'Fair' access to Council services in Thurrock, says watchdog

Customers are getting ‘fair’ access to the services provided by Thurrock Council and there are ‘promising prospects’ for improvement, according to an independent report released on Thursday by the Audit Commission.

Thurrock Council "has made many improvements to how local people can access its services".

The inspection, in June this year, examined how easy it is for Thurrock residents to reach, use and find out about its services.

This week the council received a "fair, one-star rating with promising prospects for improvement" from the commission.

Cllr Barry Johnson, the council's Cabinet member for Central Services, said: "The inspectors praised many aspects of Thurrock's work to ensure residents can access the services we provide.

"Bit we know there's still work to be done and we are doing that - the commission recognised that 'several aspects of improvement are very recent', so it is difficult, at present, to judge how they will impact on improving outcomes for local people."

He added: "We are committed to making life better for the people of Thurrock, ensuring that our residents are at the heart of everything we do and the report recognises the hard work and commitment of all staff towards improving access to our services."

Inspectors praised the "range of effective ways to contact the council" that are available and said: "Thurrock residents have easy access to services through a combination of a telephone contact centre, customer service centre, area offices, libraries and an interactive website."

The inspection report also highlights the positive results of a mystery shopping exercise inspectors carried out. It concludes that service requests and enquiries made by telephone and email were "responded to effectively" and how the mystery shopping resulted in a "good user experience".

The promising prospects judgment reflects the plans and strong platform Thurrock Council has in place to continue its progress.

However there are areas for improvement. For example, "despite its plans and investments, key public satisfaction indicators have not yet improved".

Cllr Johnson said: "To help the council continue to improve, the inspectors made a number of recommendations. We will use these to ensure Thurrock Council continues putting residents first and delivering our ambitions for the borough."

Strengths include:

• It is easy to access services through a choice of channels such as local offices and the call centre. Its website has good information as well as the ability to perform transactions
• Over 93 per cent of Council buildings comply with the Disability Discrimination Act so people with disabilities have a better chance of using Council services
• There is a dedicated and trained call centre team for people needing personal and social care services

Copies of the report are available from Thurrock Council or from the Audit Commission