Redesign Board Approved Funding To Support Council Customers Most In Need

1st June 2023

A Highland Council project which aims to better support customers, who need supported the most, will now move to a second stage which includes focussing on the development of the Council's website with a £150,000 allocation of funding to appoint two dedicated web officers.

The "My Council" programme is a review of the Council's customer contact experience, and part of this latest phase will prioritise the Council’s website and online customer offering over an 18-month period.

The dedicated ICT officers will (among other tasks), audit the Council’s website content; catalogue the online Pay / Report / Request processes; work with Council services on reviewing and improving their website content; tailor web content using customer accounts; and evaluate future requirements for online services.

Chair of Highland Council’s Redesign Board, Cllr Bill Lobban said: "Fundamentally what the My Council Programme is aiming to achieve is to create an improved and more joined up experience for people contacting the Council.

“This latest phase in the programme aims to improve self-service digital options for people who prefer online methods of contacting the council and thus release resources to better support people who need help the most whether that is by telephone or face-to-face."

Members of the Council’s Redesign Board have agreed that £0.15m will be allocated from the £0.5m agreed at the Council’s Budget meeting (held on 2 March 2023) for the My Council project to support web development work.

Councillors were provided an update on the work of the of the My Council programme since the last Redesign Board which has focused on developing the deliverables for each of the areas of work.

Comment
Those most in need may struggle to see the benefit of this latest announcement as it is reorganising how things work rather than extra cash in the pocket.