Supporting Vulnerable Residents
The Context
Human Engine supported the London Borough of Brent’s Customer Service Centre (CSC) and Community Hubs to make services more accessible to vulnerable residents. Our aim was to align customer service access points, improve collaboration between frontline and back-office teams and enhance customer experiences. To achieve this, we adopted a service design methodology, grounded in user research, empathy mapping and prototyping.
Our Approach
Through in-depth user research, our team identified several key business problems:
No consistent, joined-up approach between back-office teams and frontline customer service teams.
Inconsistent understanding of the Community Hub model and unclear expectations of partnership working between service access points.
Customer communications lacked clarity, leading to unmet expectations and lower satisfaction levels.
We employed a service design approach to co-create solutions with Brent Council’s teams, ensuring that any changes were user-centric and practical. Our approach included the following key steps:
User Research: Engaged frontline officers, community hubs and vulnerable residents to understand current pain points and needs in accessing services. Through interviews and shadowing, we gathered rich insights into UX.
Empathy Mapping and User Journey Mapping: Created empathy maps to chart the emotions, needs and frustrations of users—both staff and residents. We also mapped out user journeys to identify key touchpoints and pain points, allowing us to focus on improvements that would have the greatest impact.
Co-Creation: Collaborated closely with council officers and community stakeholders to develop and refine ideas, ensuring the solutions would meet the actual needs of the people who use the services.
Prototyping and Iterative Design: Created early prototypes of solutions and tested them in real-world settings through pilot schemes and workshops, refining based on continuous feedback from stakeholders.
Outputs and Outcomes
Using insights gathered through user research and prototyping, we implemented key solutions:
Priority Telephone Numbers: Introduced direct phone lines for specific teams, reducing wait times and ensuring quicker support for vulnerable customers.
Redesigned Letters and Correspondence: Improved clarity in letters and appointment notices, presenting critical information upfront with clear calls-to-action, reducing confusion.
Cross-Team Training: Facilitated regular meetings between Community Hub teams and frontline CSC staff to improve understanding of each team's role and streamline collaboration.
Referral Form: Developed a streamlined referral form to improve handoffs between teams, ensuring that vulnerable customers receive timely and appropriate support.
Additional solutions were co-designed to address how customers in crisis situations are supported:
Previously, food vouchers were only available at Hubs. We extended the availability of £5 supermarket vouchers across all service points, including the CSC.
Crisis loans, previously limited to the CSC, were made accessible at all Hub locations.
Officers were empowered to make immediate decisions on crisis payments, reducing delays and ensuring that residents in need receive prompt assistance.
The Community Hubs now handle the crisis payment process, allowing frontline officers to ensure that payments reach the customers most in need
Client Feedback
“This has been the most productive and enjoyable project I have participated in.”
London Borough of Brent, Employee
“I have had really positive feedback about the process from the teams”
London Borough of Brent, Director of Customer Services
About Us
Human Engine is a leading management consultancy with specialisms in strategy, transformation, digital, commercial, procurement and projects.
Founded in 2018, we have partnered with more than 50 local authorities, central government, NHS organisations and national charities to help transform their strategies, operations and cultures.
Our mission is to help individuals and organisations to do the best work of their lives. We do this by blending first-hand, practical experience of the problems we help our clients solve with award-winning consulting expertise and an approach based on trust, collaboration and partnership.