Customer contact forum
Contact officer: Brian Borthwick, Revenues and Benefits service client officer
Tel: 0151 225 2164
Email: Brian.Borthwick@liverpool.gov.uk
Start date: 1 April 2007
End date: 31 March 2007
Purpose of the exercise:
To consult with local advice agencies on changes in benefits legislation and receive feedback on any issues that may arise from the cases that they deal with.
Who was consulted and how:
Quarterly meetings were held with all local advice bureaux. Revenues and Benefits officers and one stop shop and contact centre representatives also attended.
Who were the results of the exercise be reported to:
The results are reported to the Benefits manager and the Revenues and Benefits client officer
What were the findings of the exercise:
The customer contact forum enabled the advice bureaux to raise any specific issues or requests for service enhancements. For example. the advice bureaux raised issues around the potential for a programme to ensure that benefit entitlements were maximised to those claimants who were approaching their 60th birthday. Another example was the possiblity of making benefit claims easier for those members of the community who had a visual impairment.
What are the change to the service brought about as a result of the consultation:
A joint-working project with the Pension service, has been created to review benefit entitlements to those residents who are shortly to become pensioners to ensure that any benefit entitlement is maximised (see the benefits maximisation page for more information on maximising benefits).
The Benefits service is also implementing a facility to allow the completion of council tax and housing benefits claims electronically in one stop shops to assist any customers who experience difficulty in the completion of forms or have a visual impairment.
See the social benefits web pages for further information on benefits.