Customer service manifesto calls for regulated sector mandate

The Institute for Customer Service (ICS) has called on the next government to work with it, businesses and regulators to develop a mandate for the customers of regulated sectors. Chief executive Jo Causon reasoned: “Satisfaction in less competitive regulated sectors often falls well below the standards that customers should expect, as well as the all-sector average.”

The mandate would: 

• Require organisations in regulated sectors to report on customer satisfaction and experience levels over a period of time.

• Ensure customer experience and satisfaction is benchmarked both within and across sectors.

• Drive a service culture through a longer-term approach and service accreditation.

Causon said: “This will allow organisations to better track and understand the customer experience to improve their service offering and, ultimately, satisfaction levels – to the benefit of both customers and improved productivity, given the significant cost of complaints in these sectors.

“Perhaps more importantly, though, different regulated sectors will be encouraged to collaborate, share examples of best practice in delivering service excellence, and benchmark themselves against their counterparts. In doing so, and by putting in place holistic, cross-sector frameworks for measuring progress, I believe we can drive an improvement in customer experience and satisfaction across all regulated sectors.”

The call came as one of four asks of the new government in ICS’s Manifesto for building a service nation.