How we’re performing so far
We have made significant progress on our Fairer Council ambitions by focusing on improving access to services, enhancing transparency, ensuring financial sustainability and embedding ethical and environmental responsibility. Notable achievements include recognition of the Customer Experience, Digital and Report It teams, which have been shortlisted for 14 awards at the UK Contact Centre Forum and Smarter Working Live Awards. These accolades highlight our commitment to excellent customer service and innovative approaches to delivering user-friendly experiences. Additionally, our Report It webtool has received two nominations for its role in improving customer experience and leveraging AI technology.
We are also investing in community engagement and skill development through initiatives such as the Community Engagement Academy Apprenticeship Scheme, co-designed with other London councils. This programme equips officers with advanced consultation and engagement skills, ensuring that residents’ voices shape budgets, strategies and policies. The first cohort has enrolled 25 learners, fostering collaboration across boroughs.
In parallel, the Urban Lab Graduate Placement Programme demonstrates our commitment to nurturing talent and generating impactful research. This quarter, seven graduate students contributed to projects across the organisation. The annual Graduate Student Symposium showcased research on topics such as housing, economy and high streets, fostering dialogue between academic partners and council colleagues.
Below we have highlighted some of the other ways we are progressing on our Delivery Plan from July to September this year* . Although progress continues to be made, we know there is still work to do as we deliver our Fairer Westminster strategy.
(* based on the latest positions available at the end of September 2024.)
Resident involvement
Our aim is to improve how we listen to residents and incorporate their views into our decision making...
We measure customer satisfaction levels to understand how happy customers are with the service they received when calling our corporate contact centre. Customers are asked to rate their satisfaction after a call. Feedback is shared with the contact centre team and services. We take all feedback seriously and encourage callers to complete a survey and leave their feedback after they call. In the first three months of the year the customer satisfaction result was 85.6% (out of a potential 100%).
Staying informed
Our aim is to make sure residents are not only listened to but kept up to date with the actions we’re taking...
To boost our local economy, we are committed to increasing our spending with SMEs and voluntary sector organisations, which include smaller, local, mission-led and diverse-led businesses. Our 'Supplier Readiness' programme involves engaging with businesses in relevant sectors, identifying gaps in their knowledge or skills, and providing tailored advice, training, mentoring and networking opportunities. Our goal is to enhance their chances of winning contracts with the council and our larger contractors. Additionally, our new Buying Team, which focuses on smaller contracts, is dedicated to ensuring that at least one in every three quotes for contracts under £100,000 comes from target organisation.
We have integrated the Fairer Westminster Strategy into our supplier requirements to ensure that public service and works contract investments are spent responsibly. This is outlined in our Responsible Procurement and Commissioning Strategy. We expect all contracts to include specific commitments from contractors to reduce environmental impacts, uphold labour rights and increase opportunities and benefits for our local communities.
We are committed to being open and transparent and making information on our progress more accessible to everyone. This way you can always see how we’re doing on delivering a Fairer Westminster. The above is just one of the ways we’re measuring how we’re building a Fairer Council. You can also find out more at our Open Data page and by reading our Fairer Westminster Delivery Plan:
