SurveyShop step in to save Best Value for the UK's Bristol City Council
Phew! The UK Best Value data results have now all been published for 2006/07 so you can relax until the next round. SurveyShop, Snap’s outsourcing division, assisted with 53 BVPI surveys this time and utilised over 20 years experience to ease the burden for councils. With over 80% of UK Local Authorities already using Snap software and services, you can rely on their expertise for any of your customer insight, tenants, residents or staff surveys.
One local authority that’s particularly happy with the help that SurveyShop gave them is Bristol City Council. A number of authorities across the UK faced a significant challenge to meet the Audit Commission’s deadlines when a leading agency contracted to provide the service for them went into receivership.
Despite the tight timescales, SurveyShop successfully completed the whole project for Bristol to the prescribed deadline and to a high standard under the direction of Phil Higgins, from Bristol City Council’s Corporate Consultation team – part of its Corporate Communications service. The fieldwork for the survey was required by the Audit Commission to take place within a three-month window, so the timetable had to be strictly adhered to. Failure to conduct the survey as required could have left the council facing penalties and might have affected its overall CPA rating.
SurveyShop to the rescue
The solution was to find a replacement and fast! SurveyShop was the obvious choice as the council had been impressed with their original submission and their quote had been competitive. The team at SurveyShop immediately offered advice and reassurance. The main obstacle to overcome was time so the team pulled out all the stops to turn the project around in just one month. SurveyShop negotiated with the original agency’s printers to try and use what had already been developed – but without success. So as a complete survey service provider they conducted the whole process, which included printing and despatching the initial mailing plus subsequent reminders, logging responses, capturing the data, coverting data to ODPM/DCLG format, submitting data and metadata to the BVPI website, cross tabulations and full reporting. To add value and increase response rates, SurveyShop offered a prize draw incentive to all participants to win a ride in the Snap balloon. They even provided professional support to help Phil and his colleagues analyse the data and present the findings to the council’s Chief Executive and Corporate Management Team.
Swift and efficient service
Phil comments that: “Following the difficulties experienced by our original contracted consultants, SurveyShop stepped in at short notice and provided a swift and efficient service. The project was completed within the rigid timetable and exceeded the target of 1,100 responses. I would certainly advise any organisation to consider SurveyShop for this kind of work.”
Remember, SurveyShop is an expert in your sector and is here to help with any other ad-hoc survey projects.
For further information on SurveyShop’s services click here or call 01454 280810 (UK users) or 1 603 610 8700 (US users) to receive a no obligation and competitive outsourcing quote.