Section 2: Improving our services

Where we want to be in three years' time

• ensure that services, specifically telephony through contact centres, do not disadvantage some groups of customers;
• ensure that our IT systems are sufficiently flexible to meet the needs of those customers who require written information in alternative formats;
• encourage participation and involvement of our customers at local and national levels;
• promote a positive attitude towards equality; and
• ensure that all customers receive the benefits they are entitled to and help as many of our customers as possible to find work.

Jobcentre Plus is a large and varied organisation with 71,000 staff, over 800 customer offices, 77 benefit delivery centres and 33 contact centres, but it is continuing to operate against a background of reducing employee levels and funding. It is crucial that every part of the organisation accepts ownership, responsibility, and accountability for the diversity agenda. To do this, all areas of the business will be issued with a challenge - the 'Diversity Challenge'. The Diversity Challenge will help each part of Jobcentre Plus to baseline where they are against legislative requirements and introduce standards on how to ensure that the service they deliver to customers is accessible, available and appropriate. For example, a manager of a Jobcentre would need to consider what steps can be put in place to ensure that the information on a Jobpoint is equally accessible to someone who has dyslexia as it is to someone who does not have dyslexia.

For our staff, our consultation exercises have shown that we need over the next three years to:

• continue to analyse staff survey results and put in place measures to achieve positive changes;
• ensure that reasonable adjustments for staff are undertaken quickly and effectively;
• ensure that our staff network groups are empowered to make a real contribution to our business;
• develop an informative and comprehensive diversity and equality internal website to offer information and promote diversity; and
• ensure that our diversity and equality training is delivered to all our staff in effective ways.

For employers we will continue to:

• support employer customers' efforts to achieve and realise the benefits of employing a diverse workforce; and
• ensure that vacancies placed with us are not unlawfully discriminatory.

The detail of how we plan to do this over the next three years is at Annexe 2, Annex 3 and Annex 4. We believe that, by taking these actions, we will promote equality of opportunity in the areas of disability, gender and race.

Consultation and involvement

To encourage the participation and involvement of our customers at a local, as well as at a national, level, we will revise our guidance on involvement and consultation. We will monitor compliance with this guidance on a regular basis.

We will also continue to monitor feedback obtained through:

• our attendance at relevant external diversity forums; and
• staff network groups.

Monitoring and evaluation

Specifically, for customers we will also:

• undertake a second involvement exercise towards the end of 2007, to evaluate how far we have come in improving the accessibility and availability of our services;
• analyse the results of our customer satisfaction survey, undertaken every two years, and, where appropriate, take action on the recommendations; and
• take appropriate action on the findings of the research that will evaluate the impact of introducing telephony channels as the primary gateway to our services.

For our staff we will:

• monitor and analyse feedback through the annual staff survey; and
• monitor and analyse the staff appraisal system (performance and development system) results for disability, gender and ethnic minority staff outcomes.

Impact assessments

In 2005 we ran workshops for Jobcentre Plus staff to provide guidance on the requirement to undertake race impact assessments, including the need to publish results. We will reinforce guidance for staff on how and when to conduct impact assessments through the development of a diversity impact assessment tool and a diversity challenge, which will be launched in the spring of 2007.

The new tool will also ensure that, where appropriate, involvement and consultation take place with customers, their representatives and Jobcentre Plus staff at national, regional and local levels regarding proposed changes.

Procurement

Pay statement