained so that they would be able to take on new roles if needed. Staff had been fully utilised during the pandemic and more libraries were starting to reopen, with some offering click and collect as well as delivery.

Councillor L Jones commented on the calls answered within 60 seconds and how the volume of calls went down but so did the number of calls answered, which surprised her. Louise Freeth was not able to give an answer at the meeting but said that she would take it away and have a look at the reason for this.

Councillor Hilton, Lead Member for Finance and Ascot, said that a lot of learning had taken place and Louise Freeth and her team were to be congratulated on their work. He believed that by the next performance report, the revenues and benefits area would have recovered.

Councillor Sharpe also passed on his congratulations and gratitude to the team. He asked if there was anything in the report that was a cause for concern.

Adele Taylor said that performance was always monitored and that there were certain areas that officers kept a close eye on. Louise Freeth said that the report reflected the performance of RBWM from Q1 and that there was nothing in the report that officers were not monitoring or reacting to.

Councillor Rayner reiterated the amazing work that the Library and the Benefits team had done. The Customer Service Team had also acted bravely and given good advice to residents, with many doing extra hours to cope with the demand.

Councillor Werner asked if there was any pre-warning of things that could change. Louise Freeth said there was not, using the example that the government had informed the council they would be responsible for the self-isolation payment and that RBWM would need to get the system up and running quickly. Duncan Sharkey, Managing Director, said that it was a mixed area and that sometimes officers were warned but sometime not. Everything was happening at pace and so there was little time for guidance in many cases.

Councillor Werner believed that the council should be lobbying government for information to be given to the local authority in a timely manner. The Chairman said that it was something that could be looked at, with the Local Government Association a good option for lobbying.

Councillor Hilton said that the pace of action was fast and it was therefore a struggle for guidance to be published in time. The latest guidance had been released to the public at the same time as RBWM received it. He said that Covid had helped to deliver innovation.

Councillor Rayner said that future reports would be different but that the council was changing and delivering well on the services that it needed to provide.

Councillor Davey commented on digital transactions and that 75% of offline transactions had disappeared even before Covid. He asked what reason there was for this. Adele Taylor said that she could do a written response to this question.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY; That the Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel noted the report and:

i)             Noted the 2020/21 Corporate Overview and Scrutiny Panel Q1 Performance Report in Appendix A.

ii)            Noted that from Q2 onwards performance of measures relating to the Interim Council Strategy will be reported, along with the measures included in Appendix A which will be grouped by lead service.

iii)           Requested relevant Lead Members, Directors and Heads of Service to maintain focus on improving performance.