We want to thank you for including us in the discussion regarding adding customer service to the Annual Self Assessment Report. We all share a high value for providing quality customer service in the Child Support Program. We understand that you are interested in focusing on customer service for a couple of reasons. It is one strategy for letting decision makers, including legislators and governors, know that their investment in the Child Support Program provides the resources necessary to meet the customer needs. It also supports ongoing improvement in the program. We understand that you are not suggesting that states are not providing quality customer service, but rather that our service to customers could be improved.
During the conference call, we made a commitment to give you our recommendations related to this issue. We recommend that customer service reporting be added to the Self Assessment Report under Sec. 308.3(b)(2) Program service enhancement, efforts to improve client services. This would make it an optional part of the report. It could be structured in such a way as to encourage states to complete the part on customer service. We recommend using a set of customer service principles followed by a few structured questions. This would make customer service reporting fairly easy to complete. We would also support a message being sent out stating that while reporting on customer service is optional, states are strongly encouraged to complete that part of the report.
We recommend the following customer service principles and structured questions for use in the Self Assessment Report, Program Service Enhancement.
Customer Service Principles:
1. Child Support customers will be treated with courtesy and respect.
2. The Child Support Program will provide accurate and timely information.
3. Child Support customers will have easy access to the program through a variety of means.
4. Information will be available for those with limited English proficiency.
5. Customer complaints and grievances will be resolved in a timely manner and efforts will be made to reduce the number of complaints
Questions:
1. How do you measure customer satisfaction or get feedback from customers? What type of training and expectations are given to staff to ensure that customers are treated with respect and courtesy?
2. Describe the manner in which general information is provided to customers.
3. Describe the various ways customers can access the Child Support Program and information. Also discuss any improvements in these services over the past year.
4. How do you serve those with limited English proficiency?
5. What is your complaint resolution process? Include statistics regarding the number of complaints and any trends you have noted.
We value our partnership with OCSE and thank you for the opportunity to provide our perspective on this issue. We appreciate your consideration of our recommendation and look forward to discussing it with you during the NCCSD meeting on February 2, 2003.