A Strategic Partnership with Liberata

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London Borough of Hounslow

London’s ninth largest borough to the west of the centre bordering Heathrow Airport, the London Borough of Hounslow need to save an additional £7.3m from their budget in 2018-19. Liberata is supporting them to meet this and future reduction with minimal impact on services. With the contract recently renewed and new services added, Hounslow has extended its trust in Liberata to 20 years

“Since entering the strategic partnership with Liberata in 2005, we have not only seen year-on-year improvements in revenue collection rates, but improved levels of service delivered to benefit claimants.”

Clive Palfreyman, Director – Finance and Corporate Services

How Liberata helped

Customer Support

We have implemented triage services at the customer services centre to help customers go online with their own device, to organise a home visit or book a one-to-one appointment where more support is needed.

Collaboration

We work in partnership with the council to provide seamless services that help them operate in a changing environment. There are close working relationships with daily interactions and a shared joint approach to problem solving.

Sharing Knowledge

There are monthly briefing for Liberata staff and an environment that encourages collaboration. This ensures staff are up to speed on the latest legislative changes and that they are sharing best practice across the team, serving their customers better.

Toolkits

We have introduced partial home working for colleagues who wish to take this up including a technology toolkit to support a commitment to reducing occupation in advance of a move to new premises in 2019.

Engagement

This year we have introduced new formats to reach a wider audience and make it easier for the people to contact the council.

Social value

Ensuring that vulnerable customers and those that have difficulty getting online still have the same access to services as others via home visits and working with local disability groups.

Our targets were...

Deliver Savings

Saving delivered upfront (at no risk to the council) through a strong partnership and governance model.

Improve and Upgrade Systems

information, a focus on debt recovery and SMS messaging.

Channel Migration Plan

A continued drive to move citizens online for council transactions has seen a decline in face-to-face customer services and an increase of 60% in those accounts transferred to ebilling.

Reaching Vulnerable Customers

This drive to online and self-service is freeing up resources to be able to offer appointments to those that need them most including welfare visits to people’s home and support for those returning home from care.

Improve Collection Rates

Almost 100% collection on Business Rates and highest level of Council Tax cash collected.

Implement Best Practice

The council benefit from using Liberata’s shared service centre, accessing systems and best practice from across the UK.

What we achieved

£200m

additional Business Rates collected whilst achieving almost 100% collection

£21k

reductions in customer services calls due to continuing rollout of self-serve

92%

of customers seen in 15 minutes, the best results ever

1.73%

days removed from new claims processing

1855

new Council Tax accounts and the highest cash collection result

55%

take-up of self-serve in year

See how Liberata can help your organisation.

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As a Council we are focused on ensuring that the services delivered are both sustainable and of the highest quality. We are delighted to be working with Liberata to help deliver these services on behalf of our residents and businesses. Liberata stood out with its ability to drive transformational change and improve customer access and digital services.
Richard Baker
Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council
Borough of Broxbourne
Liberata is the ideal delivery partner to help us achieve our aims, whilst ensuring we can drive down processing times and improve the service for our customers. Council tax and business rates collection will improve, ensuring that we have the funds to deliver the vital services that have a positive impact on residents’ lives. We look forward to working closely in partnership with Liberata to help achieve our aims
Rebecca Keene
Broxbourne Borough Council
Eastleigh Borough Council has worked with Liberata for a number of years who undertake the council's empty home reviews, and I must say, their service exceeded all expectations. From start to finish, they demonstrated professionalism, efficiency, and a genuine commitment to addressing this critical issue in our community. Thanks to Liberata, the council has been able to maximise our empty home bonus year on year. This positive impact on our community cannot be overstated.
Kerrie Thomas
Eastleigh Borough Council
The RV Finder service from Liberata has really helped us ensure that our data is as accurate as possible and, when the VOA has processed the outstanding cases, I fully expect to see more than £1,000,000 of additional RV. The “risk and reward” model works well and the Council only has to pay for their success and the service is something that we will use on a regular basis.
Steve King
Leicester City Council
Liberata has been empowered to create a seamless integration with technology to digitally transform the Revenues and Benefits service whilst trying to protect local jobs. The joint strategy has helped to deliver innovative solutions that have exceeded expectations, whilst providing savings to the authority. This surge in digital engagement has helped deliver strong year one outturn with electronic billing and the technology will enable us to show improvements in the benefits speed of processing and in Council Tax processing of moves, discounts and exemptions.
Andy Stevens
Swindon Borough Council
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