Changes Ahead

Changing Ourselves to Meet Your Needs

A Maze, Not An Open Door

We know that many people find it very hard to contact us, mostly because it is so hard to know who to contact.  Even if you do know the right person to contact, it is often hard to get hold of them.  Once you do contact a member of staff, they will try to be helpful, but they often do not have access to the right information, and this can cause many people real difficulties. 

Powys County Council has been described as a maze, not an open door

A Change In Attitude

We are changing the way that Powys County Council is organised, and the way that we provide services, so that we can be sure that:

  1. Everybody has easy access to our services.
  2. We are always helpful, and that we give you what you need as quickly as possible.

We know that at the moment, people find that their phone calls are not answered, or that they are put through to the wrong person, or that their letters get lost, or that we do not respond quickly enough, and that sometimes, we simply do not respond at all.  We recognise that this is unacceptable, and that we must change ourselves so that these things do not happen.

Organising Ourselves as an Authority to Improve Our Service

Opinions put forward in consultations and comments tell us that our organisation and the way we deliver services needs to be improved.  We are also guided by other public bodies and voluntary organisations. The Welsh Assembly Government is trying to organise all public services to work together more closely, through the "Making The Connections" programme.

We will make sure that it is easier to contact us and explain what you want, by:

  • Reduce the hundreds of phone numbers that we use to fewer and fewer numbers and eventually to one number for the whole Council.
  • Training our staff to deal with any enquiries quickly and politely.
  • Scanning in documents so that letters, plans, and forms can get to the right member of staff quickly.
  • Making sure that people can ask for any service from a single, dedicated building in main towns, such as a Library, Leisure Centre or Tourist Information Centre.
  • Improving our website, so that you can find the right information and access services when it suits you – services such as submitting a planning application or applying for a licence.

We will also make sure that you actually get what you need, by:

  • Keeping a record of what people ask for, and chasing up any overdue work on their behalf.
  • Keeping a record of who we deal with so that people do not have to give their personal details to us over and over again.
  • Organising ourselves to actually give people what they need at the first point of contact.
  • When we can’t give people what they need at the first point of contact, then making sure that we are organised well, so that the right information or service request gets to the right people quickly.

This is a complicated task, because these changes affect every one of our 8000 staff, who deliver more than 650 different services, from about 400 buildings to 130,000 residents.

We will be making many changes over the next 3 - 5 years, tackling the range of issues described above.

There are a number of projects and programmes linked to improving customer services.

These include:

  • Access To Services - The Access To Services programme is about transforming Powys County Council to focus it's work on delivering better services to you, the customer.
  • ICT - Telecoms investment, Careline system replacement, Web Development Plan, Broadband uptake
  • Procurement - E-Procurement
  • Knowledge Management - Records / Information management project, Local Land & Property Gazetteer
  • Management - Integrating Services, Business Continuity Management Programme
  • Communications - Communications Strategy, Public consultation
  • People - Flexible Working, HR Strategy, Business Continuity Management Programme, Customer Relationship management.
  • Performance Improvement - Performance Management software
  • Efficiency - Asset management, Document Imaging and Workflow.
  • Social - Community regeneration, Race Equality Scheme, Welsh Language Scheme
  • Infrastructure - Mid Wales Trunk Road Agency, Single Non-Emergency Number