Client Satisfaction Survey 2018

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement of changes to parliamentarians’ work expenses on 13 January 2017, the Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority (IPEA) was established as an independent statutory authority. As outlined in its first Corporate Plan, IPEA’s core objectives are to advise, audit and report on parliamentarians’ work expenses in a professional and independent manner, provide clear advice to parliamentarians and their staff, and clear oversight of expenses and allowances through auditing and reporting functions. Ultimately, the role of the IPEA is to enable parliamentarians and their staff to undertake their work effectively, whilst ensuring tax-payer money is spent efficiently, effectively and ethically.

In the 2017-2018 Portfolio Budget Statements, clear performance criteria and targets were set for the next four years. In order to ensure that these targets are achieved, and that parliamentarians and their staff’s expectations and needs are being met, IPEA required a robust and detailed evaluation of the services it is providing, how these are being received, and what, if any, areas of service provision should be a focus for improvement.

As such, IPEA commissioned Kantar Public to develop and implement a program of client satisfaction research. The overarching aim of this research was to provide a robust measure of overall satisfaction with the information and services provided by IPEA to parliamentarians and their staff. The research sought to

• Understand how easy it was to access IPEA and identify levels of satisfaction with advice received;
• Establish how effective IPEA is perceived to be in administrating and processing travel expenses, allowances and related expenses;
• Determine the effectiveness of any communication and information channels used;
• Evaluate the level of satisfaction with IPEA processes, reports and administrative services;
• Seek opinions on service delivery, performance, customer service and relationship management;
• Identify and prioritise business improvement opportunities;
• Highlight potential service issues to help develop and implement appropriate response actions.

The following report outlines the findings from this research in response to the above objectives.