25 February 2004 - Publication of DWP research report: The Pension Service Customer Survey 2003. Report No. 205
A research report published today presents findings of a survey of customers’ experiences of, attitudes towards and satisfaction with The Pension Service. The research was conducted with current pensioners, future pensioners and their representatives, concentrating on the service they had received from The Pension Service in the first half of 2003. The aim of the research was to assess The Pension Service’s performance and to inform the future delivery of the service.
The research was carried out on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) by researchers from BMRB Social Research.
The main findings are:
- The majority of survey respondents were satisfied with the service they received from The Pension Service. Customers reported high levels of satisfaction with The Pension Service, both for the service they had received overall (81 per cent; 50 per cent very satisfied and 31 per cent fairly satisfied) and during their most recent enquiry (76 per cent; 47 per cent very satisfied and 39 per cent fairly satisfied).
- The quality of the staff and information, and the professionalism of the service were commonly identified as the best things about the service. Over nine out of ten respondents agreed that staff in The Pension Service were polite, treated customers with respect, were easy to talk to and patient.
- Although over three quarters of respondents were satisfied with the service received during their most recent enquiry, issues related to contacting the service (time taken, number of contacts etc), the transferral process (whether they had to dial another number, repeat a lot of information etc) and whether customers were kept informed about their enquiry seemed to strongly influence customers satisfaction with the service.
- A majority of customers said that providing full and accurate information was “extremely important” to good customer service. Customers also felt that providing “better information” and a “faster service” were central to improving The Pension Service.
- The telephone was the most popular means of contacting The Pension Service. Seven in ten customers had used the telephone to contact The Pension Service in the period preceding the survey, and the majority of customers also said that the telephone was their preferred means of contacting The Pension Service for a wide range of issues.
Notes for editors
- The Pension Service Customer Survey 2003 (DWP Research Report Series No. 205) by Nicholas Howat, Graham Kelly, Bridget Williams and Rebecca Scheer with Susan Kay (at BMRB Social Research) is published on 25 February 2004. The report is available on the DWP website and hard copies can be obtained from Paul Noakes, Room 4-26, The Adelphi, 1 -11 John Adam Street, London, WC2N 6HT.
- The Pension Service was established as an executive agency of the DWP in April 2002, to deliver pension related information and benefits to Britain’s 11 million pensioners, their representatives, and future pensioners. The Pension Service represents a major change in the delivery of services to pensioners. Prior to its inception the Benefits Agency handled payments to pensioners as well as to people of working age, through more than 400 social security offices. The Pension Service is delivered through a network of pension centres, supported by a local service which offers face to face contact via home visits and surgeries in local communities. This research was conducted at a relatively early stage in the development of The Pension Service when customers’ cases were in the process of being transferred from social security office to pension centres. To ensure that the survey adequately reflected the service at this stage, it included customers who had contact through both pension centres and social security offices.
- The findings are based on approximately 4,300 face-to-face interviews with a random sample of current pensioners conducted in their own homes, who had been in contact with The Pension Service in early 2003.
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