Brighton & Hove is famous for its boutique shops and the customer service they provide.  Perhaps this council could learn something from our retail sector.

The Council received a staggering 334,000 online forms last year; and 230,000 phone calls.  But according to its Customer Insight report, only 57% of customers are satisfied with the council’s customer service – no ringing endorsement. 

Last year, 41% of communication with the council was by email and 0% (zero) was conducted face-to-face.  For comparison, in 2015, face to face meeting accounted for 15% of engagement with the council.  We know there was a pandemic – but the situation has barely changed since the restrictions ended and it has now become very clear that there little desire from the Council to resume in-person services at all.

For residents, the level of service remains frozen in time - as it was during the pandemic.

This is not good for many local people.  The Council is meant to serve all its residents - not just those digitally connected - and not allowing face to face meeting leaves many disenfranchised.  Some residents are elderly find going online very difficult.  Others may be dyslexic.  There is a need for face to face services to resume.

One resident told us that elderly people on her street are disenfranchised by not being able to access the parking permit services at Hove Town Hall any more.  They used to visit Hove Town Hall to by visitor permits for their friends but are not digitally connected and now have to ask for help from neighbours.  Many residents want the human touch from their council and email and online forms do not suit everyone.

There are plans to improve the council’s website and digital offering but so far they haven’t provided a good enough substitute or met an appropriate level of customer service equivalent to that which was previously provided in person.  Residents who are completing online forms often don’t get responses or as so often has been the case, the online system doesn’t work (for example the system for issuing allotments) and the time and cost (to the taxpayer and induvial) of resolving simple matters has increased.

One of the council’s six values on its website is ‘customer focus and ease of access’, yet only 51% of customers were satisfied with ease of access, down from 61% last year.  So there is a problem.

On Thursday our Conservative Councillors put forward proposals to try and encourage the council to open up again.  This included a motion from Cllr Alistair McNair to open up fully accessible services such as housing, parking and libraries and to start getting some staff back to the office and providing some face to face services.

Cllr Vanessa Brown requested that members of the press and the public have their full in-person access to council and committee meetings that they enjoyed prior to the pandemic restored immediately.  The Council is the last of any we can find that is still restricting the public and the press’ access to meetings and placing restrictions on councillor attendance.

These were voted against by the Green/Labour Council, leading to strong criticism from social campaigners.  On twitter one such campaigner criticised the Labour/Green vote as wrong and said that it would have consequences for poorer and more deprived people, saying you don’t solve issues by saying ‘computer says no’.

Hove Town Hall, once a bustling centre of service delivery and activity is still largely a ghost town and all the time this continues, Brighton and Hove City Council is becoming more distant from its residents it is meant to serve.  Almost every other council has now reopened to the public and it is high time that this council follows suit.

Things need to change.

Residents should be able to drop in without having to make appointments – that’s just another barrier to good customer service.  They shouldn’t have to try to phone and email first.

Face to face meetings might reduce the number of complaints – filling in a form and receiving no response does not alleviate anger and residents start to give up and don’t bother even complaining. Residents should be able to attend council meetings and their local democracy in person.

Collaboration, efficiency, respect, openness, creativity and customer focus, which includes ease of access – are the values of this council.  Council ‘customers’ can’t choose to go elsewhere – but they should be our number 1 priority.