Taking the town hall to the customer in Crawley
Crawley Borough Council has technology in place enabling staff to access the IT systems they need whilst off-site. A range of services is delivered in this way resulting in benefits for customers and the Council.
The use of laptops and remote access to computer systems means that:
- vulnerable customers are better served - for example, trained assessors visit hostels each week and assess claims immediately. This means that the agencies supporting these customers know how much benefit will be paid;
- assessors can visit customers at home, reviewing their claims during the visit;
- queries are dealt with in a more timely manner as all information is available;
- customers are quicker to provide information because they can see the matter will be dealt with promptly;
- overpayments have been reduced as, in appropriate cases, benefits are suspended at the time of a visit.