There may be trouble ahead… so the old Irving Berlin song goes... And looking at the growing impact of the credit crunch, and the rising prices of fuel, food and services, councils may really be left ‘facing the music’.
While there are obvious financial concerns for councils, the impact may be more than financial.
There’s no doubt that financially-secure customers are more likely to be happy ones. If people are feeling the pinch, you don’t have to be a campaign strategist to realise they’re less likely to be feeling good about things.
And, whether or not their troubles are remotely related to their local authorities, we may all pay the price of a sharp drop in customer satisfaction.
When people are unhappy financially, they’re more likely to be negative about other things – and that includes our staff. For councils, this will present a challenge. Not only do we have to offer high-quality services in the face of tighter budgets and rising costs, we are increasingly called to account for every part of our spending by our customers.
If we are perceived to be expensive, it’s not hard to imagine customer satisfaction dropping, in line with people’s finances, and an evaporating ‘feel-good’ factor. But, we all know that pessimism, inertia and a negative outlook are likely to result in a self-fulfilling prophecy.
There will be challenges – a downturn in uptake of services, such as leisure centres and car parks, while people try to save their cash, more benefit claimants, higher levels of homelessness and people struggling to pay council tax.
So, working with all our public and private sector partners, how can we help customers weather the storm and nurture precious customer satisfaction and feelings of community wellbeing? A two-way flow of information with customers, partners and media is essential. In Teignbridge, these are about being proactive and tackling the issues that customers say are most important.
It can be as simple as teaming up with the local PCT and county council to deliver a food hygiene course in a children’s centre, enabling local mums to gain qualifications while not having to worry about childcare. At the other end of the scale, it’s taking part in multi-agency action to tackle anti-social behaviour, environmental crime, and to drive forward housing delivery and economic development. We have also re-focused our civic side to promote local business success and opportunities.
We also want to take care of our own staff, with initiatives such as flexible working arrangements, staff awards, and a reformed social events committee to arrange fun – often free – activities.
Scanning the issues surrounding the economy, there’s no doubt we’re going to be facing the music over coming months, possibly years. But now’s not a time to shrink away and act the wallflower.
Let’s face the music – and dance.
Nicola Bulbeck is chief executive of Teignbridge DC
Protecting the public realm without shutting it down
As Martyn's Law approaches, this free special report from LocalGov and Hill & Smith sets out how councils can protect public spaces without shutting them down.
