corporate plan and 2010/11 budget
January 2010
complaint trends
2009/10 enquiries
Our 2009/10 budget assumed that we would receive 975,000 enquiries – a 23% increase compared to 2008/09. Our current forecast is that enquiries will be in line with the budget.
| enquiries | actual 12 months 2008/09 |
actual 9 months 2009/10 |
forecast 12 months 2009/10 |
budget 12 months 2009/10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| phone calls to our enquiry line | 399,918 | 339,067 | 500,000 | 500,000 |
| written enquiries | 389,959 | 353,049 | 475,000 | 475,000 |
| total | 789,877 | 692,116 | 975,000 | 975,000 |
2009/10 new cases
Our 2009/10 budget assumed that we would receive 150,000 new cases – an 18% increase compared to 2008/09. New cases are currently running at 11% above budget, and our current forecast is that we will receive around 167,000 new cases.
An analysis by product is set out in annex A. There were fewer insurance and investment cases than we budgeted for, but this was more than offset by higher numbers of complaints about banking and about PPI.
| new cases | actual 2008/09 |
forecast 2009/10 |
budget 2009/10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| banking | 51,892 | 73,000 | 65,000 |
| insurance (excluding PPI) | 19,102 | 20,400 | 25,000 |
| investment | 22,307 | 24,300 | 30,000 |
| consumer credit | 3,014 | 6,600 | 5,000 |
| payment protection insurance (PPI) | 31,066 | 42,700 | 25,000 |
| total | 127,381 | 167,000 | 150,000 |
2009/10 cases resolved
Our 2009/10 budget assumed that we would resolve 165,000 cases: a 44% increase compared to 2008/09. We are on target to close that number, although – because the timetable for introducing regulatory guidance is later than we had originally envisaged – there is some risk that the resolution of a block of PPI cases might slip into the early months of the next financial year. Set against this, the end of the "test case" on overdraft charges and the associated complaint waiver means that we should be able to resolve a number of the previously "on-hold" cases about this issue.
The majority of cases have been resolved by our own staff, but a significant minority have been resolved by outsourced staff – in line with the plan we published last year. Although outsourcing is more expensive than using in-house staff, it gives us the flexibility to manage increases in our caseload without incurring the significant potential costs of taking on and then laying-off in-house staff.
2009/10 productivity and timeliness
We measure productivity overall – dividing the total number of cases resolved over 52 weeks by the total number of adjudicators. Individual adjudicators do not work 52 weeks, because of leave-entitlement and training. So the average number of cases that an individual adjudicator resolves per working week is higher than the overall productivity figure.
During 2009/10 we have recruited significant numbers of new staff, who need training and experience before they get up to speed. And many experienced staff have had to be diverted to training and mentoring the newcomers.
Additionally, though the number of cases we expect to resolve is in line with our budget, this number includes a higher than expected proportion of more complex cases. So we expect productivity to be closer to 4.0 cases per adjudicator per week, compared with the budget of 4.7.
Improving productivity is one of the aims of the long-term business-process improvement project we have launched, as mentioned in chapter 2, which includes the use of external consultants.
| workload plans | actual 12 months 2008/09 |
actual 9 months 2009/10 |
forecast 12 months 2009/10 |
budget 12 months 2009/10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| opening work-in-progress | 58,106 | 71,628 | 71,628 | 62,364 |
| new complaints | 127,471 | 117,906 | 167,000 | 150,000 |
| cases resolved | 113,949 | 107,549 | 165,000 | 165,000 |
| closing work-in-progress | 71,628 | 81,985 | 73,628 | 47,364 |
| work in hand (weeks) | 32.7 | 25.0 | 23.2 | 14.9 |
| productivity | 4.8 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 4.7 |
| % closed within 6 months | 56 | 65 | 65 | 65 |
| unit cost | £508 | n/a | £587 | £559 |
2010/11 enquiries
Enquiries to our customer contact division during 2010/11 are expected to grow in line with our estimate of new cases.
| enquiries | actual 2008/09 |
forecast 2009/10 |
budget 2010/11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| phone calls to our enquiry line | 399,918 | 500,000 | 575,000 |
| written enquiries | 389,959 | 475,000 | 550,000 |
| total | 789,877 | 975,000 | 1,125,000 |
2010/11 new cases
Our central estimate is that the total number of new cases will increase to 190,000 during 2010/11. An indicative breakdown of new cases is given in annex A and summarised in the table below. Forecasting the numbers of new cases is not an exact science, and we have planned for a range between 165,000 (optimistic) and 228,000 (pessimistic).
Initial discussions with stakeholders have suggested a consensus that our central forecast is probably about right, but that there is a greater risk of the figure moving towards the pessimistic rather than the optimistic end of the scale.
| new cases | actual 2008/09 |
forecast 2009/10 |
budget 2010/11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| banking | 51,892 | 73,000 | 85,000 |
| insurance (excluding PPI) | 19,102 | 20,400 | 23,600 |
| investment | 22,307 | 24,300 | 25,200 |
| consumer credit | 3,014 | 6,600 | 10,200 |
| PPI (payment protection insurance) | 31,066 | 42,700 | 46,000 |
| total | 127,381 | 167,000 | 190,000 |
2010/11 cases resolved
We aim to resolve 210,000 cases in 2010/11 – to deal with the record number of new cases in our central forecast, and to work towards eliminating the waiting times that have necessarily grown up in some areas while we recruited and trained extra staff.
This represents a substantial increase compared to 2009/10, and requires a capacity of 925 adjudicators. We intend to resolve 135,000 cases with our own staff, and to use outsourced staff for the remainder (about one third).
2010/11 productivity and timeliness
Our 2010/11 budget assumes that both productivity and timeliness will both improve during the year – as a result of staff recruited during 2009/10 becoming more experienced, and of our implementing business-process improvements.
| workload plans | actual 2008/09 |
forecast 2009/10 |
budget 2010/11 |
|---|---|---|---|
| cases with us at the beginning of the year | 58,106 | 71,628 | 73,628 |
| new cases | 127,471 | 167,000 | 190,000 |
| cases resolved | 113,949 | 165,000 | 210,000 |
| cases with us at the end of the year | 71,628 | 73,628 | 53,628 |
| work in hand (weeks) | 32.7 | 23.2 | 13.3 |
| productivity | 4.8 | 4.0 | 4.3 |
| % closed within 3 months | 30 | 40 | 55 |
| % closed within 6 months | 56 | 65 | 75 |
| % closed within 9 months | 77 | 80 | 85 |
| % closed within 12 months | 88 | 90 | 90 |